La Palma day trip: Tajogaite volcano and colonial capital

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.72 (108 reviews) 84% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellation

1/14

Duration11h

GroupUp to 50

LanguagesEN · DE +2

Mobile ticketAccepted

The Tajogaite volcano is younger than three years old, and you walk the road built on its lava.

This is a guided day trip from Tenerife to La Palma with ferry, official Canary Islands guide and air-conditioned transport, departing at 8:30 am and returning at 5:00 pm. The itinerary moves through Santa Cruz de La Palma's colonial streets and wooden balconies, climbs to La Cumbrecita viewpoint in Caldera de Taburiente National Park, and reaches the Tajogaite volcano site in Tacande, where you walk among the youngest lava flows in Spain and see the neighborhood destroyed in the September 2021 eruption. The guide speaks English, Spanish, German or Dutch. Ferry and all transport are included; lunch is not.

11h

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore La Palma and volcano views

Ferry from Los Cristianos to Santa Cruz
Free time in Santa Cruz de La Palma
Visit La Caldereta volcano crater viewpoint
View Tacande neighborhood exclusion zone and lava flows
Stop at Tajuya viewpoint to see Cumbre Vieja volcano
Ferry from Santa Cruz to Los Cristianos

The Experience

The ferry leaves Los Cristianos port at 8:30 am and carries you across to Santa Cruz de La Palma in about an hour. Once ashore, your official guide meets the group and you have roughly 30 minutes to walk the capital's emblematic sites on your own — the Ship of the Virgin (a full-scale replica of Columbus's Santa María, with a naval museum inside), the Castle of Santa Catalina that once guarded the route to the Americas, and the distinctive double balconies built into the colonial facades. These are not museum pieces behind glass; they are the streets you walk through.

From the capital, the route climbs to La Cumbrecita, a viewpoint inside Caldera de Taburiente National Park where you look down at the crater of La Caldereta volcano and out across the island. The air-conditioned vehicle then heads to Tacande, where the real draw begins: the exclusion zone around Tajogaite, the volcano that erupted on September 19, 2021. You approach on foot along a road built directly on the lava flows — the youngest in Spain — and stop at the Tajuya viewpoint to see the Cumbre Vieja volcano itself. This is the mountain that destroyed over 1,000 homes during that eruption and was filmed by press crews from around the world. Standing there, the scale of what happened becomes concrete in a way no photograph conveys.

The return ferry departs Santa Cruz at 5:00 pm, getting you back to Los Cristianos by early evening. The entire day runs 11 hours door to door. Your guide is a government-certified official with years of experience in the Canary Islands, and the itinerary was personally designed by Basso Lanzone to move through the most authentic and striking parts of La Palma in a single arc — from colonial history to living geology.

What’s included

Ferry from Tenerife to La Palma and return.
air-conditioned vehicle for all ground transport.
official government-certified guide in your choice of English, Spanish, German or Dutch.
entry to the Tajogaite volcano exclusion zone and all viewpoints.
all fees and taxes.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Get Holiday

Is this one for you?Book this if you want a guide explaining La Palma's history and geology on a set itinerary; choose a self-guided option if you prefer exploring at your own pace.