El Paso y Santa Cruz de La Palma

El Paso and Santa Cruz de La Palma together capture two very different sides of the same island — a mountain heartland and a historic coastal capital — giving a full picture of what La Palma in the Canary Islands has to offer.

Where is El Paso and what makes it distinctive?

El Paso is the largest municipality on the island and the only one that doesn't touch the coast — it sits right in the interior of La Palma, surrounded by almond orchards that earned the town its nickname, "the almond tree's city." For centuries the local economy revolved around silk production, a craft present on the island since the 16th century. That heritage is preserved at the El Paso Silk Museum, where old looms and jars of natural dyes still stand, and where visitors can follow the entire process of turning raw silk into finished fabric.

What natural sights surround the town?

The municipality's biggest draw is its proximity to the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, an enormous volcanic crater roughly eight kilometers across and about a kilometer and a half deep. The Cumbrecita viewpoint offers one of the island's most famous panoramas, while trails lead further to the El Pilar refuge, the summit of Bejenado, and the old San Juan lava flows. Just outside town stands the Hermitage of the Virgen del Pino, tucked into a pine forest and home to a legendary pine tree said to be over a thousand years old — considered one of the oldest specimens of its kind anywhere. In September 2021, a volcano in the hills above El Paso erupted after a series of tremors, an event that left a lasting mark on the region's recent history.

Why does Santa Cruz de La Palma matter historically?

Santa Cruz de La Palma, the island's capital, was founded on 3 May 1493 by the conquistador Alonso Fernández de Lugo. Its position on the shipping route between Europe and the American colonies quickly made it prosperous — by the 16th century, the port of Santa Cruz was considered the third busiest in Europe, behind only Antwerp and Seville. In 1553 the city was sacked by pirates under François Le Clerc, nicknamed "Pata de Palo" (Peg Leg). The 18th century brought another golden era, as trade in wine, sugar, and silk with the Netherlands and the Americas turned Santa Cruz into one of the archipelago's key commercial hubs.

Which landmarks are worth seeing in the island's capital?

The historic center of Santa Cruz de La Palma has been declared a site of cultural interest as a historical-artistic monument, and its collection of buildings is regarded as the finest example of Renaissance architecture in the Canary Islands. At the heart of the city lies Plaza de España, flanked by the Town Hall and the 16th-century Iglesia de El Salvador, whose facade blends Gothic and Mudéjar details and whose interior holds Baroque altarpieces and an extensive collection of religious carvings. Overlooking the city stands the Real Castillo de Santa Catalina, built in 1692 from black volcanic stone to a design by the Italian master builder Leonardo Torriani — a diamond-bastioned fortress originally built to defend against English pirate raids, later declared a national historical monument in 1951. The Museo Insular, housed in a 16th-century former Franciscan convent with the courtyards and wooden balconies typical of Canarian architecture, is another highlight worth a stop.

How can both places fit into one trip?

The short distance between the two makes it easy to combine a walk through the Renaissance streets of the capital with a trip up into the mountains — from the port city's trading past and the silk craft of El Paso to the volcanic crater above it, this stretch of La Palma shows just how close the sea and the volcano really sit on this island.