We're arriving in Las Americas the week after next. One of our major "things to do" this year is a day trip to La Gomera.

I'm looking for advice on...

1. The cheapest way to get there, ie ferry/excursion package or ferry only.

2. How to get around the island, ie book an excursion package in Los Cristianos or DIY once we get to La Gomera (bus/taxi?)

3. Rough costs, and best place(s) to book

4. How best to spend the day in La Gomera, places to see & things to do

5. Anything else?

Thanks in advance for all information.

We did it last year and it was excellent. We went with a organised trip and i would think that this is the best way to do it. As you'd spend to much time trying to get around the island you would see nothing.
Our trip left at 8.30am and we got the fast ferry to La Gomera, then was met my a air conditioned bus, which took us round the island for the day. We saw loads of nice places and was pointed our interesting places. Then included in price was a Gomeran meal at a restaurant. Then back on the bus again for more of the island. Then we were dropped of at the port about 2 hours before the ferry left. So we had a few hours to do a bit of shopping have a drink or just relax on the beach. Our ferry left about 6.45pm then the bus met us in Los C and it was back to our apts.

It was a brilliant day and one that i wish we had done sooner.

VVV who comes on this site works over there doing trips. I sorted one out with her before i went. But i didn't tell my friends and when i arrived they had gone and booked the trip with another company.

Oh and you can also do it by jeep............i would have loved to do this but most of my party had back or leg problems so they wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't do the trip myself as the ferry crossing is expensive, you can price it with Fred Olsen on his web page yourself. And La Gomera is very hilly. Organised is the best for this trip.

cheers chris xx

Thanks for that info Chris, we want to do this trip in September, we have been meaning to do it for years but have never got round to it. Admiral travel do the trip for 45 Euros and we are looking forward to it.

Me and my mom went but we went on the freebird jeeps, not sure I'd have wanted to go on the tight bends with sheer drops on the other side on a coach.

I have combined a few separate discussions about La Gomera into this single topic, so you may now find some useful info and links in earlier posts.

David

I'm considering visiting La Gomera when i return to Tenerife in September has anyone been and is it worth visiting.

Also how can you get there, i'm staying in PDLA, and approx costs.

Ta people x

Hi

Yes

La Gomera is a must for a day out.

Not sure where your staying. But i will tell you where we booked out trip. As your getting onto Geranimum walk coming from veronicas, you walk up a load of steps towards the castle bar. Go up these steps follow the walkway and you will see some shops on your right. Then the walkway bends to the left in front of you are some advertising boards. We booked here.

But there are loads of places to book it from.

We paid 45 euro each. make sure when you book it your booked on the fast ferry that is the fred olsen one.

We were picked up at 7.30am and taken to Los C to board Fred. When arriving at La Gomera we got on a coach, try to get on the top and you get better views. then your taken round La Gomera by coach.
you visit different places of interest.

Your even taken for lunch to a restaurant, but every other coach company is here. So it can be a bit busy.

But your given soup, a gomerian meal of stew and Gomerian potatoes, also a glass of wine.
Then your treated to a display of the Gomerian whistling. It is surprising how you can understand what they are saying.

Back on the bus and down to San Sebastian. Your dropped of at the harbour and give an hour and half to look around San Sebastian.

it is then up to you to make your way for the ferry, but as you sip a glass of wine on the beach front bars in san sebastian you will see fred coming in.

Then your back to Los C and your coach trip home.

your ferry time home is 6.30pm i think. So it is a long day. But it is a wonderful day.
i just wish that we had done it sooner.

If your going to go in winter don't do what my parents did, they went in shorts and t-shirts. And when up the hills on la Gomera they were a bit cold.
We went in March and it was boiling hot.

i would def recommend this.

We did the Gomera tour last August - same one as wickedchris, similar price - we booked it with a lovely agent in the little walkway at the side of the Vulcano hotel, next to a supermarket (Caribe supermarket I think) on the way down to the 'strip' (Corner Bar, Soul Suite etc)
It was a lovely day, Gomera is so different to Tenerife, it's more like a mini-version of Gran Canaria, all 'high-ups' and deep valleys, and very green and humid. Part of the tour included a stop at the visitor centre in the Garajonay National Park, which has lots of good info about all the islands and the old trade routes to America - Gomera was Columbus' last stop before his first journey to the New World back in 1492.
We also had many good photo-stops at high-up points on the island, including one particular point where you can see La Palma island. Lunch was a bit busy and rather rushed but the 'whistling' demo was good. We also visited a banana plantation (the Gomerans seem to be very proud of their bananas - plenty were available at lunch). The last hour in San Sebastian was nice too, although an hour is enough to see most of it, there isn't really much there.
I think you can also book jeep safaris on Gomera, we saw a few groups of jeeps there. The island is quite popular for walking/hiking holidays, but I don't think there's much in the way of beaches. There's a dark volcanic beach in San Sebastian which seemed popular with the locals at the end of their day's work. The island is too 'up-and-down' for a proper airport (nowhere flat enough to land), so the only way over there is by boat. We saw a few pilot whales whilst we were on the Fred Olsen ferry (after paying to go on the Catamaran the previous day )
I took loads of photos on Gomera - most of them are in the HT Gallery HERE I would really recommend this trip

I would also recommend La Gomera,we also went on an organised trip but if you are a bit more adventurous some friends of ours did it themselves
They caught the ferry and then got a taxi,from the quayside,to take them round the island.The driver stopped at view points for them and they saw the whistling demo,not sure if they had a meal.It wasn't as long a day as the coach and it was cheaper.
This was a couple of years ago but if you don't fancy the coach it could be worth inquiring about.
Either way the trip is a must.
Angie

La Gomera is one of my favourite places and definitely worth the trip but you don't need to do it by the coach excursions which follow the same old tired route. If there are at least 2 of you it would be cheaper to do as Angie suggests and negotiate with a taxi driver for a day rate as you arrive at San Sebastian but it's also possible to book in advance and hire a car from Rueda who have an office on the quayside and this could be cheaper still. The Olsen ferries are the fastest way over but the locally owned Garajonay Express will take you right round the south of the island to Valle Gran Rey were Rueda also have a hire office.

The visitor centre at Laguna Granda is worth a visit, as is the Castillo del Mar at Hermigua - its an old banana loading station in a spectacular coastal setting. You'll find plenty off places where you'll be able to get local food and the locals are really friendly. I would second the recommendation to take a jumper - the centre of the island is approx the same height as Ben Nevis and because of the geography of the isalnd you have to cross the cenral plateau to get anywhere. It can be 30C on the coast but at least 10 degrees cooler up at the top - even chillier if there is mist. I've been there when it has been blisteringly hot in at the harbour Valle Gran Rey and raining at the top of the barranco.

I'll be off for my usual autumn break there is October and if I can help with any further info do ask.

SM

We was going to do it our selves.

But after we had paid the money for taxi to Los C then paid fred for the crossing, which isn't cheap for a day have a look at his web site for the prices.

Then the cost of a taxi we decided to pay the 45 euros and include lunch and an english speaking guide which gave us loads of information about the islands.

I spoke to somebody who did the taxi way and it cost them more and they got no lunch and the driver could only speak a bit of English.

Looking for reviews for La Gomera, is it me! or is it not listed, your thoughts please.

Have never stayed there but have visited as a day trip..went on the ferry..

very tranquil,, very pretty.. very quiet.

Hi Joe 3400,

La Gomera doesn't have it's own forum/set of hotel reviews (there are only 3 of any size on the whole island) and neither are any of the other smaller Canary islands but because you can only get to from the UK via Tenerife this is where you will find various threads which have been started by people wanting to find out about La Gomera. The site search facility will bring them up.

La Gomera is very peaceful and quiet - too quiet for many visitors more used to the livelier resorts on the larger islands but I and my family love it. We'll be back there for the October half-term as we have done for some years now. So if there is anything I can help with re info just ask. We always stay in locally owned apartments (3 different ones so far) in Valle Gran Rey as we not only prefer to be doing our own thing but really love Valle Gran Rey itself and there is only one hotel there which is relatively small and set halfway between the 2 main clusters of bars and restaurants which are both just a bit too far for my arthritic mother to manage these days so it just wouldn't be suitable for us when she comes too - as she always does now because she loves how quiet it is as well.

We've never fancied staying in the other hotels either because they're also set away from the beaches too but a colleague goes twice a year to the one in Playa de Santiago owned by the same company as the Olsen fast car ferries which serve the island from Los Christianos - it's also the closest to the little airport on the island. She loves the fact that it is of a really high standard with good food and excellent service and that she can just chill out around the pool for the entire stay but if you wanted to get out and about a bit you'd need to hire a car.

The best hotel, ie highest graded one, on the island is probably the state-run pousada on the edge of San Sebastian which is the main town (in fact the only town of any size on the island!) and I cannot comment on it - we've never fancied the location and it always comes up as being rather pricey and more than we're willing to pay. But I have found pousadas elsewhere to be excellent though often in very quirky, converted buildings.

Compared to Tenerife itself you won't find many English visitors and you're likely to find that the majority of other visitors are German with the result that most of the locals, if they do speak another language (and many don't speak anyhting other than Latin-American Spanish) it is more likely to be German rather than English. As my German is better than my Spanish we tend to get by OK as a result. Also, the local nightlife (what there is of it!) and bars etc make few concessions to UK visitors and I haven't come across any British-run bars or cafes etc but you will usually find an English translation of the menu but the waiter will probably order by number rather than understanding the English version themselves.

The majority of visitors go either because they want a really quiet laidback sort of a holiday or because they want an active walking one - the scenary is spectacular and it's mainly why we go. During the day my Mum sits on the apartment balcony watching the comings and goings at the harbour and generally watching the world go by, my teenage nieces work on their tans on the beach and my Dad, brother and I go walking in the hills. Our evening entertainment consists of having a few 'sundowners on the balcony and then ambling to one of the nearby restaurants for dinner, then ambling back for a nightcap on the balcony before taking a book to bed! We might live it sometimes by having a couple of hands of Pinuckle first but the youngest is starting to outgrow such card games now :-)

I think that our routine is probably typical of the majority of visitors with the result that most bars shut by midnight because apart from a few nightowl locals everybody else has gone home to bed! The one bar I know of that does Karaoke does it in Spanish and the only 'nightclub' I've come across around the Vueltas/Puntilla end of Valle Gran Rey is next door to our favourite apartments and it might be busier in the height of the summer but in October it always seems deserted and has never been the source of any noise or disturbance to us! I think that the best way of summing it up is that if Los Christianos is your cup of tea then La Gomera is likely to not far short of your idea of the holiday from hell and vice-versa :-) We can't leave LC in the ferry wake quick enough but it wouldn't be everybodies' idea of a dream holiday though it is ours.

SM

Has anybody stayed at this complex, the Jardin Tecina on La Gomera, its in Thomson's al la carte brochure

Joe

Hi Joe3400,

This is the hotel that my colleague from work goes back to every year and she loves it. It is set up on the top of the cliff on the edge of Playa de Santiago - there's an elevator to take you down to it but the beach itself is quite pebbly, more shingle than sand and she and her husband tend to spend their time around the pool. It will be quite a stiff walk back up the hill from the village itself. I've always been a bit put off by it's relative isolation because we don't go to La Gomera for a mainly hotel/pool/beach based sort of holiday and hence why we've never stayed there but it you want a real chill-out holiday where you plan to spend most of your time in and around the hotel, as my colleague does, or are prepared to hire a car in order to see a bit more of the island, then it could suit you really well and you probably couldn't do better on the island. It's probably not ideal for someone who likes to use the hotel as a base but prefers to go out for a stroll to other bars and restaurants of an evening. There isn't much within easy walking distance - most brochures quote is as being 500ms from the village but I would estimate it as being further than that - and Playa de Santiago itself is very small and quiet.

This is the URL for the hotel's own website but I'm actually having difficulty acessing it tonight.

http://www.jardin-tecina.com/english/

Sovereign also offer it in their brochure and Travellers' Way will put a package together for you, as will Corona ( Val always books through them), so if you do settle on the Jardin Tecina, it might be worth shopping around to see who offers the best price.

SM

Sovereign (part of First Choice) do a couple of hotels on La Gomera HERE
I'd love to go but it would be far too quiet for my teenagers - a day trip over there was enough for them

Hi,

Does anyone holiday on this small island? I know its the perfect place for a day trip away from the commercialism of Tenerife, but is it a popular place with the Brits? or is it mainly used by the German/Scandinavian market.?

Bo.

Hi Bo,

Because most people go to La Gomera via Tenerife you'll find a lot about the island on the Tenerife forum.

We spend a week or more there at least once a year - usually in October/November and rarely meet anybody else from the UK. The largest group of visitors are German and after Spanish, German is the language you're most likely to hear spoken. One of my most memorable 'global village'experiences was buying some CDs of Afro-Cuban Salsa music played by a group of musicians from Mali and Senegal with most of the lyrics being in French, in a record shop in Valle Gran Rey in the southwest of La Gomera, where the transaction was conducted in German because I speak German better than I do Spanish and the shopkeeper spoke German better than he spoke English!

The whole island is very uncommercialised and unlike Tenerife, you'll find few bars or restaurants geared up to British visitors. Whether this is a plus or minus for you really depends on what you're looking for from a holiday. You won't find karaoke bars or bars showing the English football or serving English beers, nor restaurants offering English breakfasts or 'meat and two veg' style meals nor have we ever seen any of them offering a children's menu - smaller portions, yes, but fish fingers, never. You will find tapas bars, excellent fish restaurants and small bars selling local beers, wines and spirits. All of this is a plus for me and my family but I'm sure would make it holiday from hell for others who are looking for something different.

SM