El Hierro, Spain 2025

We had a tight connection in Tenerife Norte as our flight from Fuerteventura was slightly delayed, but Binter made it happen. We could see a special Binter van went out to offload the transfer luggage from the incoming aircraft. We were on El Hierro before 11:00am on a Sunday and collected our Cicar rental car. I had booked a Fiat 500 or equivalent,  but I didn't see any Fiats in the rental car parking lot as we drove out in an Opel. 

Getting to most anywhere on El Hierro, involves going up and down, so naturally, we drove up, and then down to Pozo de Los Calcosas. It is a strange place with old, summer houses, almost in ruins next to the natural swimming area. The place was almost deserted except a for a handful of tourists. It was a cool, cloudy day, but Sheila jumped in for a swim. Thereafter, we walked some of the nearby shoreline.

We drove up to Valverde, on of the larger towns on the island and easily found parking near our rental unit in the centre of town. The clouds (fog) had rolled in and the streets were quiet but our loft unit was amazing. We later walked around the town and picked up some food items at a small grocery store that was open Sundays.

The weather forecast indicated that the Calima (dust from the Sahara) had set in so we opted for a cloud forest walk at the top of the island. It was only a 20 minute drive to bring us into forest. We completed a 5km laurel forest walk (la Llanía) that took in a the Fireba crater. We stayed within the pine forest on the drive to Mirador de las Playas before continuing onto Mirador de Isora. We returned to Valverde to shop at the Super Dino supermarket and lunch at home, before carrying on to  another natural swimming pool (El Charco Manso). It was a sunnier day and Glenn garnered the courage to go in the pool. The neighbouring sea caves and arch were interesting.

The hike of the day was called the Water Route that highlights how moisture arrives with the trade winds. We began from our loft and walked through Upper Valverde and followed irrigation pipes for a distance, past a small reservoir, then through the pretty hamlet of Tiñor. We climbed up to 1,000m to reach a green plateau with grassland and trees, encountering dairy cattle along the way. We descended a short distance on a gravel road to reach the Garoé Tree that grows at a spring,  a symbol of the island,  highlighting the importance of water. We descended through mixed forest and cloud forest to return to  Valverde. We encountered a few other walkers coming up from Valverde.  We stopped at the supermarket on the way home. The distance was 13km with 550m of ascent.

We the extra time in the afternoon, I went to a nearby barber for a chat. He got a little carried away and gave me buzz cut. Hair grows back.

We packed up our things and drove up the the HI-1 to San Andres in thick cloud. We drove west and dropped down in elevation to break out of the clouds and parked the car on the side of the road near our intended walk.  The trail descended and we then followed a dirt track  to reach the Ermita de la Virgen de la Peña. From there we carried on up a ridge along the edge of the Nisdafe Plateau with big views of Northern El Hierro. We reached grasslands with cattle in the distance but no other walkers. The haze of the Calima had cleared, however clouds hung to the ridge line just above us.  We looped back to the car (abbreviated to 8km with 450m ascent)  and made a stop at the Mirador de Jimina before crossing over the island and down the south side. We stopped at the slightly disappointing Volcano  Interpretation Centre  before reaching La Restinga. We met Janet, a British woman, our apartment host to check-in to the one bedroom apartment for a couple of nights. We walked down to the harbour area for a look before heading in for the evening. The lower area of the south side of the island is dry and warmer than the rest of the island. We could see old lava flows across the street from our place.

La Restinga is the southernmost settlement in Spain. It is largely unaffected by the clouds that often build up on top of El Hierro, so it remains sunny and warm during the winter. The fishing town attracts a small number of visitors, but it lacks architectural charm that is found in the other towns on El Hierro. There was a huge underwater volcanic eruption 2km offshore in 2011-2012 that forced a couple of evacuations. We walked across the street from our apartment onto intriguing lava flows for a 6km walk west of town. We went up the tiny Montaña Puerto de Naos, a mighty 150m above sea level. 

In the afternoon, we drove over to Playa de Tacorón where it seems that the sheltered location enjoys a micro climate and the temperature pushed up to 28C, ideal for swimming in the calm waters with a massive volcanic backdrop. On that day, the location attracted twenty or so visitors to swim and sun bathe. We also walked the short trail over to  the rocky Playa Roja. We had time in the late afternoon, Sheila swam in the La Restinga harbour and we watched the sunset from the southernmost point in Spain.

We packed the rental car and drove back up the to central El Hierro to 900m and then drove west on the HI-400. The road took us through 15km of pine forest then we drove up to the Dehesa Plateau, where in earlier times, sheep grazed.  We walked a 9km loop past ancient wind swept junipers and to viewpoints of the north side of the island.

It was a long and winding road down to the NW corner of El Hierro, through old black lava flows to reach the north side of the island. We arranged for our host Gilberto to meet us at our next rental, a traditional Canary cottage in the village of Los Llanillos.  Gilberto had renovated his grandfather's house including building an indoor bathroom/toilet.  We drove over to nearby La Fronetera for groceries. Later in the evening, Gilberto and his wife came by and we  learned about the history of the house and his family.

This was a day of backtracking to the west end, going back up the switchbacks through the black lava zone. we stopped to walk a plateau section, dropped down to the Orchilla Lighthouse for a look around the  area, back up and down the switchbacks with a detour to the wild Playa del Verodal. That was followed by an impressive coastal walk through black lava. As the low tide approached at 3:00pm, we hustled over to  Charco Azul, one of the more interesting natural swimming holes. Charco Azul was less than 2 km below our cottage so we were home before 4:00pm.

We drove part way up the Road to the Summit (old road before the Los Roquillos tunnel was built) into a green vegetation zone. We parked alongside the road and walked to Fuente Mencáfete on a dirt road/4WD road/trail for 10km return with plenty of North shore views. On the drive down, we stopped to walk up to the Joapira church then onto the north shore coast. We walked most of the coastal path between  Maceta and Las Puntas. we checked out two swimming areas: La Maceta, with its concrete wall to create a popular sheltered  swimming pool and the more exciting Los Sargos with natural rock  barriers to the incoming surf.

December 1 was a move day, but we had unfinished business. We had cut the NW coastal walk short to reach Charco Azul at low tide. We drove west through the village of Sabinosa and dropped down back to the black lava area, We walked over to Playa Blanca, then followed the coast west to where we had broken off previously.  We drove along the HI-550 and stopped in at the Supermercado Unide, which we declared as the best on the island.  We drove through the Los Roquillos tunnel (2+km) back out at the north end of the island. we went past Valverde, above the airport to Tamaduste. Initially, we parked at the edge of town and walked a little ways on the lava coastal path. It didn't provide so much joy, so we headed for the sheltered bay  and Sheila went for a swim.  Finally, we set out for La Caleta and its sea water swimming pools. We had an apartment (Salitre) booked for a couple of nights. It was comfortable, though the advertised views had disappeared with a new build next door. 

This was to be a complete tour of El Hierro, so we drove south along the HI-80 to the end of the road. We started with a walk to Playa de los Cardones. I walked a little ways up the El Pinar trail. We stopped to look at the inconveniently located Parador before waling along an old road to the Punta de la Bonanza. That gave us the afternoon free in La Caleta. 

It had been an excellent tour of El Hierro. We enjoyed the local sunrise and we returned the car to the airport by 11:00am and then  waited for our 1:30pm transfer to La Gomera (via Tenerife Nord) with Binter Canarias.  There is no direct ferry service between El Hierro and La Gomera.