La Palma: the beautiful island of the Canaries

The Roque de los Muchachos, the island's highest point, hosts some of the world's most advanced astronomical telescopes, thanks to one of the clearest skies in the northern hemisphere.

Descending towards the crater, you observe the Caldera de Taburiente, an enormous volcanic depression now a national park, covered by Canary pine forests.

Moving south, you reach the Tajogaite Volcano, which erupted for nearly three months in 2021, covering entire villages with lava and ash.

Towards evening, the capital Santa Cruz de La Palma, with its wooden-balconied houses overlooking the port, closes the day in the island's historic center.

The 2021 eruption destroyed nearly three thousand buildings and covered hundreds of hectares of farmland: the new lava landscape is now accessible via guided trails around the safer areas.

La Palma's night sky is protected by law under a light-pollution ordinance—the world's first of its kind—specifically designed to preserve astronomical observatory work.