TAZACORTE

Tazacorte, the sunniest municipality in Spain

Tazacorte La Palma is the smallest municipality on the island in terms of area, but one of the richest in history and character. Located on the southwest slope, facing the Atlantic directly, it holds a title hard to beat: it is the municipality with the most hours of sunshine in all of Spain. With barely 5,000 residents, a fishing harbour that was the island's first, and a historic centre surrounded by banana plantations, Tazacorte packs a lot of history into very few square kilometres.

In addition, thanks to the CanariasLife webcam in the Tazacorte beach you can watch live the sea state and the conditions before heading down to the harbour.

The beach and harbour of Tazacorte La Palma

The Tazacorte beach is black volcanic sand, with a blue flag and calm water sheltered by a breakwater. It is ideal for family swimming for almost the whole year.

Next to it, the fishing port — the oldest in La Palma— combines the daily activity of fishermen with boat excursions for whale watching and boat trips to see from the sea the lava fajanas of the Tajogaite volcano (2021 eruption). Excursions to the Beautiful Cave, a sea cave accessible only by boat, also leave from here.

In fact, the seafront promenade linking the beach and the harbour is one of the liveliest on the west side of the island, especially at sunset, when the light tints the Atlantic orange.

Historic centre of Tazacorte

The centre of the Villa de Tazacorte, two kilometres up the slope from the harbour, holds a notable heritage. It was from this harbour that Alonso Fernández de Lugo began the conquest of La Palma in 1492.

The cobbled streets, the 16th- and 17th-century manor houses, the wooden balconies and the Ermita de San Miguel Arcángel (one of the oldest churches in Canary Islands) create an ensemble with a lot of character. There is also the Caserón del Almirante Díaz Pimienta , a gem of Canarian civil architecture.

Banana Museum in Tazacorte La Palma

Tazacorte La Palma is home to the only European museum dedicated to the banana. Growing this fruit takes up between 70% and 85% of the municipality's farmland and shapes its landscape, its economy and its identity.

The Banana Museum explains, through interactive exhibits, the whole process of growing, harvesting and exporting. It is a must-see visit to understand the relationship between the land and the people of this corner of La Palma. Next to it, the Museo de Interpretación de la Pesca completes the picture of a municipality that has always lived between the sea and the countryside.

Festivals and traditions

The Caballos Fufos are the most distinctive tradition in Tazacorte La Palma. Every September, cane and tissue-paper frames shaped like horses parade through the streets, led by a giraffe figure that sets the pace of the procession. It is a festival more than a hundred years old, unique in Canary Islands.

On the other hand, the Love Festival has in recent years turned Tazacorte into a symbol of diversity and tolerance in the islands.

Gastronomy in Tazacorte

The cuisine revolves around fresh fish from the harbour: sama fried, tuna with onions,, limpets grilled and wreckfish with wrinkled potatoes and mojo are the most common dishes on the terraces of the seafront promenade.

There is also the banana local — sweeter and smaller than mainland ones — appears in desserts, smoothies and homemade preserves that can be bought at the municipality's market.

How to get to Tazacorte

Since the La Palma Airport take the LP-2 towards Los Llanos de Aridane and from there head down the LP-120 to the harbour, in about 30 minutes. The historic centre is two kilometres from the harbour, reachable on foot in about 25 minutes uphill or in a few minutes by car.

To get to La Palma: daily flights from Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Madrid to La Palma airport.