Charming and friendly receptionists will give good local advice although under pressure when airport coaches arrive. Useful hotel minimarket with competitive prices for wines and spirits.
Accomodation was in room 122 on ground floor Block A with partial view of sea and the odd rambler hiking off to Santa Cruz. Car parking a bit of a lottery and had to walk 400 metres 1 night from parking slot. Excellent accomodation with large sitting room come kitchenette which most English will adapt to as no kettle or teapot but there are ways! Good balcony for slight view of sea and rocks with waves crashing over and no real problem from passers by.
Dined twice in restaurant, 11 Euros for the buffet is reasonable but get in early for decent selection as hungry hordes from N Europe sweep select foods down with gusto. Nito, waiter, good service with a sense of humour missing in the Maitre D. Hors d'ouevres basic tinned selection. Breakfast same principle, get in early as rather than lay towels down, the N Europeans seem to stuff their pockets with all the goodies like croissants.
Dined in local restaurants, the best is El Lagar on 2nd floor of complex next to Hacienda. Excellent wines including Rias Baixas from Galicia the newly elevated wine region of Spain. Really fresh fish and stunning steaks not costing too much. Charming waitress and co-host who might give you home produced orange based aguardiente with your coffee if you ask politely.
Avoid beach restaurant although a good setting is expensive for paella at 20€ for 2. Ours was served with banana slices! Weird..
Excellent fish restaurant in Puerto of Llanos on 2nd floor which all the locals use next to carpark. Thought Puerto Naos bland and sea can be dangerous for youngsters at times.
If you admire the wild flowers and like gardening, seeds for the proteas and bird of paradise can be found in small shop in Centro Commercial below El Lagar restaurant.
Small triangular bar facing sea here very reasonable in evening for coffees, liquers and mad funny guitarist some evenings.
In Santa Cruz, park in main carpark on Av. Maritima. Good local food & spices (got to buy saffron at ridiculous low prices) market in Av Del Punte. Great town for just ambling.
Extensively stocked supermarket on main road to Llanos on left looking like a car showroom, 10 minutes from Canjeros by car.

We choose this hotel partly because we liked the pictures and partly because of the reviews in trip adviser.
The hotel grounds are very beautiful.
We had an appartment on the ground floor partly looking out over the swimming pool and partly looking at a wall with trees, it was slightly below the pool, I have to say we were disappointed with the view as all the pics are shown from the upper floors, If I went again I would book independantly (we went with Thomsons) and ask for a room with a balcony. As far as we could tell the 1 bedrooms appartments seem to either overlook the pool or the sea but the sea ones also overlooked the street and parking, The two bed app. seem to have a view of the sea and pool. Because of the way the complex is situated round the pool there are some rooms which would not be so good ie. overlooking the road but not the sea, if you book talk to them about what your view would be (if it bothers you!!)
The appartments inside are very nice and decorated in a simple but artistic way. There is almost no English channels on the TV CNN and BCC news (but that did not work for several days) there are many Germany channels as well as Spanish.
There is no entertainment at night (at least when we went) - we did mention these points to the hotel. We if fact went up the road to the large Hotel nearby Tabriente Playa they had very good entertainments and we noticed several people from our app. had also gone there.
We eat our breakfast in the H.S.G. every day,(we were on an app. only basis another time I would have breakfast included in the price as it is probably cheaper) as it was easier than going out and the coffee was good! I would say the breakfasts were ok but not great esp the cooked part. We had 2 evening meals and they were about the same, ok. The pool was very cold and I did not go in.
The hotel is very close to a nice beach, fine black sand.
The resort is small but there are a few resturants and shops. The resort is nicely landscaped. It is close to the airport but the planes are not a problem as most of them are small.
The staff at the hotel in reception are pleasant (they tried to change our room but the ones they offered were not as good as the one we already had).
A reviewer said there were alot of cats they were right!

We were wondering whether to stay at the H>S>J> or the Los Olas, we went to the Los Olas for a meal. There was a large choice on the buffet but the whole feel of the resturant was not as nice as the H.S. J. but it was good value for money 11 Eur. for as much as you wanted (at the hsj it was 17 euros) The place looked nice it was at the other end of the village nearer to the road, but the road was not busy. I think either place would be good to stay at!
We went to the Cafe Vista Playa it has just been taken over by a young couple and the food (home cooked) was great it is open for lunch and breakfast.


La Palma is a wonderful place. BUT not somewhere to go in winter for guaranteed sun! we had rain on about 4 days out of 7, but not all day! we did have alot of sun as well! We hired a car for 5 days and went round most of the Island, one day we went to the top mountain peak where the observatory is situated if you can do this it was magnificent, if fact there was a snow fall and on the road we met a snow plough!
We also climbed one of the mountain peaks Pico de la Nieve the sign said it was 1.9km but it took us hours as it was quite a scramble up and down! If you are going to the natural protected areas It is worth buying food and drink as there are not many places to eat.

We went to the south of the island, The information centre in the National park is very good and there is a cafe there. There are quite a few easy walks as well as difficult one. There is a Princess Hotel near Fuencaliente we drove to it and walked round the outside, it looks very nice but is very isolated and it would take quite awhile to get to other parts of the Island (although I am sure there are tours from the hotel). The west Tazacorte and Punta naos are more tourist orientated with more small shops and resturants. The biggest shopping area is Los Llanos, there is an interesting church there and we had a good look at the shops

Thanks so much to the traveller who suggested Enriciai the resturant in Santa Cruz it is fantastic. The lady who owns it (with her husband) is so nice, she does not speak English and there is no menu but both time we went there were people there who spoke english and spanish so we werre ok. The spaghetti with sea food it wonderful. It is difficult to find and only has 3 tables but do go if you can. It is just off he Avenida del Puente go done the side of the Mercado and it is just up on the right as the one way street starts down. We asked in our hotel and they knew it and drew a map.

The most expensive coffee was in a Hotel called Romantica in the north of the island about twice the price of any other!

There is a festival in La Palma every year from about the 1st Feb t 10th it does not seem to be in the guide books. They celebrate people going to the Americas and making their fortune and coming back. On the 4th everyone wears white and throws talcumn powder over each other! The whole of Santa Cruz was alive and very white! If you do not like this idea it would be good to avoid towns (it goes on all over the island) or do not go at that time, it is also more expensive in the hotels if you book yourself. If you like this idea it would be great fun!

I have written alot here as I did find the comments travellers had made very useful this time and so made alot myself!!

I could recommend the Island as a most beautiful place and
and the H.S.J. but check out where the room will be (if you mind!)

Thomsons fly has just started flying direct to La Palma, as we had not been to this Island we decided to give it ago.
We stayed at the Hacienda San Jorge in Los Cancajos.
Our apartment was on the first floor with a nice patio area and good sea views. The apartment was clean and comfortable the kitchen area was a bit basic two cooking rings a microwave and a fridge with a ice box. ( No kettle or toaster.) The beds were comfortable . Early morning call was performed every morning by a cockerel good if you are a early riser. We did get up early one morning and drove up to the top of the hill from the resort and photoed the sunrising it was worth it.
The hotel is very quite with no entertainment. The bar was very reasonably priced, they like to put everything on the room number so you pay at the end of your holiday.
We stayed on self catering basis so we did not eat in the hotel.
All meals were buffet style.
In the room you will find a umbrella in the wardrobe as it sometimes rain and bathrobes for using a round the pool which you can buy from the shop if you like them. A nice touch.
There is a very good restaurant across the road from the hotel
called Tunna they cook very nice food and was busy every night.
The hotel staff very very helpful most could speak some English.
There is a small shop in the hotel selling bread, milk, butter etc.
The pool is set in lovely gardens. The gardens are well cared for and all the plants are numbered every week they have a guided tour around the gardens with talks on the different plants.
This hotel is an ideal base to explore the island. It`s ten minutes drive to Santa Cruz the capital, five minutes drive to the airport we drove around and across the island in the week. We also walked a lot of the national parks the views were amazing. This Island is unspoilt no big shopping mails or big supermarkets just small shops the biggest supermarket we found was a spar shop.
In the resort of Los Concajos you will find a nice clean beach of black sand four hotels, a few apartment blocks and a handful of bars and restaurants, a spar shop and a tourist information board. And a nice new promenade to walk along.

We used this as a base for a week-long walking holiday. Really couldn't fault the place. Our apartment-room was large, clean, comfortable and had a nice sea view from the balcony. Everything worked and the staff were extremely friendly and efficient. A beautiful pool (which we didn't use, preferring the sea) and extremely pleasant, well-maintained gardens complete with a pair of squawking parrots. The (very) nearby beach is clean and safe for swimming and there are plenty of decent restaurants within walking distance.

The only fault we could find was that parking can be a bit tight, especially at weekends. Otherwise, excellent-value, comfortable and extremely relaxing. And the airport is (literally) a three-minute drive away.