Useful tips for Santa Cruz de la Palma bus groups with ‘what to see’ and ‘what to do’ items and ‘bus- friendly’ or must see tourist sites in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Check our list of attractions before planning your bus tour with a stop or departure in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Let us know if your favourite attraction or ‘bus-stop’ is not there and you think we should add it to our list of Santa Cruz de la Palma highlights.
To start your trip with bus or minibus rented with driver around La Palma, we suggest to travel to Los Tiles National Park (Parque Nacional Los Tiles), which has been declared an integral part of La Palma World Biosphere Reserve, located in the city of San Andrés y Sauces, and which has spectacular flora and fauna, including some extremely rare species. Continue your journey in a coach to Volcanoes of Teneguía Natural Monument (Monumento Natural de los volcanes de Teneguía), which occupies the entire southern part of the city of Fuencaliente along with Salinas de Fuencaliente, which is an important place for migrating birds.
This island is particularly well-known for its beaches, which you could visit on a group tour, enjoying beaches such as Puerto de Naos and Charco Verde, in Los Llanos de Aridane, Los Guirres beach, or El Volcán beach in Tazacorte, Playa La Zamora in Fuencaliente, or Playa Nogales in Puntallana, all of which are black sand beaches due to the volcanic nature of the island.
In addition to being first and foremost a vacation destination where you can enjoy summer weather in the wintertime, this island is also a choice location for shows, events, fairs, conventions, art expos, theatre, musicals, kids’ shows, local holidays, etc., so if you’re thinking about organizing an event in this province, we recommend contacting the Jesús Rodrígues Group (Grupo Jesús Rodrígues) at 10 Camino la Piconera in San Miguel de Geneto.
For those who want to enjoy the rhythm and color of the night, Santa Cruz de la Palma offers a great variety of small, traditional bars in Los Cascajos, where you can find places that will entertain you all night long.
Before traveling home, your group should definitely go to some local restaurants, such as Restaurant La Placeta in Santa Cruz de La Palma, located in a traditional antique Canarian house from the eighteenth century with a terrace and private eating lounges, which offers a varied menu with very accessible prices; Restaurant Taberna del Puerto in Tazacorte, near the beach, with a terrace and a traditional Canarian cuisine or Tasca Bar La Luna in Los Llanos de Aridane, which also has art expos and music, all in a pleasant, friendly environment, with a varied menu and diverse tapas (traditional Spanish appetizers or snacks) options.
You can rent a bus in Santa Cruz de la Palma for you group in the city or in La Palma Province. An unforgettable trip is Barco de la Virgen (a naval museum) is located inside a full-size replica of the Santa María, one of Christopher Columbus’s ships, which is located behind the Plaza de la Alameda. Here you can see ancient navigation tools and maps and enjoy walking around this replica of one of the three ships that participated in the 1492 discovery of the Americas.
Church of Saint Dominic (Iglesia de Santo Domingo), which dates to the 16th century and belongs to what was once the convent of San Miguel de las Victorias. The temple was built over the ancient Hermitage of Saint Michael, has a Latin cross floor design and a Moorish roof. Inside there’s a rich collection of Flemish paintings, the highlight of which is “The Last Supper,” a work by A. Francken from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Tourists who want to enjoy the sea, sun, and fresh air can go to beaches such as Bajamar Beach in Breña Alta, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from downtown, with its black sand, moderate waves, and a long seaside walkway. La Galga Beach in Puntallana, also about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma, is a less crowded beach with moderate waves and black sand, located in a rural area with a large road that goes through Saint Bartholomew’s Viewpoint, which has a great view of the La Galga ravine. The rest of the island’s beaches are located in diverse places such as Mazo, Fuencaliente, Tazacorte, Barlovento, San Andrés, and Sauces, from 25 to 35 kilometers (16 to 22 miles) from downtown.
You can organize a guided coach or mini bus tour to Caldera de Taburiente National Park, which includes an extensive territory of the center of the island, including a spectacular crater that’s 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter and more than two thousand meters (6600 feet) tall. From scenic viewpoints or the various paths in the caldera, you can discover this unusual volcanic area populated with a vast vegetation of native species. You can keep walking to Las Nieves Nature Park, which has one of the most important concentrations of laurel forests (a group of native plant species that disappeared in the rest of Europe during the Cenozoic period) in the Canaries. In the southern part of the park pines and various specious of protected plants are dominant. The Los Tiles area, which has been declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, is located within the park.
Take a walk through the middle of the city and visit Plaza de la Alameda, where the Dwarf Monument (Monumento a los enanos) is located, which commemorates the Dance of the Dwarves, a festival that is held only in years ending in 5 or 0 during the months of June and July. During this festival you can see the dwarves dressed in their traditional clothes parading through the city while performing their traditional dances.
You can continue your walk to the Gran Calle Real de Santa Cruz de La Palma district with its cobblestone streets and shops where one of the most important festivals of the city is held, The Descent of the Virgin (la Bajada de la Virgen). For this celebration the streets are decorated with triumphal arches and other decorations that give this place a magical look. The charming thing about the Gran Calle Real de Santa Cruz de La Palma district is that you can find nooks and crannies where you can duck out of the commercial streets and enjoy a really relaxing, interesting journey.
Whilst downtown, you could also go to Plaza de España, where los Indianos is celebrated, visit The Church of the Holy Saviour (la Iglesia San Salvador), from the 16th century, with its renaissance-style façade and a tower right next to the church and the city hall with its renaissance arcades. Continuing your walk you can sit down and have a drink or a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants and bars in the city to recoup your energy for a walk through the various shops that have preserved the fronts of the original houses that they’re located in.
Take a healthier, cleaner form of transportation! There are multiple options for renting bikes and riding them around the city and the island. There are a number of bike rental companies, such as JAG Vehículos, Casa Mendez, Bici Tour La Palma, or Bike’n Fun; these companies also offer lists of recommended bike tours through the city.
If you want to rent a bus for an excursion or trip that originates or terminates in Santa Cruz de la Palma, we suggest including these stops in your itinerary:
This plaza is located downtown and all kinds of events and concerts are held here. The plaza is surrounded by picturesque buildings. Spend a relaxing afternoon on one of the benches in the plaza enjoying one of the events.
This enchanting little plaza is located at the intersection of the main pedestrian streets in Santa Cruz de la Palma. The main business streets, which have maintained the city’s traditional architecture, go out from here. All of the businesses have been built in antique houses without compromising the beauty of the original architecture. This is a great place to take a walk and see the city’s architecture while going shopping and enjoying this little plaze on Túnel de la Cumbre Street.
Located on Juan Mayor Street, this spectacular island restaurant specializes in barbeque, such as grilled cheese, pork cracklings, sausages, blood pudding, pork, chicken, rabbit, goat, veal, or crab, all at a very decent price. This is a must-see.
On Plaza de la Alameda Street you can find this corn arepa shop where, in addition to eating well at a low price, you can enjoy the peaceful terrace. Some highlights from the menu include the milkshakes, cornbread, pabellón criollo, smoked cheese with green sauce, and the arepas (round cakes made from corn flour dough), which come with various toppings: larded meat, ham and cheese, or tuna.
Would you like to organize a bus tour to see all these beautiful highlights? Request quotes and compare the different bus and coach hire companies:
Bus tours in Santa Cruz de la Palma
Coach hire in Santa Cruz de la Palma
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