La Palma Excursions (Sunday)

Hi

Does anyone know if there are excursions run on La Palma on Sundays. I know somebody who's port of call at La Palma fell on a Sunday and he said when he got off the boat everything was shut due to it being a Sunday, this was summer this year. Also, when you look at the website of the excursion operators on La Palma, there dosen't seem to be any availability for any Sundays plus the office opening hours shown are Monday to Saturday.

However, on the Thomson's Cruise Excursions website you can book for a Sunday. It wouldn't make sense to me if you couldn't due to it being a Sunday. Why stop there at all, if everything was shut? I was thinking of doing a quad or buggy tour of the island.

Thanks in advance if anyone can clear this up for me.

Don't know I could really envisage a quad or buggy on La Palma and driving around the whole island in a day (even by car) would be a very big challenge, especially if you want to stop and actually see something!

La Palma is much less touristy than most of the Canary Islands and Santa Cruz is a lovely small town. We had a two week holiday near Santa Cruz one February and a week's car hire. We loved the place and the scenery is very impressive, but the road across the island can get busy with locals driving fairly quickly around the hairpin bends etc. Also the North of the island has lots of ravines, so the roads have lots of sharp bends. If you want to go into the caldera taburiente, you will need a time slot as well and it can get booked up for the rest of the day.

I would not expect the town to be busy at any time, and suspect the shops/museums may have been closed on a Sunday - but not sure. The buses are good and stop near the port so you could search for timetables or you could take a stroll though town or a ship's tour. There may not be local companies doing tours there and, as distances are quite far, it would likely be quite expensive to pick up a taxi.

We would not want car hire for one day there, as it was easier to get used to the car before heading off any distance, but we were driving on the "wrong" side of the road from our point of view - not sure of your nationality.

Lovely island, but not quad or buggy land.

We are taking the train to Soller and walking around and walking on to Fornalux and exploring. We will be picked up by a taxi and returned to the port.

We are taking the train to Soller and walking around and walking on to Fornalux and exploring. We will be picked up by a taxi and returned to the port.

This thread is about La Palma, whilst the places you have mentioned are in Majorca, which is a very busy tourist island and has been for many years, quite a different place to La Palma.

Sorry for the confusion

We are taking the train to Soller and walking around and walking on to Fornalux and exploring. We will be picked up by a taxi and returned to the port.

We were in Palma on a Sunday this summer and took the train to Soller and then the tram to the Port of Soller. We had a great day. Restaurants in Soller were open and most of the stores in the Port were open.

We were in Palma on a Sunday this summer and took the train to Soller and then the tram to the Port of Soller. We had a great day. Restaurants in Soller were open and most of the stores in the Port were open.

I know realise the reason for the confusion. There is a port called "Palma" in Majorca, but the OP did mention "La Palma" which is one of the quieter Canary Isles and I assumed that the OP did mean to ask about "La Palma".

Palma in Majorca is a very busy holiday destination, so would probably have lots of tourist opportunities on a Sunday, whilst La Palma is a much quieter destination and I can see why it could give rise to a question like the one here.

I assume the OP will return to this thread to read replies and thank the respondents, so hopefully he will be make this matter clear then.

If you organise your tour in advance, then, yes, they will operate on a Sunday. The shops in Santa Cruz are closed on a Sunday.

I know realise the reason for the confusion. There is a port called "Palma" in Majorca, but the OP did mention "La Palma" which is one of the quieter Canary Isles and I assumed that the OP did mean to ask about "La Palma".

 

Palma in Majorca is a very busy holiday destination, so would probably have lots of tourist opportunities on a Sunday, whilst La Palma is a much quieter destination and I can see why it could give rise to a question like the one here.

 

I assume the OP will return to this thread to read replies and thank the respondents, so hopefully he will be make this matter clear then.

Thanks for the clarification. Actually when we got back from Soller we wandered around Palma and it was very quiet on a Sunday.

Yes I was talking about the island La Palma and not Palma as in Majorca.

Sorry when I say tour, it more like a two and half hour buggy adventure, where you drive your own buggy in the mountains where no cars can go apparently. Its just something I wouldn't mind doing to pass some time on the island.

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it!!!

Sorry when I say tour, it more like a two and half hour buggy adventure, where you drive your own buggy in the mountains where no cars can go apparently. Its just something I wouldn't mind doing to pass some time on the island.

 

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it!!!

I could see that being done, either in the Volcanic region to the south, or perhaps in woodland somewhere, presumably the tour description will give an outline of the terrain involved. Both of those would give access to wonderful, unspoilt areas and a coach transfer to the area would be pleasant as well, since you would be out of the town area very quickly. Good if you are into that sort of thing.

We did go to Los Llanos by bus one Sunday on a cruise ship and the shops were closed. You would probably find one or two small tourist outlets open in Santa Cruz if there is a cruise ship in port (I can place one outlet on the front), as well as ice cream shops and cafes/bars etc. The other point is that shops usually close roughly from 12pm to 3pm in Spain, so time is relevant on any day. I prefer the evenings just after dark, but many ships will have sailed by then.

You can always get a bus about two miles to the south, (or perhaps walk one way), to Los Cancajos (pronounced can ka hos), which is a very small, low key resort/beach area (black, gritty sand beach) and there is a coastal path which goes to the coastal side of the Hotel Tabauriente and some other accommodation with lovely views of the rocky shore there. We stayed there on Holiday and, when we found our small ship moored by the QM2 one day, we headed straight there to find it was as quiet and pleasant as ever. Heading to the south of the Island, or up hill and/or over the main ridge in the Island (to The Caldera or further East) is more likely to find sun though if the weather is a bit dull as it can be near Santa Cruz.

Enjoy, it is a favourite Island of ours.

Thanks for the pointers Tring.

We have 7 hours on the island, its highly we will do the buggy adventure . However, if we don't we can always follow your recommendation and travel down to the little resort you mentioned. Hopefully, we have a couple of hours spare anyway to have a little look of the surrounding area.

So once again thanks for the info!!