Garajonay: Centros de visitantes y otras instalaciones

The Visitor's Centre is located in a place known as "Juego de Bolas", in La Palmita, Agulo, on the north of La Gomera and 3 km far from the Park. It is advisable to visit the Centre before starting the trip, as it provides information about all the facilities of the Park. It has three exhibition rooms where the visitor can find detailed information on Garajonay National Park and the island, and books are also available. Additionally, there is an audiovisual presentation about the Park and the island.

Outside, the visitor can enjoy the gardens where the flora of the Canary Islands, including many plants endemic to La Gomera (native plants) are widely represented. They also exhibit plants used by the locals in popular medicine and in gastronomy as seasonings.

“The House of Memory” exhibits many different samples of traditional culture: the inside of a rural house, farm equipment, a cellar, traditional pottery… There is also an audiovisual presentation of different samples of traditional culture: handcraft, terraces building, extraction of Palm honey…

The Center also has crafts’ shops where the visitor can buy handcraft products such as pottery, "ristra" (crafts made with the dried leaves of banana trees), weaving, and basket weaving. A small Coffee store where you can taste delicious local sweets is available.

Opening times for the Centre are: Monday to Sunday, holidays included, from 9:30 to 16:30 Phone: (922) 80 09 93.

Contact

Director-Conservador: D. Ángel Fernández López

Edificio las Creces, Local 1, portal 3

C/ Ruiz de Padrón y Avenida del 5º Centenario

38.800 San Sebastián de la Gomera (Isla de la Gomera; Tenerife)

Tel.: 922 922 600  Fax: 922 872 833

E-mail: pngj.cmayot@gobiernodecanarias.org

Recreational areas are great places to enjoy a holiday or a free day. Set in the heart of the Park, the visitor can find those of "Ermita de El Cedro", "Las Creces" and "Chorros de Epina", and, most importantly: "Laguna Grande". Its name comes from the big glade surrounded by trees in its central part, which is flooded after heavy rain; In addition to a children's playground and a restaurant, there are picnic areas with tables and grills. There are other locations outside the Park's boundary, such as "Las Nieves", near "Los Roques".

There are also explanatory panels and QR codes to download to your mobile phone to learn more about the landscape and the recreational area you are enjoying.

The Park has a wide range of viewing points around the road network which offer lovely panoramic views. There are also explanatory panels to be found there on the landscape that you are looking at and the natural treasures that are to be seen there.

There are also explanatory panels and QR codes to download to your mobile phone to learn more about the landscape and the recreational area you are enjoying.

These viewpoints are:

1. Mirador del Alto de Garajonay

Located at the highest point on the Island, it offers views of the Park and of a large part of the island and of other nearby islands. What is more, there are archaeological sites here which have been prepared for visiting.

2. Miradores del Rejo

Located at the top of the Rejo Ravine, they allow you to observe the ravine from its topmost point in the highlands, with the view continuing down to the bottom of the Hermigua ravine and the coast. Likewise, the immediate environment is an excellent place for observation of the attractive plant life which colonises the numerous rock walls which are to be found in the vicinity.

3. Mirador del Bailadero

Located at the crest of the island, they show an excellent panorama of the Conjunto de los Roques towards the south and a view of the head of the Hermigua Ravine towards the north. This is an excellent place to see pigeons passing by.

4. Miradores de los Roques

Located in the vicinity of the impressive set of volcanic pitons, it makes it possible to enjoy these geological monuments which make up one of the most impressive landscapes anywhere in the Park. It also enables you to see the piling up of basalt lava flows which make up the dominant geological substrate of the Park, the so-called horizontal basalts. Furthermore, on appropriate days, they are a superb place for watching the cascades of fog which come over the ridge and evaporate as they run down the southern side.

5. Mirador Cumbre de Tajaqué

Located in the highlands of the island, at the very edge of the Park, this viewing-point overlooks the erosive caldera of Benchijigua to the south, with its arid landscape standing in contrast to the leafiness and luxuriance of the El Cedro Ravine, which is oriented towards the north, covered in laurel woodland.

6. Mirador de Igualero

Located at the southern end of the Park, at the edge of the central plateau of the island, it offers a superb view of the Chipude Fortress and of the erosive Caldera of Erques. The viewing point has a monument devoted to the Gomeran whistling language.

7. Mirador de Vallehermoso

It offers a panoramic view of the northern slopes of the island in the borough of Vallehermoso where the most extensive juniper woods of the Canaries are to be found.

8. Mirador Lomo del Dinero

It offers a panoramic view of the valleys and hills of the northern slopes of the Park, covered in laurel woodland.

9. Mirador de Alojera (Piedras Hincadas).

A view of the east coast of the island with La Palma and El Hierro on the horizon, as well as the cliffs which run around the central plateau of the island where the National Park is located.

In other places close to the Park, there are other viewing points of interest such as Abrante, which is very close to theVisitors’ Centre, with views over Agulo and the northern coast and the Santo viewing point in Arure over the west coast of the island.

Located in the park’s largest recreational area, has a self-guided trail and information service all year round. There are different exhibitions about the values of the national park, where to go and what to do.