Hola, and welcome to La Palma Guide.
My name is Paul, and my connection to this island goes back a lifetime. In the early 1980s, my parents fell in love with La Palma. They bought a piece of land, built a small apartment complex and a little house in the village of Tazacorte, and that is where my story with the island begins.
I grew up partly here and even went to school on the island, so I am deeply rooted in La Palma, and especially in Tazacorte. This is not a guide written from a hotel lobby or a quick press trip. It is written by someone who knows the island from the inside.
Why Tazacorte?
For me, Tazacorte is the most beautiful village on the whole island, impossibly cosy and charming. Simply wandering through its narrow streets, past the old Canarian houses, is one of my favourite things in the world. It is something genuinely special. And if you get the chance, take a boat out from the harbour: seeing this coastline from the water is unforgettable.
Why this guide exists
To this day, my family rents out holiday apartments and private houses in Tazacorte. After the devastating 2021 eruption of the Tajogaite volcano, which hit the island and the Aridane valley so hard, we want to do our part to help tourism recover, because La Palma and the people who live here deserve it. Sharing the island I love, honestly and from real experience, is a big part of why I built this guide.
A local’s tip
If you try just one thing while you are here, make it papas arrugadas with mojo verde, followed by a bowl of sopa de garbanzos (Canarian chickpea soup). That is home on a plate for me.
The story behind it all: “Inseljahre”
Long before the first traffic light appeared on La Palma, a young, alternative couple from Berlin set out in the mid-1980s to build a new life on the island. Inseljahre (“Island Years”) is the novel my mother, Christine Emmerich, wrote about exactly that: the dream of paradise, the illusions that slowly crumble, the quirky characters of a small village, and the friendships that grow with the locals. All the while, back home, the Berlin Wall is falling.
Told with warmth, wit and self-irony, it is the story of life between two very different islands and of how, against all odds, a small hotel slowly comes into being. In other words, it is the real story of the very houses where our guests stay today. (The book is in German.)
Stay with us in Tazacorte
If you would like to experience Tazacorte the way we do, you are welcome to stay in one of our own places. We manage both of them ourselves, so you always deal with us directly.
Casa Cardon
Our private holiday house above the village: three bedrooms for up to six guests, a swimming pool, a garden with fruit trees, and a rooftop terrace with a unique view over Tazacorte and the Atlantic. Five minutes from the village centre.
Atlantis Apartments
Studios and fully equipped apartments in the heart of Tazacorte, each with its own balcony and kitchen. There is a poolside garden and a rooftop chill-out area with sunset views, and you are within walking distance of the beach, the square and the cafes. Available per night or per month.
Whether you are planning your first trip or your tenth, I hope this guide helps you discover the real La Palma: the green, wild, starlit island I am lucky to call a second home. ¡Bienvenidos!