Best Time To Travel To: La Palma

La Palma belongs to the Canary Islands and is therefore also considered an island of eternal spring. In fact, the climate on the islands is quite constant throughout the year. On average about 20° C are reached. However, one cannot simply assume that each of the Canary Islands has a spring-like flair all year round.

The winter is traditionally regarding the Canary Islands a popular travel time of Central Europeans. In principle, the winters on La Palma are also mild. But winter on La Palma can always bring rain and cooler temperatures. Snow is quite common at the higher altitudes. Sometimes in winter on the Roque de los Muchachos even snow remains. This is quite curious, because it can then be quite pleasant on the coast and you have a beach vacation in front of snowy background. Winter is unpleasant when Atlantic low pressure reaches La Palma. Then it becomes rainy and cool.

Summer is usually pleasantly warm. Trade winds mitigate the intense heat in a pleasant way. But there are also extremes - especially when air masses from the Sahara reach the island. Then it becomes hot and oppressive. Nevertheless, it is usually the case that there are no longer periods of extreme heat on La Palma. The Levante (the hot Saharan wind) reaches La Palma comparatively rarely, usually twice a year and then for a maximum of four days, rarely much longer. Significant is the fact that for Spanish mainlanders La Palma is a main tourist destination in summer, because the Spaniards flee from the great heat on the Spanish mainland to the comparatively pleasant La Palma. It does not rain much from May to October on La Palma. The west side can be described as dry, only in the east it can rain briefly from time to time. Basically, the higher parts of the island are most likely to be affected by summer rains.

Spring also has its own advantages on La Palma. Normally this time is used by hikers and nature lovers as a travel time. During this time the island is greening, in January to February the almond blossom starts and after that the vegetation continues to blossom. Another important time here is around the end of March, the phase of orange blossom.

As mentioned, the climate is on average balanced and mild. Trade winds bring a pleasant cooling in summer, the Gulf Stream provides quite mild conditions in winter. The coldest month is approximately January with about 21°C, the warmest August with 28°C (average values). You can see that the differences are relatively small. La Palma offers the possibility for a bathing vacation all year round. The water temperatures are on average between 18°C (February) and 23°C (September).

When is the best time for La Palma

La Palma is considered an ideal year-round destination. For the higher destinations you have to be careful, because it can get a bit colder here sometimes. For regions above 1,000mtr. the optimal travel time is in summer. Basically, when visiting La Palma in winter, you have to expect cooler and also wetter phases. In recent years, the phase from late November to January has proven to be quite unstable. May and June have proven to be an interesting time to travel. Then the weather is good, but not yet extremely warm. In addition, you are a little outside the classic peak travel seasons.

Climatetable La Palma