Caldera de Taburiente
Caldera de Taburiente
Caldera de Taburiente is a large national park on the northern part of the island La Palma. The park is dominated by an enormous crater, the walls of which protrude almost straight up in most places. During the 10 weeks that we have been on La Palma we have visited Caldera de Taburiente several times. Read all about this national park, its origins and the visits and hikes we have made in this blog.
Caldera de Taburiente has been officially a national park on La Palma since 1954. There is even an official memorial sign for this, which can be found along the official hiking trail PR LP-13. For enthusiasts, the exact location is on the east side of the trail just after the campsite towards the south. The national park is of course best known for its enormous crater, the Caldera. The Caldera is about 2 million years old and consists of a vulcanic ‘shield’ about 20km around. At first it was thought that it was a huge vulcano crater. But it is now known that it is an erosion crater. That does not mean that the area is not vulcanic, on the contrary La Palma is actually a large vulcano with many craters.
The Caldera has a diameter of about 10 km and in some places the ridges rise more than 2000 meters above the deepest point of the Caldera. The highest point is the Roque de los Muchachos on the north side of the Caldera at an altitude of 2426 meters. Roque de los Muchachos is easily accessible by car for those who want to skip the extremely difficult hike from Tazacorte to the top. It is on the LP-4 road which runs east to west across the island on the north side of the Caldera. At Roque de los Muchachos is also the Observatory just below the top. Here are several dozen telescopes that study the universe.
Roque de los Muchachos
Caldera de Taburiente seen from the viewpoint at Roque de los Muchachos with the southern part of La Palma in the background
On the other side of Roque de Los Muchachos in the Caldera, on the southeastern rim of the crater, is the Mirador de la Cumbrecita viewpoint at 1287m with fantastic views of the Caldera. This viewpoint is accessible by car from the visitor center in El Paso. There is limited parking space at the car park, so if you want to park there, you have to book in advance, this can be done online.
In the southeast, the Caldera connects to the Cumbre Nueva mountain ridge and even further south is the Cumbre Vieja. These two mountain ridges together form the foundation for the southern part of the island. The fantastic hiking route Ruta de los Volcanes also runs over this part of the island. This 17km route from El Pinar to Fuencaliente takes you past some fantastic vulcano craters.
On the southwest side, the Caldera ends in the sea along the gorge Barranco de Las Angustias. This river bed is dry most of the year. When we were on La Palma in January 2021, there was the storm Filomena that caused a huge mud flow in the Barranco. Also take a look at the special blog about storm Filomena.
Barranco
Hiking through the barranco’s in the Caldera is a fantastic experience
We have visited Caldera de Taburiente several times. You can do many fantastic hikes where you can experience all facets of the Caldera. Our first experience was the huge mud flow that storm Filomena caused through the Barranco de Las Angustias towards the sea. The enormous amount of water that had fallen into the mountains and Caldera created this mud flow. It took all kinds of rubbish along the way, but also trees and unfortunately also animals. On our second experience, after pre-booking, we drove to Mirador La Cumbrecita. On the day we did this, many hiking trails were still closed. It was two days after the storm Filomena and many rocks had fallen on the hiking trails and the danger of falling rocks had not yet passed everywhere. But we were able to take a short hike west to Lomo de las Chozas. Luckily the weather had improved after the storm and from the Mirador and during the walk we got a great first impression of the Caldera. You immediately see the depth of the crater because you walk there at about 1000 meters altitude. And you can see the enormously high steep mountain walls on the other side of the Caldera.
Fantastic landscape
The Caldera de Taburiente offers a fantastic landscape with steep mountain walls and deep ravines
In the weeks that followed, we walked the PR LP-13 hiking trail in several stages. This trail starts in Los Llanos and goes through a circle along, over and through the Caldera to the campsite deep in the Caldera and back to Los Llanos. The total length of the entire route is 27.1 km and there are more than 1100 vertical meters to overcome. The experienced hiker could do this in 1 day, but must then really continue, climb and descend. And then there is little time left to enjoy the great nature and the beautiful views. So we did the trail in a number of stages. Together we have done the eastern part of the hike together. For this we had parked the car at the parking lot below in the Barranco de Las Angustias, this is called Estacionamento de la Caldera de Taburiente.
From Los Llanos the mountain road LP-214 first goes up a bit and then down to this parking lot at the river bed of the Barranco. From there you can also pick up the hiking route PR LP-13 well, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. The eastern part is not too much climbing and descending for the first kilometers and partly goes through the Barranco. When the Barranco is dry, still the water flows, but often does not reach the sea. We hiked this part anti-clockwise to the point Dos Aguas and back again. Two streams of water from the Caldera come together at Dos Aguas. This eastern part is fantastic to walk. You walk through the Barranco, see the high mountain walls in the distance and the landscape is constantly changing.
Hiking
Caldera de Taburiente offers fabulous hiking opportunities
When our friend Thomas visited, we walked a large part of the circular around the Caldera. We then skipped the steep part of climbing. That is the western part from the car park clockwise to the Mirador de Los Brecitos at just above 1100m high. Geert had already climbed this part on his own from the parking lot and then completed the round clockwise. But it had taken him all day and we did not want to exhaust our visitor too much. For the less experienced walker, there is the option to have a taxi that takes you from the parking lot to Los Brecitos. Then you start the hike from there and walk about 12km back to the parking lot, mostly descending. When we did that with the three of us, the weather was fantastic and we could enjoy it to the maximum.
The first part from Los Brecitos is on a hiking trail along the crater and you will see the high mountain walls on your left for kilometers. On the right side you often look hundreds of meters into the depth of the crater. If you look behind you, you have a phenomenal view over the Barranco towards the sea. In good weather, which we had, you can see Los Llanos and even the island of El Hierro in the distance. You descend and at some point come down into the Caldera. There you look straight up and you see Roque de los Muchachos, impressive. You have then arrived in the riverbed and when we were there water flowed but you could enter the riverbed well. It is actually the turning point because from there you walk back in a southerly direction towards the parking lot. Then you pass the campsite which is great. You can only camp there with a tent and the campsite is only accessible by foot. But it is really worth it to stay there with a tent for a few nights. The section in a southerly direction descends a little further along and through the Barranco until you reach Dos Aguas and continue towards the parking lot. During this walk you really experience everything that the Caldera de Taburente has to offer. From fantastic views to hiking through the crater to walking on mountain trails with fantastic views over the Caldera, the Barranco, parts of La Palma and the Atlantic Ocean.
Stunning Views
View from Mirador de Los Brecitos with Los Llanos and the island of El Hierro in the background
Of course you can visit Caldera de Taburiente by car. But we recommend using the hiking trails as much as possible. La Palma is a hiking paradise anyway, especially in this beautiful national park. If you are not an experienced hiker, drive to the parking lot and let the taxi take you up. From there, the approx. 14km hike, which often descends, is easy to do. Take all day for that, bring enough provisions and cameras, you will continuously take pictures. When you are a little more experienced, park in the parking lot and hike the route clockwise. Then the first 6 km up to Los Brecitos are really tough, but after that the remainder of about 12km is easy to do.
How we enjoyed Caldera de Taburente! We were on La Palma for a long time so we had the opportunity to go several times. But even if you go for example for a week, go at least twice to Caldera de Taburiente. Once to hike parts of the PR LP-13, and once to Roque de los Muchachos. This way you get a fantastic impression of this national park and the overwhelming nature it has to offer.
For more photo material and information about Caldera de Taburiente, check out our Instagram posts and our Polarsteps page!
Ella & Geert.