Garajonay National Park Travel Guide — Best Time, Things to Do & Where to Stay

Why Garajonay National Park

Garajonay National Park is situated in the central and northern reaches of La Gomera, an island in Spain's Canary Islands archipelago. Established as a national park in 1981 and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, the park covers 40 square kilometers and extends across all six of the island's municipalities. Receiving nearly 450,000 visitors annually, the area offers tourist accommodation located just outside its official boundaries.

The park takes its name from the Garajonay rock formation, which marks the highest elevation on La Gomera at 1,487 meters. Its topography features a plateau situated between 790 and 1,400 meters above sea level, alongside massive eroded volcanic rocks. Certain formations, such as the prominent Fortaleza rock, were regarded as sacred by native islanders and served as defense strongholds. Popular tradition attributes the region's name to a legendary romance between Gara and Jonay, although early records of this story date to a 1924 newspaper, with the name roots deriving from a native term meaning high crag.

Garajonay is renowned for its humid subtropical forest, serving as a prime example of Canarian laurisilva—a vegetation type that spanned most of Southern Europe during the Tertiary period and persists on the Azores, Madeira, and Canary islands. The park encompasses diverse woodland zones, including dense valley laurisilva harboring large Azores and Canary laurels in sheltered northern valleys, slope laurisilva at higher wind-exposed altitudes, and mixed beech and heather in drier southern environments. Despite an August 2012 forest fire that burned 747 hectares, or roughly 18 percent of the park, the habitat continues to harbor a diverse ecosystem rich in endemic plants, invertebrates, and bats.

Wildlife within the park includes native reptiles such as the Gomeran lizard and Gomeran skink, as well as the stripeless tree frog. Identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International, the park supports populations of the endemic laurel pigeon and Bolle's pigeon, alongside Barbary partridges, plain swifts, Eurasian sparrowhawks, Berthelot's pipits, and island canaries. Visitors primarily explore the park's natural features on foot, utilizing an established network of 18 designated trekking paths.