El Hierro Holiday Information

If you are planning your holidays to El Hierro the following information may help by giving you an overview of the island.

Due to the absence of sandy beaches, El Hierro has escaped the holiday tourist invasions experienced by other islands. Instead it has caught the attention of naturalists. Its hilly landscape and unusual fauna and flora are part of its appeal.

El Hierro is the smallest of the Canary Islands, and the furthest west; consequently it is the last place in Spain where the sun sets. Superb pine forests, sheer mountain walls and fantastic outlook points or miradors are also available to the visitor on their holidays to El Hierro.

Rural tourism on El Hierro comes into its own, with a carefully managed network of hotels and places to stay. It even has the strange little Punta Grande stone hotel that is the complete opposite of luxurious! It has no amenities to speak of and sits dangerously close to the waves which often come up over the rocks and hit the sides of the hotel itself.

There are ample opportunities for activities on El Hierro holidays. Hiking enables visitors to appreciate the wonderful landscapes shaped by spectacular lava spills, volcanic cones, green pine forests and laurisilva woods. The cliffs that rise up out of the transparent waters surrounding El Hierro are famous for their excellent sea bed conditions, making these waters ideal for scuba-diving; in fact El Hierro attracts some of the most acclaimed underwater photographers, who come to capture on film the huge diversity of marine species in the crystal clear waters.

A great natural feature of El Hierro is the bay of El Golfo. Some believe this to be the rim of a large crater, half of which is sunken and the other rising theatrically to over 1000m.

The people of El Hierro are the descendants of the ancient Bimbache tribes, who worshipped the sacred Garoe evergreen tree, which produced water from its leaves.

For thousands of years, until Columbus proved otherwise, El Hierro was considered the end of the world - this was the last piece of land which Columbus was to see until he landed in the Bahamas in 1492. In the Old World, El Hierro was considered finis terrae, Meridian Zero passed through Orchilla until astronomers in the 19th century fixed this point in Greenwich, London.

Things to See and Do on your El Hierro Holiday
From the smallest hotel in the world, to giant lizards, take a look at what there is to do in El Hierro. Take a dip in a natural swimming pool, or go back in time to see houses and preserved scribblings.

Top 3 Requested Hotels in El Hierro during February 2010>

Parador de El Hierro	4 Star	Frontera, El Hierro
Complejo Rural la Brujita	3 Key	Frontera, El Hierro
Frontera Apartments	2 Key	Frontera, El Hierro

Map of El Hierro
Take a look at this El Hierro map and see where the various resorts are located.

El Hierro Weather and Temperature Chart :

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sunshine	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	10	8	6	6	5
Temp °C	20	20	21	22	23	25	27	29	27	25	23	21
Rainfall	54	59	40	25	9	0	0	3	5	43	88	107

Average daily hours of sunshine | Average daily temperature °C | Average monthly rainfall [mm]

El Hierro Holiday Resorts:
There are 2 main resorts on El Hierro:

El Hierro Holidays in Frontera - Located on the west coast of El Hierro, Frontera is a very fertile area and famous for its agricultural produce including banana plantations, fig trees, pineapples and vines.
El Hierro Holidays in Valverde - The capital of El Hierro, Valverde is also known as Santa Maria de Valverde and is a pretty town with easy access to the top Tamaduste and La Caleta.

Serving Airports:
You will need to fly to either Tenerife - TFS or Gran Canaria - LPA and then by boat or internal flight to El Hierro.
Flight time from the UK : Approximately 4 hours.

Beaches in El Hierro:
There are 35 beaches on the island of El Hierro, with the best located on the east facing coast. The longest beach, more than 3km in length, is the stretch of sand including the Playas Almorranas, Playecillas, Arena, the Playa de los Cardones and the Playa de las Calcosas, fronting the El Hierro Parador.

Eating Out in El Hierro:
There are a few restaurants on this small island - the speciality being seafood and stews. Dishes include potaje - a legume-based stew, puchero - meat stew, and rancho con papas - meat with potatoes.

Fish can be fried, stewed or grilled and the typical garnish is papas arrugadas - wrinkled potatoes boiled in salty water and sauces are mojo rojo and mojo verde prepared with vinegar, oil, garlic, salt and spices.

Quesadillas are cheese-based desserts. The local cheese has become an important export as well as the wine produced in El Golfo [which has a high alcohol content].

Thinking of driving abroad?
Take time to check if the country you are
visiting requires an International Driving
Permit as well as your domestic one.

Other Canary Islands Holidays:

Telephone us, send an enquiry, or search online for cheap flights to El Hierro, cheap holidays in El Hierro, discount flights, hotels, apartments and villas for El Hierro holidays in the Canary Islands

Disclaimer:
By its very nature much of the information in our travel guides is subject to change at short notice and travellers are urged to verify information on which they are relying with the relevant authorities. Corona Holidays [UK] Limited cannot accept any responsibility for any loss or inconvenience to any person as a result of information contained above.