If you are travelling to Frontera for your holidays, the following information may help by giving you an overview of the resort and the surrounding area.

Frontera is located on the west coast of El Hierro, forming half the crater of the original volcano. Some 50,000 years ago, a large part of El Hierro broke away from the island and fell into the sea. The gap, called El Golfo, has since then filled with sediments, leaving a flat, sandy area surrounded by steep mountains. Frontera is built on these sediments.

This is a very fertile area, famous for its agricultural produce including vines, banana plantations and a profusion of fig trees. This is also one of the few areas in the Canary Islands where pineapples can be grown.

On the coast there are many plantations with irrigation systems, whilst the hillsides are covered with vineyards. The local wine is one of the best in the Canaries. For purchasing local produce there is a farming co-operative which runs its own excellent supermarket near Las Puntas. The main villages of Frontera and Tigaday, have shops, banks, and a good selection of friendly bars and restaurants serving the local cuisine.

The church of the Virgen de Candelaria in Frontera is famous throughout El Hierro. It is only when you get close, you realise it is only the clock tower and the church itself built at the foot of the hill with the bell-tower standing separate from the main building, on a promontory of red volcanic rock. It used to be the case that the bell-rope led straight from the priest’s bed.