Roque de los Muchachos summit and the path to the Espigón del Roque

The roof of La Palma is a heap of dark rocks on the northern rim of the Caldera de Taburiente, with the telescopes at your back and, below, a crater of forest and ravines. You drive up to a cobbled car park beside the National Park information hut, about 5 km from the visitor centre. From there, the Park suggests a short walk, route 9 in its guide, that looks over the Caldera from a cliff.

Six hundred metres to the Espigón

It is 600 m going down from 2,420 to 2,380 m, with barely 10 m of climb; allow an hour return with stops. The Park advises looking at the telescopes first, installed here since 1980. Then the path follows a reddish ridge of porous rock and a grey scree that rings sharply underfoot, and crosses several rock dykes that act as natural viewpoints. At the first knoll you have the Barranco de los Cantos and the group of telescopes on the left, and on the right the Espigón del Roque Chico with, further down, the Agujeritos, a set of saw-toothed peaks. In the Barranco de los Cantos you see patches of colour cut through by dykes: remains of volcanic cones that erosion has sliced. After a small saddle the Teide broom and the summit pink, with white flowers, appear, and about 50 m further on the path ends, beside the great cliff that drops towards the Cantos de Turugumay.

The fenced plots

Between the Roque and the first dyke you will see fenced plots. They are replantings the Park has made since 1994 on the reddish picón (volcanic gravel), with pajonera grasses, echium, wallflowers, violets, brooms and tagasastes, and which it plans to extend with bencomia, Canary cedar, peralillo and summit pink. The fences will be removed when the plants are adult: do not go in.

What you see from the end

In good weather you see Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro, and in the foreground, to the south-west, an old cedar or two and summit peralillos. Often the sea of clouds lies below and only the highest peaks of the Caldera peek out; in autumn the fog sometimes spills over the cliffs to the north-east. The landscape changes in minutes with the fog. The Park recommends it only for those without vertigo.

Hut, road and altitude

The hut opens from 10:00 to 18:00 from October to April and from 9:00 to 20:25 from May to September. There is no bus: you go up by car, taxi or excursion, along the LP-4 from Santa Cruz de La Palma or via Garafía. Walk slowly, because at this altitude oxygen is scarce, and protect yourself from sun and cold. In winter ice makes the path dangerous. Next to the telescopes there are no cafés: bring water and something to eat.