Symposium 241
Travel to La Palma
Santa Cruz de La Palma has airport code SPC. Take care not to confuse this with either Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (on another of the Canary Islands), or Palma de Mallorca (in the Balearic Islands, also Spanish but in the Mediterranean) or even any of the other towns called Santa Cruz which are scattered round the Americas, or even Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Flights from continental Europe
Scheduled flights. Apart from a number of interisland flights (see below) there is one daily direct return flight La Palma - Madrid, operated by Iberia (part of the OneWorld alliance with American Airlines and British Airways). You can usually connect to this flight from Europe and other continents. Some direct flights from Germany to La Palma are also operated as scheduled services.
IMPORTANT: Bear in mind that the connection Madrid - La Palma - Madrid with IBERIA operates during the whole week on THE EXCEPTION of Thursday and Saturday. The connection Tenerife - La Palma - Tenerife with BINTER operates every day. THESE RESERVATIONS BETWEEN ISLANDS CAN ONLY BE MADE IN SITU (Canary Islands). If you should have any doubt or query, please send an e-mail to ebp@iac.es, stating in the subject: IAUS241. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO BOOK YOUR FLIGHT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AS IN SPAIN 6th AND 8th DECEMBER ARE BANK HOLIDAYS.
Charter flights: There are a large number of charter flights direct to La Palma from several cities in Germany, and from Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK. Some of these flights can be booked as scheduled flights, in connection with intercontinental flights. Check out Lufthansa for the flights to La Palma from Germany with their daughter Condor, or KLM from the Netherlands on Transavia. The one weekly flight from the UK is operated as a charter only by JMC and can be booked through travel agents (including some on the web) in the UK.
Inter-island flights
There are frequent inter-island flights from Tenerife (north airport, TFN) to Santa Cruz de La Palma (SPC), and twice a day from Gran Canaria (LPA). The air-line Company Binter operates these flights. Flights to La Palma should be booked in advance with the main ticket as seats are not always available in these small planes unless booked early. Flights take about 30 minutes from Tenerife and 50 minutes from Gran Canaria.
There are many scheduled and charter flights to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Most charter flights to Tenerife operate from the south airport (TFS) and a transfer to the north airport will take at least one hour driving time, so at least about 3 hours must be accounted for. You can travel between airports by taxi, by bus (direct or via Santa Cruz de Tenerife) or by rental car (ask for one-way to the north airport, there are often cars available at a cheap rate).
Transport
Los Cancajos is located between La Palma airport and the capital Santa Cruz de La Palma and the distance from Los Cancajos to either of these two is about 4 km. Bus and taxi to/from the airport take 5-10 minutes.
- Bus: There is a half-hourly bus service all day Santa Cruz-Los Cancajos-Airport and back.
- Car hire: If you wish to hire a car, at a very good rate, we recommend you to use the services of CICAR (info@cicar.com / http://www.cicar.com). You may find the CICAR desk at the airport hall. The rate is 30 Euros/day, full insurance included.
- Taxi: Taxi fares are around 7 Euros from/to Santa Cruz or the airport.