Stage 5: accommodation

Hotel Torre del Conde

The centrally located Hotel Torre del Conde is a fairly new and well-kept middle-class hotel with a beautiful view of the adjacent park with the eponymous fortified tower "Torre del Conde" from the 15th century (Link: Torre del Conde).
Hikers are welcome guests here and on some days they even outnumber them, as the hotel is often booked by guided hiking groups.
The hotel has a small roof terrace with a whirlpool and an infrared heat cabin.

Tip: This overnight stay is suitable for stages 5 and 6 if you take the bus back to San Sebastián de la Gomera after stage 6. You can then stay 2 nights in the same accommodation and hike with smaller luggage on the last day.

For booking accommodation we recommend: our tabular planning aid.

Reader tip: Hotel Apartamentos Villa Gomera / Hotel with left-luggage office

According to various reader feedback, the "Hotel Apartamentos Villa Gomera" seems to have become the favourite of all circular walk travellers (see Field report from Almuth and Field report from Katrina). This is mainly due to the fact that the Hotel Apartamentos Villa Gomera has a large luggage storage room where overnight guests can store additional luggage for the duration of the long-distance hike for a small fee. This is particularly practical if you are planning another week's relaxing holiday on the island after the long-distance hike. Ideally, you should stay in this hotel twice: once on the day of arrival and then again at the end of the long-distance hike (double overnight stay for stage 5 and stage 6 as described above). Link to the accommodation: Hotel Apartamentos Villa Gomera.

Luxurious: Overnight stays in the "Parador de La Gomera"

If you want to treat yourself to a piece of "typical Spanish" luxury at the end of the circular hike around La Gomera, you can of course also rent a room in the local hotel of the state hotel chain "Paradores". Hotels in this chain are mostly located within historic walls and/or in a unique scenic location. The Parador de La Gomera is enthroned on a rock above San Sebastián de la Gomera, has a large garden with subtropical plants and a great view, even from the swimming pool (Link: Parador de La Gomera). The hotel is the only 4-star hotel in the island's capital, San Sebastián de La Gomera.

  • The gardens of the "Parador de La Gomera" in the evening

Stage 6: map

Stage 6: Directions

  • Ascent from the beach "Playa de la Guancha"

Today is the last day of our circular hike and at around 21 km we have the longest of the six stages ahead of us!
Our tip: If you start on time today, you can catch the bus or the ferry back to San Sebastián at the stage destination - in other words: we can leave some of our luggage at the hotel if we plan the overnight stay accordingly.
Departure times for bus line 3 in Playa den Santiago back to San Sebastián de la Gomera (as of January 2016): Monday to Saturday 3:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Sundays and public holidays only 5:30 p.m. Current departure times: www.guaguagomera.com.
Recently, it has also been possible to take the ferry back to San Sebastián de la Gomera, since Fred Olsen has expanded the ferry service - many thanks to Tamara and Simona for pointing this out! The current departure times can be found here: https://www.fredolsen.es/en (As of February 2018, 3 daily connections, last departure at 7:40 p.m.).

Danger: there are no shops on the way and hardly any shade on the route! It is advisable to take enough water with you!

Our hike starts at the short beach promenade of San Sebastián in a southwesterly direction. Immediately after the blue sports field (waypoint 1) we turn right onto a gravel road and walk towards the La Gomera power station. Directly behind (waypoint 2) the GR-132 leads up the slope to the left.
Soon the last houses have disappeared from our field of vision and we are only surrounded by the impressive landscape of stone, various bushes, daisy bushes and a never-ending view of the sea.

Facts about stage 6

Altitude: 1140m ascent / 1140m descent
Route: 21km
Duration: 7:30h (without breaks)

Route download - Stage 6 (GPX file)

All other downloads can be found at maps.

Playa de la Guancha

After a little over 1 hour we reach the first small beach, the "Playa de la Guancha". From there, a stone-lined path that cannot be overlooked leads into the valley. We follow this and soon climb the left slope to circumnavigate it from behind halfway up. After a short zigzag ascent with a beautiful view back into the valley, we reach a crossroads with a break bench at waypoint 4. Here we turn left, ie we initially go slightly uphill in a southerly direction. Shortly thereafter we climb down in narrow serpentines to the next beach. Down in the river bed (waypoint 5) we come across a wall behind which there is a road, which we follow to the beach.

Playa el Cabrito

A banana plantation used to be in this lonely valley. Today, the “Playa el Cabrito” is almost entirely taken up by an ecological hotel complex. The elongated, former banana hall, which is now used by the hotel as a dining room, is clearly visible from the beach. Danger: The hotel does not offer a restaurant service for external visitors and should therefore not be planned as a supply station!
The large switchbacks of our next ascent on the mountain flank behind the hotel are just as clearly visible. Leave the beach just behind the former banana hall and walk under the steep rock face behind the hotel grounds to the beginning of the ascent.
Arrived on the ridge (approx. 200 meters in altitude), we follow the path to the right - to the left the path only leads to a "dead end", albeit with a beautiful view.
Another climb takes us to about 380 meters in altitude, then we continue to 500 meters in altitude, where we finally meet the abandoned settlement "Morales" (waypoint 6). There we follow the signs towards Playa de Santiago. From now on it's a leisurely descent.
We cross “Contreras”, another abandoned settlement, and soon see the first houses of Playa de Santiago in the distance. Attention: the perspective belies the fact that there are still three medium-sized "Barrancos" (gorges) to be crossed with ascents and descents before you reach your destination!

Playa de Santiago

The path to Playa de Santiago is long because there are still many switchbacks and intermediate climbs to be overcome shortly before the destination. Some of these lead along the paved road, some have steeper shortcuts for pedestrians.
The last part of the way leads along the driveway past the golf course to the entrance of the large hotel complex "Hotel Jardín Tecina". The bus stop for the trip back to San Sebastián is a short distance further in the bend of the main road that crosses our path. If you have booked an overnight stay in the lower part of Playa de Santiago or want to take the ferry back to San Sebastián instead of the bus, you have to go down a little or another 1.5 km from here.

Stage 6: accommodation

Accommodation in Playa de Santiago

If you start hiking in time for stage 6, you can catch the bus back to San Sebastián in Playa de Santiago on time and stay there two nights in a row (our tip, see accommodation stage 5).

If you want to treat yourself to something special after the many highlights and meters of altitude at the end of the hike, we recommend the elegant Hotel Jardín Tecina in Playa de Santiago: The most luxurious hotel on the island is located right next to the golf course, has several restaurants and pools and offers nice Gimmicks such as a cocktail bar directly in the swimming pool (Link: Hotel Jardin Tecina). Incidentally, the hotel belongs to the Norwegian Fred Olsen Group, which also operates the ferry to Tenerife.