There’s a moment on the first morning, maybe an hour or two in, when the last sounds of the city fade and all you can hear are your own footsteps and the birds. That’s the moment La Gomera starts to work on you. The island is small — you can see it all from its highest point — but walking around it takes a full week and in that week, something shifts. Time slows down, the world shrinks to the trail ahead and the only thing that matters is placing one foot in front of the other.
In this blog post I’ll share with you details about my hiking trip with Fanny to La Gomera, one of the islands from the Canary Archipelago. The GPX of the full route (per day) is provided in the first section.
- Introducing the GR132
- Day 1 : San Sebastian de la Gomera to Hermigua
- Day 2: Hermigua to Vallehermoso
- Day 3: Vallehermoso to Playa Azul
- Day 4: Playa Azul to Valle Gran Rey
- Day 5: Valle Gran Rey to Las Hayas
- Day 6: Las Hayas to Playa Santiago
- Day 7: Playa Santiago to San Sebastian de La Gomera
- Final thoughts
Introducing the GR132
The GR132 is a hike that does a 360° circular route around the whole island. It consists of approximately 130kms and crosses important villages and natural landmarks of La Gomera. It’s usually divided into seven stages and the most difficult part (if not camping) being finding accommodation in the most remote villages, as there are not that many places to stay. Therefore, despite the fact that there’s an official route and markers, if you search online you’ll find out many variants of the route. Our version of the GR132 can be found here: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/list/gomera-9953e05. It includes the course day-by-day.
Day 1 : San Sebastian de la Gomera to Hermigua
🏨 Hotel Ibo Alfaro |🏃 27.71km | ⛰️ 1198m elevation gain | ⏱️ 7h 19m
We set out early for what was planned as being our longest hiking day. We took enough water and food as there would be no stop in-between to re-stock if needed. But first, a detour: Dulcería La Concepción in San Sebastián where I had my first Bollo Gomero. A perfect way to start — warm bread, a croissant and some cookies.
From the bakery, we followed a steep road out of town. At first, it felt like any other street: houses on both sides, a few cars passing, someone watering their garden. But as we climbed, the houses thinned out. Fewer doors, fewer windows, longer gaps between them. And then, almost without noticing, we passed the last one. No more walls, no more rooftops — just the trail, the mountains, and the sea. That was it. The hike had truly begun.
This day set the tone for what the rest of the trip would be: hiking surrounded by lush green mountains and the sea. With almost 28 kilometers ahead and over 1,000 meters of climbing, there was plenty of time to settle into the rhythm of walking — that simple, meditative loop of placing one foot in front of the other until everything else falls away.
Hermigua is a cozy village, with many banana plantations around it. Our hotel for the night – Ibo Alfaro – had the charm of a classic property full of history and beautiful details.
Day 2: Hermigua to Vallehermoso
🏨 Casa Las Dionisias |🏃 18.93km | ⛰️ 1015m elevation gain | ⏱️ 5h 28m
This day brings three clear, sharp memories to my mind:
- The strength of the sea at Hermigua
- How beautiful the village of Angulo is, with its super neatly painted and colorful houses
- How amazing it is to have a piece of bread with fuet and cheese for lunch
The final memory I have of this day and that really warms my heart, is that of sitting in a cafe on the main square of Vallehermoso. I could not help myself but smile upon the cacophony of gentle chaos around me: the kids playing football, using a gate as goal, the table next to mine with older people chit-chatting with the waitress and gossiping about people passing by; the waiter talking very loud towards everyone. All of this accompanied by warm sunlight, making it seem like time passes slower in these villages. It’s a feeling I can only get either when I’m in Spain or Portugal.
Day 3: Vallehermoso to Playa Azul
🏨 Apartamentos Playa Azul | 🏃 14.20km | ⛰️ 847m elevation gain | ⏱️ 4h 29m
Interesting or not, one of the clearest memories I have from this day come from the end of the day. The apartment for the night was by the sea. When I write “by the sea”, I literally mean 5 meters from the waves. Something I miss a lot about Portugal is the sea, so whenever I see it, I often try to go for a swim. However, the combination of low tide, super strong current and a stony beach, made it impossible to go further than water at knee height.
Playa Azul sits at the bottom of Alojera. It consists of an extremely good restaurant, some locals and a few small hotels. It’s one of those places that allows us to feel the strength of the sea and the grandiosity of the landscape, as one feels small surrounded by all the mountains. That was the only night we went out for dinner during the trip and it was totally worth it: local avocados, fresh fish and – what would be one of the best discoveries of the trip for me – gofio. I had never heard of it before; gofio is a type of Canarian flour made from roasted grains or other starchy plants. I love it. From what I saw, it is mostly used for baking, either to make cookies, sweets or bread.
Day 4: Playa Azul to Valle Gran Rey
🏨 Apartamentos Charco Del Conde |🏃 16.09km | ⛰️ 1027m elevation gain | ⏱️ 5h 18m
This was one of the most memorable days of the trip. The trail wound through a mix of landscapes that kept changing with every turn: lush green mountains giving way to tropical dirt roads with exposed rocky sections, then suddenly opening up to reveal huge coastal cliffs dropping into the road below.
The descent was particularly striking. The path took us through what felt like a living timeline of the island’s farming history — stone-walled terraces carved into impossibly steep hillsides, some still had old barns with the walls visible. It was the kind of descent that makes you forget how tired your legs are because there’s always something new to look at.
However, the day ended in a very contrasting manner. Valle Gran Rey is a bigger and much more touristic place than all the other villages we had been to. After spending the day with no one else on the trail, surrounded by nothing but mountains and sea, walking into a resort town felt disorienting. One feels more in Germany than in Spain, given the number of German tourists. We both felt dislocated. The gap between the wild solitude of the trail and the poolside chatter of the town was jarring — though, admittedly, the swimming pool in the hotel provided a very much needed refreshment.
Day 5: Valle Gran Rey to Las Hayas
🏨 Pension Amparo Las Hayas |🏃 15.02km | ⛰️ 1346m elevation gain | ⏱️ 4h 43m
On day 5 we were forced to take a different route than the original GR132 does, as there was no accommodation available in La Dama. Therefore, we had to make a detour further north towards the Garajonay Park. Looking back, I’m happy we had to do that. Despite being very beautiful, the landscape along the coastal line of La Gomera is relatively similar everywhere. This deviation towards the North allowed us not only to go to the highest part of the island, but also to briefly enter a different landscape.
This day consisted of a very long beautiful climb all the way from the beach to Las Hayas. We encountered a Belgian woman that had been to the island many times before and she said she had never seen it so green due to all the rain that happened the weeks before our arrival. The landscape consisted of endless hills covered in green, many plants and two small cozy villages before arriving in Las Hayas.
We stayed at Pension Amparo Las Hayas, which is also a restaurant. The best part for the night was the relationship built between Fanny and Moesikes, the cat from the restaurant. I don’t think the cat has ever received so much love and (especially) attention from a visitor. The hospitality included sleeping in our room – with Fanny. I had also never seen such a calm and peaceful cat. From love only love can grow.
Day 6: Las Hayas to Playa Santiago
🏨 Apartamentos Noda |🏃 22.86km | ⛰️ 770m elevation gain | ⏱️ 6h 19m
Day 6 brought us to the highest point of La Gomera: Alto de Garajonay. It was beautiful. Breathtaking 360° views of the whole island and to the other islands. We were at the top relatively early, so we had it for a bit all for ourselves.
The rest of the day was a long long long descent. I remember thinking that it felt like a descent during one of my trail competitions. It just feels endless, one keeps on going down and down and down. As always, the views compensate for the struggle. This descent was also one of the most beautiful I have ever done. I remember one exact turn in which one cannot see the way anymore as it is engulfed by the mountains surrounding it.
Playa Santiago is a cozy town by the sea, already with more tourists and feeling of a bigger place. We could feel the end of the hike was approaching. At least, we could enjoy the terrace with beautiful views towards the sea and the mountains. What else?
Day 7: Playa Santiago to San Sebastian de La Gomera
🏨 Hotel Villa Gomera |🏃 20.02km | ⛰️ 1117m elevation gain | ⏱️ 6h 26m
Contrasting with what I love about the first day, the last day of a hike is marked by the slow return into the city. First, we see it from far away and wish the distance separating us from the end would last an eternity Then, we start hearing the noises and finally we’re there. I always feel out-of-place upon arrival. It’s like I don’t belong there. We enter the city with the same clothes we’ve been wearing for a week, are used to being in the silence of Nature and do nothing else with our days except walk. It’s always confronting knowing that will soon be gone.
Besides the feelings described above, this day consisted of going up and down along the coast until a final descent towards the capital of La Gomera. The most interesting part of this day were the views towards the human-modified hills surrounding us. Due to its steepness, it’s not possible to directly cultivate on the hills around the island. Therefore, people created these stone-walled terraces to maximize, cultivate, and irrigate land for crops on rugged terrain. They dramatically impact the landscape. Moreover, some of them were quite far from roads, so I got myself often thinking about how difficult, demanding and time consuming it must have been to create such terraces.
Final thoughts
Closing the circle
There’s something about finishing a circular hike. You end where you began, but the place feels different — or maybe you do. Walking back into San Sebastián de La Gomera after seven days on the trail, I carried the accumulated weight of everything we had passed through: the café in Vallehermoso where time seemed to stop, the waves crashing five meters from our bed in Playa Azul, the quiet of the Garajonay forest, the terraced hillsides that spoke of generations of labor. The city was the same one we had left a week earlier, but we arrived in it as different people — sunburn, quieter and reluctant to let the silence go.
That’s what I’ll remember most about La Gomera. Not any single view or village, but the feeling of the days blending into one another, of life reduced to its essentials: walk, eat, sleep, repeat. And in that simplicity, a kind of clarity that’s hard to find anywhere else.
Practical tips
La Gomera is a beautiful island and a great destination for those interested in being surrounded by green nature. Despite some places like Valle Gran Rey or Playa Santiago being a bit more touristic, most of the villages are not very crowded and still hold much of their original character and authentic Canarian atmosphere. I think it’s a perfect destination for those looking to escape the cold of winter.
Despite consisting of long days with considerable elevation, the hike itself is not very physically demanding, as it is very well marked and the paths are mostly on easy, comfortable terrain. It’s important to take enough water and food, as usually there are only places to re-stock either at the start or the end of each day. The views are totally worth it!
Off Trail 
One response to “Hiking the GR132 in La Gomera”
I love how you captured the mix of peaceful trails, stunning views, and charming villages, it really makes me want to do the GR132 myself. La Gomera looks like the perfect spot to unplug and just get lost in nature.
LikeLike