Hotels in El Hierro

El Hierro

El Hierro is the smallest and westernmost of the seven main Canary Islands, a 268-square-kilometre island with only around 11,000 inhabitants. For centuries it marked the edge of the known world, and its western tip served as a prime meridian on European maps, which earned it the name "Isla del Meridiano". The island has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2000 and a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2014, and its buildings are kept low, usually no higher than two floors. Its landscape counts more than 500 volcanic cones and the great El Golfo valley, formed by a giant landslide about 15,000 years ago, where the towns of Frontera and Tigaday lie among vineyards and fruit farms. In the west, the junipers of El Sabinar have been bent into twisted shapes by the wind, and the sabina juniper is one of the island's official natural symbols. On the south coast, the fishing village of La Restinga sits beside the Mar de las Calmas marine reserve, one of the best diving areas in Europe, close to where a submarine eruption began in 2011. Natural rock pools such as the Charco Azul and La Maceta make it easy to swim in the Atlantic on a coast with few sandy beaches. The Gorona del Viento wind and pumped-hydro power plant can at times cover the whole island's electricity demand from renewable energy. El Hierro Airport near the capital Valverde has flights from Tenerife and Gran Canaria, and ferries from Los Cristianos in Tenerife reach the port of La Estaca in about two and a half hours. With a Parador, small family-run hotels, apartments and rural houses, hotels in El Hierro suit divers, hikers and travellers who want peace and unspoilt nature.