Garajonay National Park

Garajonay covers the high centre of La Gomera with laurisilva, a laurel forest of a type that grew across the Mediterranean basin before the Ice Ages and now survives on a handful of Atlantic islands. The trees are twisted, moss-covered and permanently wet, kept that way by trade winds pushing cloud against the ridge, where it condenses on the leaves and drips to the ground. Sunlight barely reaches the floor. Walking trails run through the forest from roadside car parks, most of them short, and the Alto de Garajonay at the summit looks out over the cloud toward Teide on Tenerife when it clears.

What you actually see

• The laurisilva - dense, moss-hung laurel forest kept wet by cloud.
• Alto de Garajonay - the island's summit, above the cloud layer on clear days.
• The horizontal rain - condensation dripping from leaves in the trade wind cloud.
• Los Roques - volcanic plugs standing above the forest on the southern edge.

When to go

The forest is green all year, but October to May is when the cloud sits most reliably on the ridge and the woodland looks the way it should. Summer is drier and busier with day trippers off the Tenerife ferry. Go early: the first boat gets you up to the ridge ahead of the tour coaches.

Honest expectations

It rains, drips or fogs on most days up on the ridge, which is the point but still wet; take waterproofs and expect no summit view on many visits. The island roads are steep and slow, so a hire car takes far longer than the distances suggest. Day trips from Tenerife leave very little actual walking time.

Nearby

Valle Gran Rey and the terraced ravines on the west coast.