On La Palma, the landscape blends into a choreography of light and colour that inspires the beholder. Amid volcanoes, starry skies, cliffs and ancient forests, the island displays a natural palette that has enchanted generations of artists. Today, that same inspiration can be found inside the Parador de La Palma, where nature, art and tradition dialogue in harmony.
The fact that La Palma is known as "La isla Bonita" is no coincidence: located between the sea and the sky, its landscapes offer unique contrasts that make it one of the most beautiful places in the archipelago. Many have been captivated by the charms of an island that unashamedly displays all the colours that decorate the artists’ palette: the intense green of the laurel forests, a remnant of a time when this vegetation was the master of the tropics; the turquoise blue of the sea in El Proís de Candelaria, a small fishing village hidden inside a cave; the bright jet of the sand that covers Nogales beach, tucked between the land and the ocean; the pearly white that dots the sky on clear nights, which is why the island was the first Starlight reserve in the world; the orange that colours the iron-rich water of the Cascada de los Colores waterfall in the Caldera de Taburiente National Park; the pale pink of the Fuencaliente salt flats at the southern tip of the island; the purple that covers the northern ridges when the La Palma violet blooms; and the light yellow of the sulphur on the crater of the Tajogaite volcano, which erupted in 2021.
So it is not surprising that the island is a source of inspiration for a multitude of artists, from painters and musicians to photographers. This is the case of Francisco Concepción who, in his oils and watercolours, made the streets, corners and shapes of the island his own, but also of Richard Mosse who, with his camera, presents a raw yet poetic vision of the landscape transformed by the volcanic eruption. His series "Terraforms", recently exhibited at ARCO Madrid 2025, invites us to reflect on the fragility of nature and the way in which human beings interact with the environment to prevent catastrophes.
Paradores are no stranger to this artistic sensibility, and in the new decoration project for the Parador de La Palma, art and crafts play a major role. Works by prominent Canarian artists such as César Manrique, Martín Chirino, Francisco Concepción Pérez and Gregorio Toledo, as well as traditional ceramics from El Molino and textiles from the El Mazo School of Crafts, are integrated naturally into the different spaces, making each room a first-class artistic experience.
Perfectly integrated into its surroundings, the large wooden Canarian balconies look out over the Atlantic and the garden that stretches out at its feet, where the green of the more than seventy species it houses contrasts with the black of the volcanic stone. This interplay of colours is transferred to the interior where, around an exuberant Canarian courtyard, terracotta and dark tones take over, giving a sense of calm to the common areas, as well as to the restaurant, which is the ideal space to enjoy the gastronomy and the colourful Canarian products such as gofio, mojo picón spicy sauce, cheeses and black limpets. Against this backdrop, the vibrantly coloured sconces by the artist Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre serve as inspiration for the rooms and the café, filling them with dynamism and joy. Also, by recovering items of furniture from the old Parador, the historic essence of the establishment has been preserved, in a tribute to the island that combines the richness of its culture and craftsmanship with the natural elements that make its landscape a dreamlike place.
