Valle Gran Rey

The Valle Gran Rey (Valley of the Great King, meaning Hupalupa, a king of the Gomeros) is a municipality of La Gomera. The town of La Calera has been the seat of administration since 1930.

Thanks to its terraced cultural landscape with an abundance of palm trees, extensive banana plantations and many scattered small houses, the valley offers an almost exotic sight. In the 1970s and 1980s, a particularly large number of hippies were drawn here. The valley has sometimes been compared to dropout places such as Goa or Kathmandu.

The municipality of Valle Gran Rey has by far the highest tourist use on the island of La Gomera. The valley has been easily accessible since the access road was widened and the port was expanded. There was a significant increase in hotels and tourist apartment blocks, with a total of around 1,400 beds, between 1990 and 2005. This could gradually transform the previous individual tourism into mass tourism.

Driving to the valley every now and then is definitely fun; it has everything there, including a sandy beach and delicious fish restaurants. I don't want to live there at the moment; spending two months in the tourist-hippie soup is too much for me 🤣.Read more