On La Gomera a vineyard tasting starts with a phone call. The wineries are small family plots that take visitors by appointment, and none of them posts a door price. The forest half of the day is easier. The national park information point at La Laguna Grande sits up in the laurel forest at km 26.5 of the GM-2. It's free and opens at 8:30.
The vines above Alajeró
Bodega Niray is on Calle El Guanche above Alajeró, and it's the bodega most used to receiving visitors. Visits run Monday to Friday by appointment, and you get a guided tasting with a walk through the vines. The terraces are hand-built dry stone, and they drop away towards the hamlet of Targa and the open Atlantic.
Everything here is about Forastera Gomera, the island's own white grape. The dry Niray Blanco and the semi-dry Danae are both made from it, and there is a red from Tempranillo and Syrah too. Reviving Forastera was why the owner put his family's vineyard back to work.
No price is published for the visit, so agree it when you book. Ring on a weekday, as there are no weekend visits.
Walking in to the tasting
The winery is also a stop on the Ruta Los Sabores de Alajeró, which is the better way to reach it if you have a morning. The walk is 7.3 km, takes about 2 hours 15 minutes, is graded low difficulty and works all year round. It starts at the Mirador de Alajeró, in the upper part of the old village.
Cheese comes first, 0.6 km in, at the Centro de Interpretación del Queso y el Pastoreo, which sits at the island's working dairy and runs cheese tastings. Gomeran cheese is made from raw goat milk, and you'll meet it smoked, or beaten with pepper and oil into almogrote. The winery is 1.6 km further on, and later stops pour Canary black bee honey and coffee roasted at La Roseta.
The walk itself is free, so you only pay where you go in. No stop publishes opening hours, so phone ahead for each one. Without a car, bus line 3 runs between Alajeró, Playa de Santiago and San Sebastián.
Higher up at Chipude
Bodega Altos de Chipude works dry volcanic plots on the island's south-west shoulder, close to the national park, with the flat-topped rock of La Fortaleza behind. Gloria Negrín is the fourth generation of her family to grow grapes here, and her visit follows the winemaking year with a tasting to match. Each wine is named after the plot its vines stand in.
The white, Rajadero, is built mainly on Forastera Gomera, a vine the family dates back around 500 years on the island. Bottles sell for €15 to €30. No days or hours are published, so this one is a phone call too.
The table at Igualero
Bodega Manuel Sánchez is at the end of the Igualero road, where hand-worked terraces sit at around 1,340 m, often above the clouds. All three wines are Forastera: Cumbres de Igualero, the skin-contact Garabato and a sparkling one, made without chemicals in the vineyard or the cellar.
After the vines you walk about 200 m to a whitewashed house, where the tasting comes with food out of the kitchen. Tortilla, watercress stew with gofio, almogrote and tuna in mojo all appear. For a larger party they'll lay on a full spread of local dishes, arranged on the phone. There's no website and no posted hours, so you or a Spanish-speaking local needs to ring.
Vallehermoso holds a wine week around the Forastera grape from 27 to 30 November, with winery visits and tastings. Check it's running before you go.
Mist at La Laguna Grande
The clearing is a flat meadow ringed by laurel forest hung with moss, and in December the mist moves through the trees for much of the day. Inside the information point there's a small exhibition and walking information for the park, and the glass walls make it a good spot to watch forest birds. It closes at 16:30 and is shut on 25 December and 1 January.
The recreation area around it has parking, toilets, a restaurant and a cafeteria, which makes this the place to put lunch in the middle of a driving day. Garajonay's summit is close by, and the drive from San Sebastián takes about 35 minutes.
Lunch at Las Hayas
Casa Efigenia La Montaña is a village house on the Plaza de los Eucaliptos in Las Hayas. It's on the western edge of the park, handy for both the forest and the Chipude vineyards. The kitchen is all vegetarian Canarian home cooking, and people come for the watercress stew, the mushrooms and the almogrote. There are vegan and gluten-free options. Hours aren't published and the roads up are mountain roads, so book by phone before you drive.
Agulo and the glass walk
Mirador de Abrante is a glass tunnel that hangs about seven metres out over the cliff above Agulo. There's 400 m of air underneath, and the white village and its banana terraces sit below. It's free to walk out onto. If the glass floor is too much, the terrace beside it has a solid floor and a glass wall. The restaurant cooks papas arrugadas, almogrote and grilled cheese with palm honey, and tables are in heavy demand, so book one.
For a longer lunch, Restaurante Las Rosas is about 1 km from Agulo. It serves traditional island food à la carte from 12:30 to 15:30, Monday to Saturday (€€). Demonstrations of silbo gomero, the island's whistled language, are held at 13:00 and 14:00. The dining room looks across the water to Teide.
Palm syrup at Alojera
Casa de la Miel de Palma is in the Aldama hamlet of Alojera, in a green valley of tapped palms dropping to the west coast. It explains how miel de palma is made and pours tastings of guarapo, the fresh sap, as well as the finished syrup. The stuff is a syrup, not honey, whatever it's called locally. It opens Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:30, with last entry at 17:00, and the visits are guided, so book.
San Sebastián in December
The ferry over from Tenerife takes about 50 minutes, with several sailings a day each way and two operators running them. In December the quay at San Sebastián de La Gomera fills with rigged ocean rowing boats. The World's Toughest Row leaves here on 12 December 2026 and heads more than 3,000 miles west. The town is free to walk around, and Casa Colón on Calle del Medio opens Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 15:00. The Torre del Conde and La Aduana are both closed for now, so don't plan around them.
Valle Gran Rey viewpoint
Mirador del Palmarejo stands at about 780 m on the ridge above Valle Gran Rey, a low white César Manrique building of curved walls and volcanic stone. From it the terraced bowl of the valley drops all the way to the sea. It's around 15 minutes by car or bus from the town below. The restaurant inside serves local dishes but posts no hours, so call. Two December dates belong up here as well. The Gemínidas meteor shower falls on the nights of 13 and 14 December. On 26 December there's a trail ascent of La Mérica, the mountain wall above the valley.
Booking and closed days
Every tasting on the island is arranged by phone, and the two high bodegas publish no hours at all, so fix your dates before you fix the driving. Guided day trips that pair a tasting with the forest are being booked steadily, so sort one well ahead if that's your plan. See the La Gomera guide and the La Gomera hotel search.
