El Hierro’s population hovers around just 11,000, and its dramatic topography doesn’t lend itself to sprawling resorts or skyscrapers. In addition, the island has no direct flights from outside the archipelago, which means it receives only a handful of visitors compared to its neighbours – approximately 20,300 visitors in 2023, while Tenerife, the largest Canary Island, saw more than 6.57 million.
During my visit, I zigzagged up and down vertigo-inducing volcanic stone paths and trekked through forests of soaring Canary pines, fields of fiery red poppies and past plots of pineapples. And I crunched over black lava sprinkled with vivid green succulents then swam in a luminous-blue natural rock pool – all with barely another soul in sight.
El Hierro’s aim was always to grow visitor numbers gradually. The forward-thinking island has been committed to a wide-ranging sustainable development plan since 1997, including creating museums and visitor centres (there are seven now) that promote its culture and traditions, focussing on activities with limited environment impact and improving the island’s infrastructure while preserving nature (it didn’t get its first paved road until 1962 and there’s famously only one traffic light).