Los Cancajos, also known as Playa de Los Cancajos, is a tourist resort in the Canarian

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

 island of La Palma

La Palma

La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...

. It is the second largest resort on the island, after Puerto Naos.

Location

Los Cancajos is located in the municipality of Breña Baja

Breña Baja

Breña Baja is a municipality on the eastern side of the island of La Palma, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. The ayuntamiento is in the town of San José with an elevation of 300 m. Villa de Mazo lies on the main highway encircling the island, south of the capital...

 on the east coast of La Palma, between the island capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma

Santa Cruz de La Palma

Santa Cruz de la Palma is located on the eastern part of the island of La Palma in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de la Palma is the second largest city and is the capital of the island...

, and La Palma Airport

La Palma Airport

La Palma Airport is an airport located in Breña Baja and Villa de Mazo, south of the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma on La Palma in the Canary Islands. It is operated by Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea, who operate the vast majority of civil airports in Spain...

. It lies just off the main road that encircles the island, near the interchange with the road crossing the centre of the island, to the towns and villages on the west coast, notably Tazacorte

Tazacorte

Tazacorte is a municipality situated on the western coast of the island of La Palma. La Palma forms part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is in the Canary Islands...

.

History

The area used to be dominated by salt pans, which fell into disuse, leaving a large, flat area, and was designated for a tourist resort in the 1980s

Locality

The hotels and self catering apartments have 2,000 of the 7,500 guest bedrooms in La Palma. As well as hotels, the town has a supermarket, stores and restaurants, and, in addition to the tourists, a resident population of 434 (INE, 2004).

Beach

Los Cancajos has several small beaches of black sand, protected by artificial breakwaters, with some rocky coves and headlands, and a palm-tree lined promenade along the shore.