The hidden village on the Canary Islands built into a cave that tourists miss

The Canary Islands in Spain are super-popular with tourists all year round. They are known for stunning beaches, crystal-clear waters and great food. And while many parts of the archipelago struggle with overtourism in the peak summer months, there are still some "hidden" spots that stay well under the radar. One of them is Porís de Candelaria on the island of La Palma.

From a distance the hamlet is almost invisible. A gigantic black-basalt overhang (roughly 50 metres high and 30 metres deep) swallows a handful of white cottages, boathouses and a tiny chapel. When waves crash into the cove it looks as if the Atlantic is trying to reclaim the whole village.

Local records show fishermen from nearby Tijarafe were using the cave as a storm-proof harbour as far back as the 17th century.

Over the generations they added simple summer houses, storage huts and a shrine to the Virgin of Candelaria, giving the settlement its full name.

With no road, no mains power and only the sound of surf echoing under the vault, life there still feels cut off from the modern world.

That inaccessibility is exactly why most holiday-makers never see it.

There is no airport on La Palma's west coast and no public bus to the cliff.

Drivers leave the LP-1 main road at a small brown sign, creep along a one-lane track to a clifftop car park and then tackle a steep rocky path for the final kilometre.

The drop is hot and dusty on the way down and a real calf-burner on the way back up.

Those without a hire car have to book a taxi, a guided hike or a small boat from Puerto de Tazacorte.

Yet the effort is a price worth paying. Inside the cave the air is cool and salty.

Sunlight bounces off turquoise water, fishing skiffs bob on ropes and the whitewashed walls glow.

There are no souvenir stalls, but on summer weekends a kiosk sometimes sells cold beverages, according to those who visited before.

Visitors can swim from polished boulders, snap photos of the cliff-side "street" and watch the sun sink straight into the Atlantic.