Travel to La Palma
Santa Cruz de La Palma has airport code SPC, and should not be confused with either Las Palmas (de Gran Canaria - on another Canary Island), Palma (de Mallorca - on the Baleares in the Mediterranean) or Santa Cruz (possibly more than one in the Americas).
Flights from continental Europe
Scheduled flights. Apart from a number of inter-island flights (see below) there is one daily direct return flight La Palma - Madrid, operated by Iberia (part of the OneWorld alliance with American Airlines and other companies). You can usually connect to this flight from Europe and other continents. More recently, Spanair has started direct flights from Madrid and Barcelona to La Palma, but they are not every day. Note also that the schedule of the Iberia amd Spanair flights might change in the future.
Charter flights. There are a large number of charter flights direct to La Palma from several cities in Germany, from Switzerland, the Netherlands, and possibly the UK. Some of these flights can be booked as scheduled flights, in connection with intercontinental flights. Check out Condor, LTU and Air Berlin for the flights to La Palma from Germany, or Transavia, Martinair or Dutchbird from the Netherlands. There may be direct flights from the UK as well, but this is not clear at the time of writing these pages.
A useful web page for finding inexpensive connecting flights from airports throughout Europe to/from La Palma is also WhichBudget.
Inter-island flights and ferries.
There are frequent inter-island flights from Tenerife (north airport, TFN) to Santa Cruz de La Palma, and twice a day from Gran Canaria (LPA). Binter Canarias and Islas Airways operate these flights. Flights to La Palma should be booked in advance with the main ticket as seats are not always available in these small planes unless booked early. Flights take about 20 minutes from Tenerife and 50 minutes from Gran Canaria.
There are many scheduled and charter flights to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, as well as daily connections to Madrid and other main cities in Europe. Most charter flights to Tenerife operate from the south airport (TFS) and a transfer to the north airport will take at least one hour driving time, so at least about 3 hours must be accounted for. You can travel between airports by taxi (cost around 80 Euros), by bus (direct or via Santa Cruz de Tenerife) or by rental car (ask for one-way to the north airport, there are often cars available at a cheap rate).
A ferry service is also operated daily between Santa Cruz de La Palma and Tenerife by Fred Olsen. This leaves Los Cristianos in the touristic South of Tenerife every evening, and from La Palma early in the morning. The trip takes 2 hours.