Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente

Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente is a national park on the island of La Palma, Spain. It contains the enormous expanse of the Caldera de Taburiente, which dominates the centre of the island. The national park was created in 1954.

The Caldera de Taburiente is the original caldera, its name having come to apply to any very large volcanic crater. However, geologists have determined that Taburiente was surprisingly not formed by volcanism, but by erosion.

The caldera is about 10km across, and in places the walls tower 2000m over the caldera floor. The highest point is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2423 m altitude. During the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands, it was the site of the last stand of the indigenous people of the archipelago, the Guanches. It proved impregnable to the invading Spaniards, and they only defeated the Guanches by luring their leader out on the pretext of holding talks.

The summit is also the site of the Gran Telescopio Canarias observatory.

The main flora of the national park comprises a large forest of Canary Island Pine, with important population of the endangered Canary Islands Juniper also present.