Gran Canaria travel guide
Resorts
Gran Canaria is one of the Canary Islands. The Canaries are a small group of Spanish islands 4 hours flying time south of the UK off the coast of Morocco / north west Africa. The island has a very sunny and warn year round spring like climate. Winter is the peak time for tourism due to north Europeans seaking winter sun. Think of the island as a massive volcanic centre with ridges seperated by steep ravines radiating outwards, and a narrow coastal fringe around the edge linked by an orbital road, with Las Palmas, the capital, added at the top.
- The south coast of the island is very dry, almost desert like, with year all day round sunshine, and almost no rain. It has the main sun-and-sand tourist resorts.
- Masopalomas / Playa des Ingles (twin towns separated by sand dunes coastal park) is the largest. Its gay and naturist friendly beaches, many appartment-hotels and 'club' hotels', and bar / restaurant malls.
- Puerto Rico has more families and groups. The hotels are either up the sides of a steep cliffs or a steep sided valley overlooking a bar/restaurant mall
- Puerto Morgan is quieter and more upmarket with restaurants around a pretty harbour
- The north coast is greener and often has sea mists, which make it cooler than it should be for its latitude.
- The capital, Las Palmas, the largest city in the Canaries, is in the north west. It is quite spread out urban sprawl. There is a small old town around the cathedral, a shopping district, and an urban beach (west side), but each of these areas is a mile or so apart. The islands excellent bus service is centered on the capital, so if you wish to explore by bus, you must be based here.
- No resorts on the north coast (no sand or beaches)
- Puerto des Nieves in the north east is a picturesque white-painted town around a small harbour
- The east coast with the airport, has few beaches and is mainly industrial.
- The west coast is still wild. The orbital motorway hasn't reached here yet, so slow windy roads, with lots of switchbacks, and dramatic views
- High cliffs in the north-west, limited beach access
- Puerto is the only west coast beach town. Small, no hotels. Inland is Agae, the only town
- The only road in the south-west is inland, limited access to the coast, but a couple of gret drives (windy, switchbacks) inland to the moutianous centre
- The centre has spectacular volcanic mountains that rises to 2,000m (6,000 feet). They are covered in pine 'cloud forest', have views to the nighbouring islands, ridges, volcanic caderas, and massives monoliths (the cores of weathered away volcanic peaks). Most of the island's walks are based in this area.
- Cruz de Teja is the islands 'centre'. A crossroads with a few hotels and cafes, and car park for many walks
- Teja to the west is a touristy mountain town with a few hotesl and cafes, and balcony views
- Axxx to the north west is a much prettier touristy moutain village
- South is Nieves (the highest hill) and xxxx (the most dramtic monolith)
- Further south is Barthxxxxx
- There is a good fast (80 - 120 km/h) orbital motorway along the north, east (past the airport), and south coasts. However, all the roads along the west coast, and into the interior, are very slow with lots of switchbacks and blind bends which you have to go round very slowly. They are not a place for new drivers. Allow 90 mins of slow careful driving from the south coast resorts to the mountains in the centre (and another 90 mins back!).
Where to Stay
This is a difficult question if you're planning on walking or exploring the island.
If you're travelling by bus, its easy, choose the capital, Las Palmas, near the main bus station, as its the centre of the bus service.
If you're renting a car
- Las Palmas. The island's roads are centered on the capital, but parking is a nighmare and very expensive. Choose a hotel with an agreement with a parking garage. Unfortunately, this is very hard to check online. You'll have to check with the hotels individually before booking. On-street parking is (mostly) free but near impossible to find. Parking garges are around 1.5 + 1.5 euros/hour (up to 25 euros a day). There is a free park and ride near the xxxx center on south of the east coast beach (the hotels aren't near here).
- The south. The main tourist resorts (95% of visitors to the island), with most of the accomodation, are on the south coast. But its a long drive along slow mountain roads to the walks in the centre.
- The mountain villages. There are a couple of mountain villages, but they have few or expensive hotels, and are dead in the evenings. None of these options is perfect. A private holiday rental in this area is possible, but stock up with a week's supplies at a coastal supermarket on the way from the airport.
- Cruz de Teja (the 'centre' of the island), is a crossroads, with a Parador (expensive heritage hotel) and 1 other hotel. Other than that, a few cafes only open in the daytime
- Teja, about 20 mins drive west and lower from the crossroads, is a small tourist / second home town. 2 hotels. Cafes with a dramatic view, quite in the evenings.
- Las Vegas, about 30 minutes lower and east, is a working town, not touristy, has shops, cafes, banks, but only a few hotels
- Puerto de Nieves, on the north east coast, is very pretty, and a good base for a couple of days to explore the north east. Still, allow at least 60-90 mins from here to northerly walks
Types of Accomodation
Use Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, or flight + hotel package tour to find a hotel or apartments (hotel with living room area and kitchenette). This is what most people do
Try xxxx or airbnb to find a privately rented rooms/flats
Try ownersabroad to find (often rural) houses to rent - this is best for a group
Camping is also possible
Choosing a Hotel
This can drive you mad. There are hundreds of hotels and apart-hotels. And thousands of reviews on TripAdvisor and the hotel booking websites. Here's how to start
- Start with choosing the resort. Do you want gay / naturist friendly (Playa del Ingels or Maspolomas) , or a party / fish and chips and Irish pub resort (Puerto Rico) ? Or do you want a smaller town that still has some Canarian influence (Puerto del Morgan)? Some resorts are new, just hotels by the beach with no town at all (i.e. no local places, just hotels)
- Do you want an Apartments with a kitchenette & fridge, or just a room with a bed
- Do you need a balcony with a view
- Hotels with 'club' in the name tend to have pools, restaurants, entertainment, and you never need to leave the hotel.
- Check where in the resort the hotel is. Sea facing, or valley facing (as most Puerto Rico resorts are). Walking distance tothe beach area, bar area, or a km inland. Is it near the 'shopping centre' (Gran Canarian for lots of shops and restaurants together, i.e. very noisy, or half way up a hill.
- Even in a given hotel. All the best rooms may be allocated to package tour companies. The 8th floor room might have a stunning view, but the 1st floor room may be a basement room with only a view of the sky. Sometimes its just pot luck which you are allocated to. So the 8th floor person may think its fantastic, and the ground floor person may be pissed off, as might the person in the 8th floor room next to the lift with all night noise of drinkers returning :)
- Some apartments are in privately owned blocks with reception in the hotel next door, quiet during the week, but party central with people from the capital at weekends
- Posh hotels also have posh food and drink prices - a problem if you're not all inclusive, or there are no other places to eat nearby
Camping
There are a few private campsites, but any other camping needs a free permit booked in advance, and picked up in person with id.
- There are some small free campsites in the mountains, but you have to book them in advance. Expect them to be full at weekends and suring local holidays. With some organisation, it could be pretty cool to camp in the mountains!
- You can wild camp as part of a multi-day walk, but you need to organise a permit detailing your route in advance
- Even camping on someone's land with the owner's permission requires a permit!
- There has been a clamp down on wild camping at remote beaches.
- There are a few campsites on the coast. But an appartment wouldn't be that much more expensive
Renting a Car
- Use rentacar.com or europcar.com (price comparison sites)
- All the rental companies, especially goldcar.com, offer low rates, but then scare you with an outrageous excess (like 1,000 euros) into buying expensive daily insurance at the desk. Always book a rate with good insurance, or use a company like carhireexcess.com (about £40 for an annual zero-excess policy). NB if you do this thay may still block the 1,0000 euros off your credit card, so make sure you have enough available credit. Just smile thru the hard sell. Once you have the car, no worries, the rental companies are professional. To be safe, just walk around the car on pick up and taking a video with your phone to pick up any scratches.
- Check how to put the car into reverse, and how to open the petrol cap in case you need to ask :)
- Pick up a free map of the island from tourist information (near the desks at the airport).
Look out for 'miradors' - these are lookout points with parking, picnic areas, information boards, and great views
Map Apps for your Phone
You'll need a satnav. Easy and free is Google Maps (iPhone and Android). Download Gran Canaria before you leave home so it works offline. You draw a square around the island, - its about 1GB. Once your there, you just navigate to a point on the map, tap it, and it navigates there with audio and visual directions. Do check on a map that its route akes sense (i.e. its not chosen a route involving a cart track). Test it at home before you leave.
Next is OruxMaps (free, Android). Then go to OpenAndroMaps and download the Canaries map (also free) so it works offline. This has pretty accurate mapping of most of the islands walking trails. Again test it out near home first. This will also give you an accurate map of every town on the island with cafes, hotels, parking, etc. (and their names) !
Guidebooks
General
I'm not sure which to recommend. The Lonely Planet covers all of the Canaries, not just Gran Canaria. The Eyewitness Top 10 is OK. I've not reviewed the other 2.
The map is the best one for the island.
The Rother is an excellent guide for serious walkers - walks are from 300m to 1000m of ascent. Its not so good for explorers, the walks are mostly long. Make sure you use the downloadable GPS files rather than rely on their directions alone. You'll need a satnav (and some research) to find the start of some walks
Cicerone and Sunflower are usually reliable.
For all walking guides, it is really important to make sure you have the most up to date edition. Note that most walks are in the centre. They are very few coastal walks.
Top Walks
The North East Coast - Las Palmas
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, almost every other road sign point here, is the capital, and by far the largest city in the Canary islands.
City Sightseeing Hop-on Hop-off bus - expensive at 18 euros
The East Coast
Santa Brigida Vega de San Mateo - possible place to stay - nearest proper town to the mountains, and not to far from the motorway Telde - second city Aguimes - small historic centre Barranco de Guayadeque - a steep sided and pretty canyon - small museum at the start - you can drive 4km to end where there are several restaurants inside caves - popular at the weekends - steep walks from the endThe South Coast
Bahia Feliz
Large 'club' style hotels and a small commerical centre (supermarket, UK prices restaurants)
A???
You can walk along the prom to Playa Del Ingles
Playa del Ingles / Maspalomas
Much nicer than you'd expect from its reputation. A mix of hotels, small low rise aparartment blocks and some commericial centres full of bars and restaurants. Not full of English drunks like Magaluf, but not particularly Spanish either.
Officially advertised as Gay Friendly resort with gay commercial centre, hostels, naturist beach, and (unofficially) sand dunes.
There's a fine sandy beach around the entire peninsular. Playa on
The West Coast
The west coast is very undeveloped, just a few towns, the motorway hasn't reach here yet, so the following, from south to north is a slow windy drive along the GC-200 orbital road. Allow 2 hours. To get back you can use the motorway which will be much quicker and easier
The orbital motorway ends at Puerto Mogan in the south. The GC-200 road heads inland to Morgan (nice cafes, farmers co-operatives selling local produce).
The drive from Mogan on to Aldea (San Nicholas) along is windy, slow (about 60 mins), through very picturesque mountains. There are a couple of nice road cafes along the way. A kiosk by some multi-coloured rocks, and a restaurant a little further on.
- A slow windy side road GC-205 leads down to Tasarte (small village with bar) and onwards down through a canyon to the coast (Playa de Tasarte, about 25 mins from the main road), and OK pebble beach used by naturists. There's a nice fish cafe here.
- The next slow windy side road is GC-204, which leads down to to Tasartico (small village). From here is a long walk down to the naturist beach (and a 1,000m / 3,000ft back uphill again afterwards!)
Aldea (de San Nicholas) is the largest town on the west coast, a little off the main road. Not touristy, quiet, small square, old town.
La Playa (de la Aldea) is a small harbour by the sea with some nice cafes. A nice place to stop. Easy parking. You can walk north over the headland to the next bay
The next section of GC-200 is a dramatic coastal drive (yet more switchbacks) all the way to Agaete in the north (about 60 mins). The only settlement along the way is pretty El Risco
- At Guayedra there's a turn-off (or you can park on the main road) along a single lane track to a parking area closer to the coast, from where you can walk down to Playa del Guayedra. If you're fit, you can walk here from Agaete
Finally, you get to Agaete (in the north coast section), and the motorway
The North and North West Coast
Teror - pretty historic centre Arucas - pretty historic centre Moya - possibe place to stay Galadar - pretty square , church and archiological museum Agaete / Puerto de las NievesThe Mountains in the Centre - North West
Allow 30 - 60 min drive from the coast to the centre
