- On 27/06/2019
- In Gran Canaria Places to visit
- Tags: aquarium, canary vacations, gran canaria, las palmas, las palmas de gran canaria, poema del mar, puerto de mogan, roque nublo
Canary Vacations and how to organize them: What to do in Gran Canaria
To start this blog we decided to give you some useful advices to the most important things to see and do in Gran Canaria: weather, best beaches, what to see and where to go. Everything you need to know in order to plan your Canary vacations 😉
Many tourists guides define Gran Canaria a miniature continent, and they are not that far from reality, so let’s see what you have to know for your Canary Vacations.
Here, the climatic variety, and all the differents landscapes are so surprising that you you’ll instantly believe that you’re visiting an entire continent.
Passing from Maspalomas Dunes where you’ll feel like you’re lost in the desert, to the canyons of the center of the island, arriving in a few kilometers to a zone of sub-tropical woods, where you can find, Bananas, mangos and avocados just walking through the footpaths.
Roque Nublo, with his red and barren countryside will instantly transport your mind to Arizona or Utah. Instead of this mindtrip you’ll be at a wink from woods end exotic fruits
GRAN CANARIA
Gran Canaria is the second island for population, following Tenerife.
Likewise the others island of the archipelago, it’s a volcanic formated island and you can notice that already from the airplane. If you look the center of the Island you can spot the ancient caldera and the banks of the volcanic cone.
Gran Canaria offers an international Airport (LPA) that connects the island with many nations, so if you are about to organize your Canary vacations you can do it from almost wherever you are 😉
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the Capital of the island, and united with Santa Cruz de Tenerife also the capital of the archipelago-
It’s worth a visit to discover that it’s a city alive and lively. The harbor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is one of the most important european harbors both commercially and touristically.
You can also visit Puerto de Mogan, a little village on the sea with the real soul of the people of the port.
Visit the other Gran Canaria villages too, where you can breath the authentic atmosphere and you’ll feel like time has stopped. Santa Lucia, right in the center of the island, is going to become your favourite one.
Here in Gran Canaria you won’t need to give up anything: you’ll have sand beaches, reefs, woods, mountains and the suggestive villages.
WHAT TO DO IN GRAN CANARIA
Eat at least once in the caves restaurants, camp on the lonely beach of Montaña la arena and watch the Teide appear like an island over the clouds from the amazing viewpoint of Cruz de Tejeda. Now let’s see a bunch of stuffs and activities you can do in your next Canary vacations.
- Enjoy the breathtaking view of Teide
Be sure you don’t miss this. From Cruz de Tejeda, one of the most amazing viewpoint of Gran Canaria, you’ll see rise from a sea of clouds the Teide, with his majestics 3718 metres of height. By the way, the view of Tenerife’s vulcan is breathtaking form any high spot you can find facing the north
If you love trekking you can’t miss Roque Nublo, one of the most important che è una delle più important pilgrimage destinations of Canary islands and home of an important procession that starts from Tejeda. Together with Roque Bentayga it is one of the geologic symbols of the island. A beautiful mid level footpath reaches the highest point of the “ROCK” in about 2-3 hours walking in the middle of red rocks and Canarian pines.
- Footpaths
Gran Canaria is crossed by ancient roads known as caminos reales that you can visit on foot. Add to this the large variety of common trekking footpaths and the “Cammino di Santiago” that connects the south to the north of Gran Canaria (from Maspalomas to Galdar).
If you’re into history and colonial atmosphere you have to visit the old neighbor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Vegueta. Here you can visit the Cathedral, the house of columbus and much more. Add to that the cathedral of Terror, with one of the biggest golden altair you’ll ever see, and enjoy the colours of the village. If you still have time and thirst of history, even Aguimes and the Cathedral of Arucas are worth a visit.
BEST BEACHES OF GRAN CANARIA.
The best Gran Canaria beach is with no doubt Playa Guigui: it’s a virgin beach reachable only with a 3 hour walk, or by boat. If you’re not afraid to walk you’ll enjoy even more one of the wildes and more beautiful beaches of all the archipelago…
One of the most famous beaches of the island is Playa del Inglés a 3 km beach, that unites the one of maspalomas to the one of San Agustín. Obviously here we’re talking of the southern area of Gran Canaria, and the most touristic one.
Maspalomas, has an enormous sandy beach that hosts the Dunas de Maspalomas, the most desertic experience you can find in the middle of the ocean.
In the south you can also find Montana de Arena, one of the most beautiful and wild beaches in that zone.
Las Canteras, in Las Palmas di Gran Canaria, is the bigger and most beautiful city beaches of all Europe. Here, walking west, you’ll find a lot of other surprises.
WHAT TO SEE IN GRAN CANARIA
We already talked about Mogan, what we didn’t mentioned is that this little port village reminds a little Venice, we suggest you to take a look.
Nearby Puerto de Mogan, you can Find Playa de Amadores, one of the favourite beaches of the thousands of tourists visiting Gran Canaria.
In Maspalomas it could be possible to visit the Lighthouse, 60 metres high, to see the amazing view from above.. But in order to find it open, we suggest you to contact the tourists office first.
Las Palmas is connected to every village by a comfortable highway. Here it’s worth a visit the districts of Triana and Vegueta, in the ancient part of the city. Calle Mayor de Triana, is a historic walk where you can find ancient buildings and shopping till you reach the san Telmo park.
Vegueta is another district. Here you can appreciate the Cathedral, where with a lift you can reach the highest point of the south tower and have a beautiful viewpoint on the city.
Obviously you can’t go home without seeing Las Canteras, here the fine sand is protected by a volcanic reef called “la barra” ideal for immersions and other water sports..
Near Las Canteras you’ll be able to appreciate parque Santa Catalina, where you can find 2 buildings that testify the times when the britannic commerce was at his top in the city. In these buildings it’s hosted the science and technological museum.
Added to that, Santa Catalina every year hosts one of the world famous carnival of the world.
500 metres far from Santa Catalina, you can find Poema del Mar, the latest creation of the city. It’s a big aquarium where you can appreciate a lots of sea life.
By the way, there’s a lot of stuff to see and visit in Las Palmas that we won’t be able to mention in just one article.
Contact us and organize your Canary Vacations, we can help you decide what is best to view.
WHAT TO EAT IN GRAN CANARIA
You know what Gofio is? you can find it only here and it has a lot of nutrients, (it’s also good tasting by the way)
Another typical canarian dish is papas arrugadas (sweet potatoes cooked in salty water, served with spicy sauce) .
WHEN TO VISIT GRAN CANARIA
As we told you at the beginning Gran Canaria offers a huge variety of climatic situations due to the mountains at the center of the island.
Instead of all this matter, the temperatures are always gentles, it’s not a joke when they say this is the island with eternal spring. The high season here is from november till march, it’s a little more fresh, but never cold.
So? What you’re waiting for? Organize your Canary Vacations and come see with your Eyes what we’re talking about!
See you around.