Gran Canaria (Canary Islands - Spain)
Gran Canaria (Canary Islands - Spain)December 2023
Wendy’s lung cancer had dominated our lives in 2023 and we hadn’t been able to travel. Wendy fancied some sunshine over the Xmas period but didn’t want a long first flight after her treatment. Researching the options, she came up with Gran Canaria having the best temperatures closest to the UK. We booked up a two week all inclusive holiday with EasyJet leaving Bristol on Saturday December 16 and were happy to give Christmas a miss this year.
The flight was just under 4 hours to Gran Canaria Airport arriving around 6.30pm. It was still light and around 20’c. In the arrivals hall, there were lots of lost looking tourists but eventually we were herded to a coach which took us south down the expressway to the resort areas where groups were dropped off at hotels. We were the last to be dropped off at the Mirador Maspalomas by Dunas in the Sonnerland area of Maspalomas.
The 3 star hotel was laid out around a couple of swimming pools. We had requested a ground floor room which was a spacious ensuite. There was a small patio with loungers, chairs and a table so we didn’t bother joining the crowds around the pools. The TV had UK channels and since we were on the same time zone, we could watch it as if at home. Of course, there was sod all on over Xmas.
The restaurant was large with a good selection of food for every meal. The pool bar did cocktails and spirits and you could help yourself to wine, beer, or lemonade.The hotel had been advertised as having ‘heated’ swimming pools. But they were naturally heated so very cold in December. Once you got in, it was fine. It could be very hot on some days – up to 30’c. We started to take the sunshine for granted. It never rained during our stay. Rather than sit around, we rented a car for a total of 5 days and explored the island extensively.
Gran Canaria is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands which belong to Spain. It is the most popular of the Canary Islands with over 3 million tourists a year. As of 2019 the island had a population of around 850,000. The Lonely Person’s Guide described it well when it said “It lives up to its reputation as a continent in miniature with dramatic variations of terrain ranging from the green and leafy north to the lush mountainous interior and the desert south”.
The island’s volcanic origin was made of fissure vents. It has a round shape, with a diameter of approximately 50km and a surface area of 560 square km. The coastline measures 236 km. About 80% of the island was formed during the Miocene period between 14 and 9 million years ago. A second cycle of volcanic eruptions, known as the "Roque Nublo cycle", took place between 4.5 and 3.4 million years ago.
The original Guanches settlers were conquered by the Spanish in 1478. Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria subsequently became the seat of the Canary Islands’ bishopric and royal court and the stopping point en route to the Americas. Now, of course, the economy is dominated by tourism.
On our first day of exploration in the car (December 19), we tried to find the road to Fatago, directly north. Thinking we were going the right way, we were amazed by the quiet twisty road skirting around a deep valley. Many cyclists came past in the opposite direction. It was a spectacular road. At one point, we spied a dam in the valley, but the water levels were very low. Prickly pear cactus with its purple fruit and long rows of colourful bougainvillea flowers lined the edges of the road. When we reached a T-junction, I had to ask an elderly man for directions. He was Swiss and came to stay for 6 months a year. He told us to take a right. It was a bit of a shock to end up back where we had started. We had taken a turning too soon. Nevertheless, it was a brilliant detour, and we were pleased to have done it. As you can tell, our map was very general, and we didn’t have a guidebook, so it was a case of lets head here and see what we find. Any guidebook descriptions in this report were found when we came home, The Lonely Person’s Guide summarised our journey today as “ Winding roads follow the steep, ruggedly beautiful terrain which rises to a symmetrical cone at the centre of the island.”
Finally on the road to Fataga, we followed another twisting road along a long valley. We passed a ‘camel farm’ and headed north towards the centre of the island. There were steep inclines around corners, and I had to remember how to drive a manual car changing down gears.
We ended up at the first ‘major’ town/village of San Bartolome de Tirajana. The walls of the buildings had been built of volcanic rocks and decorated with wide plaster around each boulder. This would become a familiar sight around the island in the smaller villages. There was an attractive church (built 1922) with a bell tower and clock.
Moving onto the centre of the island, our twisty road passed by buckled brown rocks where pine forests began to appear. Roque Nublo could be seen on the horizon. Roque Nublo is an icon of Gran Canaria, an impressive monolith at 1803m, jutting 80m skywards from the surrounding volcanic landscape. The narrow road was lined with parked cars left by the hikers. Finding a space, I did a rapid dash up to the summit. The uneven rocky path was steep in places and needed some climbing near the top. It took me around 25 minutes but I was passing everyone ahead of me. A photo at the top and then back down.
We then moved onto the Pozo de las Nieves which is the highest peak on the island (1949m). There was a radar station on the mountain and a short climb to a lookout tower. It wasn’t as impressive as Roque Nublo, but we were grateful to have clear blue skies for great views (unlike our miserable 3 attempts to do the same thing in Maderia only to have cloud/rain thwart us every time). Nearby, we passed by a wide flat caldera (former exit point of an ancient volcano). It was now being cultivated.
With time running out, we made for the east coast dropping down to Telde, the second largest city where we joined the expressway, passing the airport and roaring down the east coast back to Maspalpmas and finding the hotel before darkness fell.
The next day (December 20), we headed up the west coast. We re-joined the expressway near our hotel and took it through tunnels past Puerto Rico until it ended at the turn off to either Puerto de Mogan on the coast or inland to Mogan. There we came across the only windmill we saw on the island, with a lovely round white base and six wooden sails. From Mogan we followed a beautiful twisting road up along the side of a lengthy rugged valley heading northwest towards San Nicholas de Tolentini with many more tunnels. At one point the buckling rocks were green and yellow in contrast with the normal shades of brown.
We stumbled upon ‘Cactus World’ or officially Cactualdea. It promoted itself as the “the largest cactus theme park in Europe”. It was founded in 1995 “because the climate was the best in the world.” It apparently had 1000 different species of cactus. I’m not sure about that but it was certainly the biggest collection of cactus we’d ever seen. The cactuses populated all the nearby hills and looked stunning. There were all different sizes from tiny blobs to huge trees. Quite a few had been imported from Mexico. There was a vicious donkey that tried to bite anyone who came close and we able to drink a cactus juice. It was a lovely place to visit.
After a picnic lunch at Punta de la Aldea, we made for Galdar in the upper northwest of the island. This was a strange place built around a massive conical hill. This was the ancient capital before the Spanish invaded. It is famous for its Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave) Archaeological Park, but it was closed today by the time we got here.
Deciding to head home, we headed back into the mountains via Santa Maria de Guia and Moya but as we rose, the clouds/mist came down and visibility became awful. There was nothing to see but mist. I made an executive decision to get off the mountains as soon as possible (which with the twisty roads and pouring rain was not quick). We ended up somewhere back on the northern coast where it wasn’t raining and joined the expressway which bypassed the capital of Las Palmas Gran Canaria and took us all the way home as we had yesterday. It was a very fast way to get down the east coast.
On Thursday December 21, we spent the morning on a dolphin boat. It was an organised trip where a coach took us to the resort of Arguineguin and a boat was waiting. We motored out of the smooth water in the harbour and headed into the ocean. It must have been an hour before someone spotted a dolphin and then a small pod appeared. There were around a dozen dolphins popping up to surface and swimming next to the boat. I never get bored of seeing dolphins. Other dolphin boats who were elsewhere and failing miserably to find any, must have been contacted by our boat. By the time they arrived, we were leaving, heading back for the shore where we were allowed to swim in a quiet area. A few others followed my example. It was the only time I swam in the sea during our stay since it was a few kilometres from our hotel.
The following day, I had booked to do some scuba diving. Zeus divers picked me up and drove us east to a windswept place called Faro de Arinaga. When we left civilisation and crashed our way over a rough track on what looked like the surface of the moon, I wondered where we were headed. At the coast, the waves were crashing in. It was deemed too rough. They dropped me back at the hotel and said we’d dive tomorrow using a boat.
On Saturday December 23, Zeus divers picked me up in a car. Other divers had gone by minibus. We headed for the attractive Puerto de Mogan west of our hotel. Here an inflatable boat waited for the 8 divers, 2 dive guides and skipper. After preparing our gear and boarding we headed out of the harbour. We did two dives in relatively smooth seas. The first one at ‘El Percel’ lasted 55 minutes. Diving to 19 metres, we explored rocks and the seabed and saw 5 rays, trumpet fish and brown shoals of fish. The second dive after coming back to the harbour to swap air tanks, was down to 16m to the small ‘Cermona’ wreck which had lots of shoals of fish. During our 40 minute dive, a yellow ‘tourist’ submarine descended to float over and around the wreck. I had never had the experience of being underwater and waving at people peering out of their portholes at both the divers and the wreck and waving back. As with Lanzarote and Tenerife the diving was so-so and nothing like the splendours you see in tropical waters but It got me underwater for the first time since the Maldives back in October 2022.
After a day relaxing at the hotel, we rented another car for three days from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day (not that they have Boxing Day in Spain and everything is open as normal). On Sunday December 24th, we headed for Tejada in the mountains. To get there, we took a new (for us) route. Heading west along the expressway, we soon turned at Arguineguin and headed north along another rugged valley to Cercado Espino. Driving through a splendidly rugged landscape of looming cliffs and deep gorges, we passed at least three dams. At the pass called ‘Cruz de San Antonio’ we stopped at a makeshift drinks stall for a cold one. Then up and around Roque Nublo again. Tejada lay north of here along a road lined by beautiful pine trees.
Tejeda (pop 1484) was scenically situated on the eastern edge of the Caldera de Tejeda, a huge volcanic basin in the centre of the island. The Lonely Person’s Guide said “Gorgeous Tejada is a charming hill village, with handsome church and steep winding streets lined with balconied houses.” It was a lovely sunny day and much of the village was traffic free so it was lovely to wander around. Since it was Christmas Eve, it seemed relatively quiet. We had been told that Tejada was the most ‘Spanish’ looking town on the island. I feel that it was definitely the most attractive place we saw.
From here, we made for Artenard along another narrow road with spectacular views and then back to Galdar in the northwest to take the coastal road around the top of the island with it’s looming cliffs and crashing waves and back down the expressway to the hotel. It took many hours to negotiate the mountain roads and I don’t know where all the time went but it did, very quickly. We always tried to get back before dark.
We chose Christmas day to visit Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital city of the island. We thought that it would be quiet of traffic. The expressway was certainly quiet heading north. The city was founded in 1478, by the Spanish. In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored here on his first trip to the Americas. We drove around the streets looking for a historic centre but didn’t really find anything of note.
Eventually we found the Playa de las Canteras, a fine 3 km stretch of yellow sand, apparently considered, to be one of the world’s best city beaches. It had an attractive seaside promenade, the Paseo de las Canteras , which allowed walkers, cyclists and joggers to enjoy the entire length of the beach free from traffic. It was packed with pedestrians, mostly locals, all taking in the wonderful sunshine by the sea on Christmas Day. To be honest, there wasn’t anything else of interest to us. The marina looked nice. So, we headed back to the hotel for a late lunch. The expressway by now was very busy with everyone driving to visit family and friends for Xmas.
After lunch, we decided to take in all the resorts west of the hotel. We started at Puerto de Mogan, which was probably one of the best and more relaxed. We then traced the narrow coastal road through a succession of resorts where white hotel complexes (and timeshares?), clung to the hills overlooking the beach. After Taurito which had an adequate half empty beach, Playa del Cura with a better beach had them packed in like penguins. This was followed by Playa de Tauro, Playa Amadores, Palya de Puerto Rica, Playa de Balito all similar and non-descript. Wherever there was a cove with enough room for a beach, a resort had been crammed in. Entering Arguineguin, where we had done the dolphin trip, we saw a couple of great sculptures on roundabouts including a whale’s tail as if it had dived below the surface. We finished up at Playa de Meloneras and Playa de Maspalomas, the nearest to our hotel.
Our hotel didn’t really do a ‘proper’ Xmas dinner, There was turkey but we’d had it a few times by now. They had forced everyone to reserve a specific table for two evening sessions (as opposed to normally just plonking down wherever you found an empty table).
On Tuesday December 26th, we decided to finish off the eastern and northern part of the island. It didn’t take long heading up the expressway before we turned off at Vecindaria, and made for Santa Lucia on what I would consider one of the most scenic of the roads we drove on. It started relatively flat, leaving the coast and then gradually rose in altitude and became more twisty. Early on, we stopped at the ‘Mirador El Guriete’ which was a wonderful gully at the bottom of splendid brown cliffs.Then the narrow road zig zagged around the cliffs lining a vast valley. You had to keep an eye on what would be coming and if it was a truck, look to stop somewhere to let it pass.
After San Bartolome de Tirajana, we skirted around Pico de las Nieves and then down from the mountains to Valleseco, Teror and Arucas to the northern coast. Gran Canaria’s fertile north was different from its rugged mountainous interior and the southern beach resorts. There were dramatic ravines, intensively tilled fields and terraces, and forests of pine trees covered with mossy lichen fed by mist and rainfall. It was like an island of three parts – desert, mountains and lush vegetation.
We came back down the expressway (again!) back to Vecindaria and had a late lunch of tapas in a shopping mall restaurant. We then explored the town’s pedestrianised centre. Five days of car rental had allowed us to explore the island extensively and I feel that I know this island very well.
After a day relaxing at the hotel, Wendy was restless to see something else. She opted for ‘Palmitos Park’ because they had a Komodo dragon, and she’d never seen one. We had a get a taxi down to Maspalomas and then through an attractive valley for 11 kilometres to the entrance.
It was an ‘animal park’, really a glorified zoo in a 20 hectare botanical garden. The setting was lovely but quite hilly. The Komodo dragon was one of the first generation to be raised in Europe. We spent an enjoyable day here and took in the parrots, storks, pelicans, black swans, flamingos, rheas, crocodiles, snakes, large tortoises, monkeys, small orangutans, meercats, wallaby, porcupine, a butterfly enclosure, wonderful orchid house and four ‘shows’. The first was a ‘bird of prey’ show up at the top of the complex where eagles, vultures, and hawks flew around. Up here we also saw the ‘exotic birds’ – storks, parrots and macaws. There was an interactive show where you could touch a snake, parrot, macaw, and armadillo. Finally a ‘dolphin show’ where seven dolphins and three trainers performed ‘tricks’ in a giant pool with glass sides so you could see the dolphins underwater and up close. I left the complex thinking ‘I’ve seen most of these animals out in the wild in their natural habitat’.
For the final day, we headed to Maspalomas, the most famous holiday resort on the island. It is famous for its ‘moving’ dunes which were a great mass of golden sand over 4 sq km as a foreground to the 5 km long beach. The 60 metre tall ‘lighthouse’ dominated the skyline.
In conclusion, I’d say that Gran Canaria is worth a visit if you want reliable sunshine and it is definitely worth renting a car to explore the mountains.
We both started coughing two days before we left on Saturday December 30th on an evening flight. When we got home in Wales around 3.30am on New Year’s Eve, we discovered we had both picked up covid. Which was nice.