Gran Canaria

🌍Spain

Gran Canaria, Spain

Gran Canaria is more than just one of the world's most celebrates beach destinations. Get active at one of the island's many locations for diving, surfing, and hiking - you can even scale Roque Nublo, Gran Canaria's iconic "Cloud Rock". With such diverse landscapes, it's no wonder this island has been dubbed "The Little Continent".

Population:

838, 397

Currency:

1 Euro = 100 cents

Emergency Numbers:

112

Opening Hours:

On weekdays, shops generally open from 9.00 am until 1.00 pm and then again from 4.30 pm until 8.30 pm. At weekends, most only open in the morning on Saturday. Those in the resort areas generally open seven days a week. Over the Christmas and New Year period, shopping centres extend their opening hours to accommodate the extra trade with some staying open until as late as midnight.

Newspapers:

Canarias 7
La Provincia
The Canary News

The Island

There's an island in the Mid-Atlantic offering a gateway to the Americas. An island very much part of Spain but one far more African than Iberian in its make-up. That island's Gran Canaria.

Marvel at the Maspalomas dunes featuring grains blown over from the Sahara, making the area resemble a mini-desert. Explore capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, colourful and vibrant, earning it the nickname of Little Havana. Escape to the country by enjoying mountains which wouldn't look out of place in the Alps and valleys as green as their Welsh counterparts, under a trademark Gran Canaria azure sky.

The east of the island's often overlooked, but it has some great sports beaches for windsurfers like Pozo Izquierdo, plus pretty towns like Agüimes. The west of the island, meanwhile, boasts the great lost beach of Güigüi, ideally reached by foot. Nearly as unspoilt is the rugged north coast.

There’s the deep south of the resorts. The likes of the aforementioned Maspalomas and the just-as-famous Playa del Inglés. Where the weather’s even more ideal for sunseekers than Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, recognized by US academics as the metropolis with a climate more favourable than any other city worldwide.

Events

Gran Canaria's calendar's packed full of both religious and secular cultural events, as well as sporting ones. Municipalities hold regular local fiestas which pay tribute to their native saint. There are also those which pre-date the Spanish invasion. We'll share the major dates for your diary from January through to December.

Top 5

Introducing Gran Canaria's famous five. These five destinations on the island you simply must see. 1, 2, 3, here goes:
Vegueta
Mógan
Roque Nublo
Maspalomas
Museums

Do & See