What to Do in Gran Canaria: Urban Beach, Dunes, Summit and Local Flavour

Gran Canaria brings together, within a small space, landscapes that elsewhere would be hours apart. You can start the morning at an urban beach, have lunch with produce from the highlands and end the day watching the sunset among dunes. These are some of the plans that best sum up the island, starting with the one closest to you if you're staying in the capital.

Las Canteras, the Beach That's Also a City

Las Canteras isn't just the hotel's beach: it's the city's living room. On its sands, protected from the swell by a natural rock barrier, people swim in the morning, run at sunset and have dinner looking out at the Atlantic. You don't need a car to have the best plan of the day.

The Dunas de Maspalomas

In the south of the island, the Dunas de Maspalomas change shape depending on the wind, and no two visits are ever the same. The low light of early morning or late afternoon brings out the texture of the sand and turns the walk into the best moment of the day to stop and take in the scenery.

Up to the Summit

The route towards Roque Nublo, Tejeda or Artenara belongs to a Gran Canaria the coast doesn't let you guess at: viewpoints, dense pine forests and ravines that open up suddenly around a bend. Anyone who only knows the coastline is in for the biggest surprise of the trip.

Eating the Island's Produce

Canarian food is best tasted inland: cured cheese from the highlands, papas con mojo picón, the day's catch and the occasional convent pastry all turn up alike in a market, a roadside stall or a village restaurant. Eating after coming down from the summit is often one of the best memories of the trip.

Villages with Character

Teror has its basilica and its Sunday market; Agaete, its harbour and natural pool; Puerto de Mogán, its canals and bougainvillea-covered houses. No two are alike, and that mix of scales is, perhaps, Gran Canaria's most distinctive trait.

In Gran Canaria, the best plan is almost never just one thing: it's the beach before lunch, the mountain afterwards and a long chat over coffee that runs on longer than expected.