Gran Canaria

The island of Gran Canary is known as ‘The Small Continent’. This is because of its extremely varied landscapes that are overflowing with European, African and even American vegetation.

One of the most impressive features is the mountain range in the island's centre which, reaching a height of around 2,000 metres, is cut by some of the most bizarre and imaginative canyons that Nature could have designed.

There is hardly anywhere else in the world that such different landscapes and microclimates, that are so dramatically distinct, are located in such a small geographic area.

Massive mountains, stark deserts and humid tropical forests all vie for attention in one of the smallest natural experiments on the planet.

On the coast, wide sandy beaches are kissed by calm Atlantic seas and, while elsewhere people are shuddering from the effects of a cold winter, on Gran Canary those lucky enough to be enjoying the ambiance are lying within the shade protected from a benevolent (though still effective) sun, a cool drink within easy reach and languidly gazing at distant snow covered mountain peaks.

More information: http://www.grancanaria.com/

Routes and Places worth a Visit

If desolation, solitude and great scenery are what is being sought, look no further than the natural park of the Dunas de Maspalomas in the south of the island. Over 400 hectares of long beaches and rolling sand dunes provide a haven for many species of flora and fauna that live here. The wind sculpts fantastic shapes of the dunes and provides a continually moving dunescape and many migrant birds visit the wetlands associated with the protected shallow waters of the area.

As if pointing up to a celestial marker, the strange rock formation known as ‘the Finger of God’ has been pointing skywards for time immemorial. This natural monument located on the west of the island close to the village of Agaete, which uses the natural port of the Puerto de las Nieves for sea access. The forebidding cliffs, from which the Finger of God has become separated over the eons, act as sentinels for the fishing fleet and transporters that ply back and forth between Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Important Fiestas

In Agaete on the 28 to 29th June is the festival of San Pedro

Puerto de Mogán on the 16th July is the festival of the Virgin del Carmen.

Vallesco holds its carnival during February and in May to June, the festival of the patron saint, Saint Vicente.