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Gran Canaria is not one of the Canary Islands renowned for it's stunning Caribbean style beaches - it's golden sandy beaches in the southern resorts are imported Saharan sand. Fuerteventura takes the crown for the best of the beaches in the Canaries. Gran Canaria's coastline, particularly to the west, is naturally rocky with gritty black sand - travel west for examples of this islands dramatic cliffs. Nevertheless, the manmade beaches are pretty enough, with top resort beaches in Playa Del Ingles and Maspalomas, with it's striking dunes. Move up the south west coast for some perfect sheltered, again manmade beaches at Puerto Rico and it's various small off-shot resorts - Amadores, La Verga and Playa del Cura. Move up the east coast for some of the best windsurfing beaches at Bahia Feliz, Pozo Izquierda and of course visit Las Palmas for the perfect urban beach - Las Canteras with some excellent surfing waves.
Alongside Tenerife, Gran Canaria is one of the best Canary Islands for golf - the Spanish Open golf course - El Cortijo Club de Campo is here on Gran Canaria. Other superb golf courses are to be found in Maspalomas and near Las Palmas! On the watersports side there's no shortage of choice on this Canary Island. For Scuba Diving you can't do better than around the marine reserve of El Cabron. Puerto Rico, Puerto de Mogan and Pasito Blanco offer a superb choice of catamaran trips, boat trips and fishing trips, with everything from fun water rides and jet ski available. All the main bustling resorts of Gran Canaria offer an excellent choice of watersports, particularly of the fun ride kind including parascending, jet and water skiing and catamaran sailing day trips.
The choice of holiday resorts on Gran Canaria is ever increasing, and suburbs of the main existing resort push up the coast. To the south west side the big smoke is Puerto Rico - perhaps one of the best family holiday resorts on the island. There's more of a family bar and restaurant feel here, with a gentle sheltered beach perfect for family bathing. You can tap into any watersport activity you can think of here, from fun water rides to catamaran and fishing trips - sailing, fishing and catamaran trips are particularly prevalent here, and they tend to move up the pretty west coast towards Puerto Mogan.
Smaller off-shot resorts from Puerto Rico, also with a family vibe and nice sheltered beaches include Playa del Cura, Amadores, Taurito and Playa de Mogan, oh and Patalavaca. As you'd expect too Playa Del Ingles and Maspalomas have a number of off-shot quieter resorts including Meloneras just to the west. There's a new feel to this resort with luxury hotels on the beach - for a relaxing luxury base within easy reach of bustling Maspalomas, Meloneras is a good choice.
The main of Gran Canaria's best beaches are to the south of the island, but Las Palmas the capital lays claim to the superb beach Las Canteras - you can catch a few waves here surfers! The resorts are quite concentrated to the south and south west on Gran Canaria - more so than Tenerife which has Puerto de la Cruz to the north as well as it's well known southern resorts. Gran Canaria's beaches are mostly golden brown sands (thanks to largely imported sand from the Sahara), with clear clean waters combined with warm sea water temperatures of between 18 to 22 degrees centigrade in winter and summer respectively.
Gran Canaria's beaches are less impressive than those on Fuerteventura, but where it's beaches lack that edge, it's friendly party resorts make up for it, and the holiday attraction choice on the island, with everything from watersports, golf, waterparks, camel rides, shopping galore, markets, catamarans, jeep safaris, fishing trips and excursions tours around the mountainous interior - Gran Canaria is an island to get active on!
A particular favourite watersport on Gran Canaria is sailing - several sailing champions have hailed from the island. Sailing centres abound in sailing hotspots like Las Palmas, Puerto Rico, Puerto de Mogan, Arguineguin and Pasito Blanco. Puerto Rico particularly offers numerous sailing and boat trip opportunities for holidaymakers. Windsurfing hotspots on Gran Canaria include Las Canteras beach at Las Palmas, the island's capital. They get good winds and some nice surfing waves here too. Gran Canaria's top windsurfing hub is Pozo Isquierdo just south of Vecindario and Playa de Vargas (see weblink right) where the big windsurfing grand prix is held annually. There's plenty of lower key, beginner oriented windsurfing to be had around Puerto Rico and Puerto de Mogan too!
Surfers and bodyboarders need to head north around the Galdar area and on the northern coast towards Las Palmas. There's some good beginner surfer waves at Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas too. Diving excursions are numerous and easilly accessed from Gran Canaria's main resorts. Diving hotspots include Arinaga and the protected Playa del Cabron and El Cabron Marine Reserve (see diving weblinks right).
Fishing fans, deep sea or angling, head to Puerto Rico to hook into the choice of numerous deep sea fishing trips from the little harbour. Boat trips and marine excursions are particularly good from Puerto Rico and increasingly Puerto de Mogan - you'll often be bused to Puerto Rico from Maspalomas/Playa del Ingles for Catamaran excursions and other marine excursions.
Other good choices for deep sea fishing include Pasito between Meloneras and Arguineguin on the south coast. There's an excellent yacht club here too and plenty of berthing space (see the superb Pasito Blanco weblink right for details). Watersports like jet skiing, water skiing and parascending are all available galore in the main southern resorts of Gran Canaria.
Golf Course choice on Gran Canaria is excellent, and expanding. Currently there are 7 excellent golf courses, including the big one at Maspalomas/Playa del Ingles. Four golf courses (as of 2006) are currently under construction. With a favourable climate for all year round golf holidays, Gran Canaria alongside Tenerife is a good choice for golf holidays. They're cheap to enter too. The choice includes Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas, El Cortijo Club de Campo, El Cortijo Golf Centre, Club de Golf de Maspalomas, Salobre Golf & Resort and Anfi Tauro Golf. Golf fans would do well to opt for Maspalomas, Puerto de Mogan, Las Palmas or Telde as their holiday base for easy access to Golf courses on Gran Canaria.
Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas Carretera de Bandama, s/n, Gran Canaria, Spain. Tel: +34 928 350104 (weblink right). This Gran Canaria golf course has a long history, dating back to 1891. Situated a few km outside Las Palmas, this course is located at the foot of a dormant volcano (a pretty common occurance for golf courses across the Canaries!). 18 hole golf course, with a par 71. Other facilities include putting grees, a practice tee, instructors on-site for lessons. shop, golf equipment rental and there's also some tennis courts.
El Cortijo Club de Campo, Autopista del Sur G.C. 1 / Km 6,4, Telde. Tel: 928 711 111. (see website right). This excellent 18 hole, 72 par golf course is a favourite for top international and nation golf competitions, with 6 lakes, palm trees galore, a practice course and putting greens, a golf school and golf equipment hire available. Check out too the El Cortijo Golf Centre, a floodlit golf course offering night time golf, with 18 holes, par 54. Also at Autopista del Sur G.C. 1 / Km 6,4 - Telde.
Maspalomas and surrounds is a hotspot in the south for Gran Canaria golf. Courses include the new Salobre Golf and Resort, Autopista Gran Canaria 1, KM 53, Urbanizacion Salobre Golf & Resort, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. Tel: +34 928 01 01 03/+34 828 061 828. Check their weblink right, situated just 5km outside of Maspalomas. This golf course is developing all the time, offering now a total of 27 holes, with south and north courses. Numerous leisure faciltities are attached to this luxurious golf complex including a golf school, restaurant, terrace, driving range, puttng greens, golf equipment hire and more. Ideal as a conference venue, numerous hotels are also situated within the golf resort complex.
Camp de Golf de Maspalomas, Avda. T.O. Neckemann 35100 Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. Tel: +34 928 76 2584. (see weblink right). The top Gran Canaria golf course for Maspalomas, this 73 par, 18 hole course sits adjacent to the Maspalomas sand dunes. A long and flat course, numerous hotels and apartments are situated nearby, as is the beach and resort amenities. Opened in 1968 and designed by Mackenzie Rose it's renowned for it's two story driving range with 300 metre reach. Also on-site is a putting green, restaurant and snack bar and club house.
Holidaymakers staying to the southwest of Gran Canaria around Mogan and Puerto Rico have easy access to Antif Tauro Golf, Valle de Tauro s/n, 35138 Mogan.Gran Canaria. Tel: +34 928 128 840. This luxury golf resort offers year round golf with a 9 hole and 18 hole course designed by leading golf course designers Von Hagge, Smelek and Baril. It's a stunning course this one, with a mountainous backdrop, lakes and palm trees. Golf lessons are available, and numerous accommodation is situated within the resort, or nearby in the Puerto Rico, Mogan and Puerto de Mogan.
Top diving sites around the coast of Gran Canaria include the following:
Arguineguin Ree, Amadores Shore dives, El Pajar Wreck (Russian hydrofoil sunk 2003), Puerto de Mogan Wrecks & Caves, Pasito Blanco Reef, Las Palmas Wrecks (depths are lower for these dives - upto 40m so tend to be for experienced divers only), El Carbon Marine Reserve, and Beginner diving at The Aquarium/Artinaga.
Check the Weblinks for Diving Companies on Gran Canaria for more in-depth information on specific dive sites on the island.
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