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Gran Canaria's mountainous interior is a stark contrast to the southern resorts of Maspalomas, Playa del Ingles and over on the south west side - Puerto Rico. Stunning, wild and particularly green in parts covered with pine forests, Gran Canaria's interior offers some of the most beautiful scenery and walking territory in the Canaries - who would have thought! Walking and trekking holidays all year round in Gran Canaria are a real option, with some stunning historic towns and villages to visit or stay in around the interior including Teror, Arucus, Moya, Artenara, Tejeda, San Bartolome de Tirajana and Santa Lucia.
In recent years the Cabildo (local government) of Gran Canaria has been working hard to encourage more rural tourism to Gran Canaria, primarily by investing money into original settler sights such as the caves at Galdar, and opening up ancient walking paths, the Caminos Reales or royal paths which were once used to - good news for walkers. The central focal point for walkers on Gran Canaria tends to be Cruz de Tejeda located near some of Gran Canaria's highest points, including Pico or Pozo de las Nieves which stretches upto 1949m/6395feet and is Gran Canaria's highest point.
Gran Canaria, alongside Fuerteventura, is the result of volcanic activity, but it's volcanoes are long extinct. So, Gran Canaria's landscape, with it's many fertile valleys and ravines, is marked by volcanic action but unlike La Palma volcanoes are dormant. The interior of Gran Canaria is highly accessible (albeit some challenging mountain roads here), you can drive all the way up to the island's highest point Pico de las Nieves. Ancient volcanic remains abound, including the cores and spines of old volcanoes at Roque Nublo and Roque Bentaiga.
The Barrancos or deep valley ravines push out from the centre of Gran Canaria down to the sea, and although once much wetter post Ice Age period, the Barrancos are now dry and covered with crops such as bananas, sugar cane and papayas.
The high interior peaks of Gran Canaria often get the snow in winter, and the contrast to the arid low lying southern area of the island is part of the reason why Gran Canaria is often called the 'Continent in Miniature'. There are 32 protected natural areas within Gran Canaria and a good choice of trail networks for hiking. Signposting on the trails is being improved all the time, and a number of maps with hiking trails are available from the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria and the various tourist information points around the island.
Popular hikes include walks out from Cruz de Tejeda to Santa maria de Guia and Artenara. There are numerous ancient caves within Gran Canaria's interior, many of them unmarked to serve as protection such as Cueva Grande and Cuevas del Pina near San Bartolome de Tirajana. Good bases for walking Gran Canaria's interior include San Bartolome, Artenara, Teror, Arucas, Santa Lucia and Agate on the western side of the island.
Many guide books recommend central locations such as Tejeda, San Bartolome, Artenara and San Mateo as excellent walking based to explore the stunning interior highlands and Tamadaba Natural Park, plus Gran Canaria's highest peak Pico de las Nieves for challenging walks.
There's more than the central area of Gran Canaria for great walking territory however. Consider the western side around the pretty town of Mogan (some great restaurants here). This area has an excellent network of footpaths and is renowned for it's dramatic ravines and fertile valleys. Check out the Mogan tourist information website to the right for indepth listings of footpath networks in this area. With it's sharp gradients, it's popular too with cyclists.
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