Gran Canaria is more than a sunny paradise island in the Atlantic Ocean. People usually refer to it as a miniature continent, because even if it is only 50 Km in diameter, it has beautiful beaches, very rich nature, scenery and culture making the island a perfect spot for vacation.

Gran Canaria (territory of Spain) is located 150 Km from the western coast of Africa, is belonging to a group of 7 islands that form a group called Canary Islands. The third in size in the Canaries group, and although not that well known as Tenerife, has many more features and is a far most interesting place to visit in the archipelago.

Gran Canaria is volcanic by origin, and tens of thousands of years of natural erosion created it’s incredible terrain. The terrain is ranging from lovely beaches to mildly harsh mountain environments with record braking cliffs of 400m of height. The flora and fauna is very rich with dozens of endemic species living only on this island as a result of the group’s separation from the main land by some distance. For these really unique features one third of it’s area is protected as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

With Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles as the main place for basking in the sun at breathtaking touristic places in the south, sub-tropic climate creating lovely weather conditions, activities for all folks including all types of water-sports,  night life, fishing, golf and taking trips to the sea and mountains, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the north for carnivals, museums, surfing, etc. – Gran Canaria is truly one of a kind place to visit. This web-site was created to introduce Gran Canaria to you, or if you already know about it, it’s on your disposal to use it as a guide and find your way to all the interesting places of this island.

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The most popular part of Gran Canaria is the south, featuring jaw-dropping touristic places of Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles.

Maspalomas is most famous for the 68m tall lighthouse called the El Faro de Maspalomas marking the beginning of the sand-dunes and it’s beach ranging 8 kilometers up to Playa del Ingles. The sand of Western Sahara is blown here by the winds from Africa, and even if the island is volcanic by nature, you can enjoy the sandy beaches due to this natural phenomenon accruing only here on the entire planet. Besides the dunes, the city’s near vicinity is a center of fun activities in water-parks, golf courses, horse riding courses, hiking, excursions, and of course, all types of water sports.

Playa del Ingles is very similar to Maspalomas. Shopping malls with duty-free prices, beaches, bars, restaurants… And after a long sunny day you can take refuge in some of the night clubs (rich nightlife, I must add) to complete your day – a vacation paradise, that’s for sure.

Other notable holiday resorts in the southern coast area of Gran Canaria are the towns of San Agustin, Sonnenland, Meloneras, Arguineguin, Porto Mogan, Bahia Feliz, Puerto Rico and others.

The southern part is popular for the capital of the island Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Founded June 24Th, 1478, under the name Real de Las Palmas. A lot of historical buildings are still present from that time including the Cathedral of Santa Ana, Church of San Juan Bautista and other historical buildings and monuments.

A beach called Las Canteras, located in the center of the city, is a world famous place for surfers. As the north-east winds are constantly present here (unlike at the south, where is more calm) the season is open all year for various forms of surfing.

Besides it’s natural riches, is important for it’s strategic location – it is a connection from Europe to the southern parts of Africa, to the east by seas and to the American continent. The largest port in the complex of the islands is the port of Las Palmas with various import-export goods, followed by the port of Arinaga located in a major industrial zone, one of the major ones in Spain.

Gran Canaria’s strategic location helped the Spanish to advance further in conquering new worlds including the discovery of Americas. Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1492 for a month before taking a long trip over the seas to discover a New World.

Besides the natural riches, coast and historical locations, Gran Canaria has superhighways (GC1, GC2 and GC31) connecting north and south, dual carriageways (GC4 and GC5), an international airport (one of the busiest in Spain) making the island both notably modern and traditional.

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Gran Canaria being close to the tropical circle, makes it’s climate perfect – nor too hot or too cold. Temperatures are ranging from 20 °C(68 ºF) in the winter to 26 °C(78 ºF) in the summer, with the extreme of 10 °C(50 ºF) in the winter (hardly on the coast) up to 38 ºC (100 ºF) occurring in the southern parts of the island when the hot summer winds from Sahara are present. These conditions usually do not last long. Clouds and rain are part of the winter season, and snow is sometimes present on the highest mountain peeks. The southern parts are more-less spared of the winter conditions and rain and clouds are occasional.

Despite the stable temperature the sun is really strong(specially in the general south area around Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles), and the meteorological term “feels like xy ºC” makes a lot of sense here. The thermometer in the shade really shows 25 °C, but you are for sure in your swimming suite in those weather conditions.

So, in one word, Gran Canaria weather is: perfect! Make sure you check out the detailed Gran Canaria weather forecast (for Maspalomas, Playa del Ingles and Las Plamas) and general climate available at this web-site.

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Incredible places up in the mountains, over 60 lakes, an incredible coastline, climate that could not be more perfect and a lot of sunshine during the entire year, spots for every one’s taste, and the nature – the list is just too long to fit to a single sentence.

Besides the 1/3 of the surface area protected by UNESCO, 42,7% of the surface is protected by the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos (Canary Islands Network for Naturally Protected Areas) and as such is a national treasure.

The highest mountain spot in Gran Canaria is Pico del las Nieves (snow peak) at 1950m of height. You can see Tenerife and it’s snow covered mountains from this place – what is really incredible view because Tenerife is 100 Km away from the spot you are standing at – a place I definitely recommend to check out.

There are hundreds of more very interesting locations all over the island, and it is really, really impossible to see them all in a short one or two week vacation while you are visiting the island. This is why this web site was created. With detailed information about all the notable places of Gran Canaria, directions and recommendations, places to visit, history, etc., you can explore in front of your computer, before deciding to drop by and see the place for yourself, because, it is really not possible to describe this place with words, pictures or video – you have to see it for yourself.

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There are many nice features for exploring Gran Canaria via this web-site.

There are maps, help sections, short info cards about places, photos that you can click on to see large versions, and so on. Some interactive features will not work in Internet Explorer, but the site is still functional. For example the real time webcam feeds do not work in Internet Explorer – still, you can see the static preview images.

I would like to present you one of the features I added: an interactive 2d/3d Google Map window, that is present on every page that contains a subject that can be geographically positioned, so you can see where is the place in question. Here is a windows showing Gran Canaria:

Note that if the window is showing that you need to download and install some software to see the 3d version – that’s normal. Just click on the message, download the file, install it and everything is a go. In case you do not want to use the 3d view mode, simply click on one of the other top-down presentation modes in the right upper corner of the map window, thus switching to the 2d mode. By default Gran Canaria Travel Guide pages use the 3d mode.

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From this point on I recommend you check out the Canaria Travel Guide Content Overview Map (a huuuge map with all the places added to this web-site), Gran Canaria Beaches and Places to Visit pages. For the most notable vacation spots check out Masmalomas and Playa del Ingles.

The Gran Canaria Weater Forecast and Gran Canaria Webcams is for allways staying up-date and checking real time information from the island.

And of course, there is the handy drop-down menu in the top so you can find all the information you need from a hierarchically structured page system.

Every place has some advantage, and you can use this web-site to make a decision about your Gran Canaria holidays.

Have fun exploring Gran Canaria both in virtual and in reality!

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Gran Canaria General Information