Discussion
I'm planning to take my 12 year old daughter to Gran Canaria for a week next Feb as her mum won't let her come to Florida with the family in term time and it so happens her school's mid-term holiday is a week later than everyone else's so it will be just me and her. Has to be there for weather and local flight times.
I'm going to book a small villa and hire a car. While I've done Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, I'm not familiar with Gran Canaria.
Not interested in night clubs or anything loud and will be driving round the island. Looking for somewhere near a nice beach but not full of cheap tat yet handy for supermarkets and restaurants to eat out.
What is the best area/location generally?
I'm going to book a small villa and hire a car. While I've done Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, I'm not familiar with Gran Canaria.
Not interested in night clubs or anything loud and will be driving round the island. Looking for somewhere near a nice beach but not full of cheap tat yet handy for supermarkets and restaurants to eat out.
What is the best area/location generally?
Good choice, went there years ago and had a great time.
There is a right and wrong way to drive round the island - go one way and the car hugs the mountain side, go the other and the passengers get a full down view of a drop directly in to the sea via sheer cliffs - guess which way we took?
I seem to remember a nice little town - Mogan - at sort of 7 o clock as you look at the island that had some lovely restaurants and a beach, I don't remember it being too tacky.
I do remember Maspalomas being a bit of a bright lights busy place though.
There is a right and wrong way to drive round the island - go one way and the car hugs the mountain side, go the other and the passengers get a full down view of a drop directly in to the sea via sheer cliffs - guess which way we took?
I seem to remember a nice little town - Mogan - at sort of 7 o clock as you look at the island that had some lovely restaurants and a beach, I don't remember it being too tacky.
I do remember Maspalomas being a bit of a bright lights busy place though.
We were in Gran Canaria a few weeks ago. We stayed in Puerto Rico, which was fine, though we were glad that our accommodation was near the marina - the area further inland (near the main Commercial Centre) was too chavvy. If we were going again we'd be looking for somewhere in Puerto Mogan.
There's some epic scenery on the island, and some amazing roads (really narrow & twisty, with no Armco in many places).
There's some epic scenery on the island, and some amazing roads (really narrow & twisty, with no Armco in many places).
S7Paul said:
There's some epic scenery on the island, and some amazing roads (really narrow & twisty, with no Armco in many places).
We took the bus from Puerto Rico to Maspalomas/Playa del Inglés & the bus driver slid the rear round the twisty bits ! (the back end of the bus had already taken a hit as the back seat wasn't available) the one & only bus trip we took
We hired a car and drove all the way round the wrong way. I enjoyed it girlfriend not so much as the roads were interesting to say the least. Make sure you don't need the toilet as sometimes you can be miles away from one. Also roads are narrow and usually have large 2-3ft drops at the edge so no avoiding. I actually dropped the wheels of our seat Leon over the edge at one point cue horrendous bang and scrape before it bounced back up but no damage done. Take the full cover on the car
It's not that far round so definitely worth doing.
It's not that far round so definitely worth doing.
I've been to Gran Canaria more times than I care to think of (a good friend of mine is Canarian) it also has a fair bit more to offer than the touristy South of the Island most go to.
Some thoughts.
The North East edge of the Maspalomas dunes is what i'd consider tat (Playa del Ingles), it's surrounded by older villa complexes and hotels (some okay obviously).
I was in GC in April this year for a few days, and I wasn't overly happy with the location (Playa del Ingles), albeit the walk along the promenade was lovely. Not sure that's exciting for youngun, but my kids enjoyed the beach, which where I was, was very clean and no-one about.
To the West you have a newly developed area (by the lighthouse) and it's a very pleasant place to be. Still geared up for tourists, but the local authorities have placed restrictions on what can be done, so no 'flipflop and inflatable' stores that you experience elswhere. Which is a nice change. There's also a VERY good seafood restaurant there called the Grand Italia. Thoroughly recommend, and so did my friends who went there on my recommendation too.
Puerto Mogan is well worth a visit, very quaint and picturesque fishing village. Not too far to drive.
I'd actually avoid Puerto Rico unless you can get low down by the marina. It's quite a tiresome place to stay if you're out and about.
If you have a car, the centre of the Island is simply stunning. Roque San Jose, El Fraile (The Friar) and Roque Nublo are worth a trip to see. On a nice day!
http://www.grancanaria.com/patronato_turismo/477.0...
In April, I also stayed here http://hotelruralmondalon.es/en
There are some nice walks from there around the crater etc. Although not much else apart from being a nice hotel in a quiet location.
Melenara on the East Coast has an amazing fish restaurant, can't remember the name, but it's one of those places only locals know about, i'll dig out the name, just in case you're passing it at lunch time. There's a play park on the beach too, so you can sit and have a coffee whilst the kids play.
Las Palmas is like London. If you like that sort of thing. Some clubs and bars can be found at the port area.
I'll have a think about other things to do.
Some thoughts.
The North East edge of the Maspalomas dunes is what i'd consider tat (Playa del Ingles), it's surrounded by older villa complexes and hotels (some okay obviously).
I was in GC in April this year for a few days, and I wasn't overly happy with the location (Playa del Ingles), albeit the walk along the promenade was lovely. Not sure that's exciting for youngun, but my kids enjoyed the beach, which where I was, was very clean and no-one about.
To the West you have a newly developed area (by the lighthouse) and it's a very pleasant place to be. Still geared up for tourists, but the local authorities have placed restrictions on what can be done, so no 'flipflop and inflatable' stores that you experience elswhere. Which is a nice change. There's also a VERY good seafood restaurant there called the Grand Italia. Thoroughly recommend, and so did my friends who went there on my recommendation too.
Puerto Mogan is well worth a visit, very quaint and picturesque fishing village. Not too far to drive.
I'd actually avoid Puerto Rico unless you can get low down by the marina. It's quite a tiresome place to stay if you're out and about.
If you have a car, the centre of the Island is simply stunning. Roque San Jose, El Fraile (The Friar) and Roque Nublo are worth a trip to see. On a nice day!
http://www.grancanaria.com/patronato_turismo/477.0...
In April, I also stayed here http://hotelruralmondalon.es/en
There are some nice walks from there around the crater etc. Although not much else apart from being a nice hotel in a quiet location.
Melenara on the East Coast has an amazing fish restaurant, can't remember the name, but it's one of those places only locals know about, i'll dig out the name, just in case you're passing it at lunch time. There's a play park on the beach too, so you can sit and have a coffee whilst the kids play.
Las Palmas is like London. If you like that sort of thing. Some clubs and bars can be found at the port area.
I'll have a think about other things to do.
We took our 3 youngest to Meloneras / Maspalomas in the Summer but stayed in a hotel (Lopesan Baobab which was huge but very good).
The shops and restaurants in the area were pretty high-end in general - a lot of jewellery shops selling very expensive stuff - and not many cheap alternatives although there were a couple of decent supermarkets for food, drink, postcards etc and beach related items.
The beach itself was fantastic - from the lighthouse and East over the sand dunes although the tides can be quite strong, even close to the beach.
We did the submarine trip at Mogan which was good fun and a couple of other local trips but didn't have a car as we were having a restful holiday this time, rather than an activity-based one.
The shops and restaurants in the area were pretty high-end in general - a lot of jewellery shops selling very expensive stuff - and not many cheap alternatives although there were a couple of decent supermarkets for food, drink, postcards etc and beach related items.
The beach itself was fantastic - from the lighthouse and East over the sand dunes although the tides can be quite strong, even close to the beach.
We did the submarine trip at Mogan which was good fun and a couple of other local trips but didn't have a car as we were having a restful holiday this time, rather than an activity-based one.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff