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Exploring beyond Gran Canaria’s beach resorts

Historical sites, gourmet feasts and volcanic landscapes are waiting to be explored in Gran Canaria. Dave Richardson ventures beyond the beach resorts to find a different side of the island.

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Historical sites, gourmet feasts and volcanic landscapes are waiting to be explored...

I’m giving the big resorts in Gran Canaria a miss by staying in Mogan, and as we stroll towards the small sandy beach, a sign for an archaeological site catches my attention.

 

Puerto de Mogan, to give it the correct name, is a thoroughly modern resort with the marina, harbour and most of the apartments built on land reclaimed from the sea. Previously it had nothing but a few fishermen’s huts, as seen in old photographs.

 

What could possibly be older? The answer lies just a few hundred yards from the beach, up a steep hillside: a series of ruins and a burial site used by Aboriginal people until about 100 years ago. The Canaries were not discovered by Europeans until the 15th century when they were claimed by the Spanish crown, but they were already inhabited by primitive tribes who were soon subjugated.

 

In Gran Canaria these people retreated into the mountainous interior or isolated parts of the coast such as Mogan in the south-west, or Galdar in the north-west, where the Cueva Pintada (Painted Cave) is a worthwhile visit.

 

Chic resorts

We tend to think of the seven main Canary Islands as beach destinations, with plenty of watersports and pampering at glitzy hotels but not much else. How wrong that is, as I soon discover.

 

With year-round temperatures steady at around 18-22C, it’s all too tempting to stay put. Most choose the beach resorts along the south coast, including Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas (the leading short-haul LGBT resort) or Puerto Rico.

 

Mogan is a chic low-rise resort literally at the end of the road, where the GC-1 motorway has been punched through the cliffs via a series of tunnels. It has only three hotels but lots of apartments, restaurants and bars around the marina, with everything from tapas to a nine-course gourmet feast on offer at Quetal restaurant.

 

The only hotel featured by most operators including Prestige Holidays, Classic Collection, Thomson and Monarch is the Cordial.

 

Jet2holidays features the new Radisson Blu while Thomas Cook offers the Puerto de Mogan Hotel and Apartments.

 

Mature couples are the main visitors, along with tourists from the many yachts.

 

A good choice of boat trips includes dolphin and whale watching, plus deep-sea fishing. We sail along the coast on a glass-bottomed ferry to Puerto Rico and the port town of Arguineguin, where the harbour restaurant operated by a fishermen’s co-operative is divine.

 

But there’s that nagging feeling we aren’t doing Gran Canaria justice, so we spend a couple of days exploring. A hire car is a good idea in Mogan (although it can be difficult to park) as the motorway gets you there from the airport in about 40 minutes and to the capital, Las Palmas, in about an hour.

Historic city

Historic city

Las Palmas surprises us – it’s the seventh biggest city in Spain, with a three-mile beach called Las Canteras and plenty of shopping. We spend most of our time in the historic district of Vegueta, where the Spanish arrived in 1478.

 

Columbus stopped here in 1492 on his first voyage to the Americas while one of his ships was repaired.

 

The colonial Governor’s House is now the Casa Colon (Columbus House) museum, where I’m intrigued by the three voyages Columbus made across the Atlantic to change humanity forever.

 

Another trip takes us into the volcanic interior, where mountains rise to nearly 2,000 metres.

 

The focal points are the Cross of Tejeda and the pretty villages of Tejeda and Teror, but it’s hard driving along narrow roads with many twists and turns and hundreds of cyclists. Getting back to Mogan is a relief.

 

Next time we might try a two-centre trip – an option being promoted by Gran Canaria’s representative for the UK and Ireland, Katerina Bomshtein.

 

“Luxury tour operators such as Prestige Holidays and Classic Collection offer two to three nights in the interior and north of the island with accommodation in boutique hotels, combined with one of our superb luxury resorts on the coast,” she says.

 

“Gran Canaria is also well positioned as a walking and cycling paradise, through specialist operators such as Inntravel, HF Holidays, Headwater, KE Adventure Travel and Explore,” she adds.

 

Book it: Prestige Holidays has seven nights’ half-board at the Cordial from £728pp, including flights and private transfers, departing Gatwick on June 3, 2017. An eight-night twin-centre combining rural hotel La Hacienda in Arucas with the Seaside Palm Beach in Maspalomas costs £978pp including car hire and departing Gatwick on May 17, 2017.

 

prestigeholidays.co.uk

Canary Island updates

Canary Island updates

Tenerife welcomed a record of just more than two million UK visitors in 2016 – a 16.1% increase on 2015 – with a 20% increase in air capacity and new routes. Another record was set by 116 national and international TV, film and photo shoots, including BBC series Silent Witness and Dr Who.

 

webtenerife.co.uk

 

Prestige Holidays is reporting strong demand for La Palma following the introduction of a new easyJet flight from Gatwick. It is featuring four resorts with a 17th-century former sugar estate, the five-star spa property Hacienda de Abajo, being the most popular.

 

prestigeholidays.co.uk

 

The Suite Hotel Atlantis Fuerteventura Resort has introduced an adults-only Premium Club. All 383 suites have been remodelled with three new room types – Junior, Premium and Master. Master Suites have two rooms and are aimed at families.

 

atlantisfuerteventuraresort.com

 

Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are all served from Jet2.com’s two new gateways for 2017, Stansted and Birmingham. The airline now flies to the islands from nine UK airports with one-way fares from £55.

 

jet2.com

 

Self-guided walking holidays have been introduced by Inntravel on La Palma, which it claims is “the steepest island on the planet”. The Volcanic Trails package costs from £790pp for seven nights with transfers from Tenerife North.

 

inntravel.co.uk

 

KE Adventure Travel claims to be the only operator offering walking holidays to the little-visited island of El Hierro, new for 2017. It is accessible by ferry from Tenerife and prices (not including flights) are from £1,095pp for autumn departures.

 

keadventure.com

 

The island of La Gomera, which can be reached direct or via Tenerife, has become a major walking destination, with Garajonay national park home to more than 2,000 native plant species. Thomson offers La Gomera from £245pp for three nights.

 

lagomera.travel

 

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