Gran Canaria uncovered (Gran Canaria)

Member Name:

Product:	Gran Canaria
Date:	15/08/01 (358 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairly cheap

Disadvantages: Baron landscape

I have recently returned from a two week holiday in Gran Canaria, staying in the Hotel Neptuno (read my opinion on the hotel in the relevant section). I stayed in the resort of Playa del Ingles on the south coast on the island. This is the second largest resort in Europe (Benidorm is first) although it did not feel that big when we were there. This resort is about a 30 minute transfer from the airport which is one the east coast of the island. Gran Canaria is around a three to four hour flight from the UK, depending on where you fly from.

Gran Canaria is very like the other Canary Island, especially the other tourist islands such as Tenerife. The climate in the summer is excellent with temperatures constantly around 30-35 degrees in the summer during the day and falling no lower than 20 degrees at night. As with all the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria is a volcanic island and this is reflected in the landscape and scenery. Do not expect to go to Gran Canaria to see lovely scenery as it is very rocky and baron with bare hill sides. Even some of the beaches are black, due to the volcanic rock on the island.

Playa del Ingles has all of its shops and bars built in large shopping centers rather than along streets. This can be very helpful is you are on a bar crawl as you do not have to walk between bars!!! Each of the shopping centers has a different theme, one is the gay centre, another the English zone, there is an Irish zone, a German zone and so on.

With Playa del Ingles being the main tourist area in the country (Puerto Rico is also popular, but a word of warning, it is VERY hilly) most locals go to the capital Las Palmas for shopping. This doesn’t have many hotels, but is well worth a day visit to see the large department stores and historic buildings.

Despite me saying earlier that Gran Canaria is a baron island, we did manage to find on beautiful town which is very popular for day trips. Puerto de Mogan is where lots of th
e luxury yachts are moored and the narrow streets of the town are very pretty with hanging baskets and lots of flowers. Getting around Gran Canaria is very easy as there are lots of cheap buses and the taxis are much much cheaper than at home

Overall, Gran Canaria is worth a visit if you want a holiday to sit by the pool by day and go out at night, but if you prefer walking, maybe Gran Canaria isn’t the island for you as there are not that many places to explore

Summary: