DESTINATIONS SPAIN & PORTUGAL |GRAN CANARIA
3
OF THE BEST
experiences island
Cueva Pintada Museum and Archaeological Park, Gáldar Gran Canaria’s Indigenous Guanche islanders lived in volcanic caves, decorating them with geometric drawings and symbols. A cluster of them form the focus of this fascinating museum.
cuevapintada.grancanaria.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Las Canteras beach; banana plantation near Arucas; Santa Ana Plaza and Cathedral PICTURE: Nacho Gonzalez Oramas
Coffee plantation tour at Finca Los Castaños
This coffee farm in the lush Agüimes valley has been
growing beans for close to 70 years. A stunning location for an absorbing 90-minute tour.
fincaloscastanos.com/en
Cheese tasting at Santa María de Guía market The island’s famous Guía
flower cheese can be sampled and bought at almost every stall at this Sunday market. Try it with hot potato bread baked in a firewood oven.
proquenor.com
PAST AND PRESENT Where tourists do head is the capital’s old town of Vegueta. A Unesco World Heritage Site filled with architecture spanning five centuries, this elegant enclave houses most of the city’s popular attractions, including Santa Ana Cathedral, the old Town Hall, the Episcopal Palace and the Renaissance-era Casa Regental. Culture is abundant too, from the Atlantic Centre of Modern Art to the Christopher Columbus Museum, the Canarian Museum and the Sacred Art Museum, while the 19th-century market is the perfect place for sampling and buying local produce and handmade souvenirs. With many of the city’s best restaurants and bars, boutique hotels and a sophisticated air here, it’s an area you can come back to again and again. For clients not so bothered about the beach, it’s a great base from which to explore both the city and its nearby suburbs, where a wide variety of natural and cultural attractions draw those looking for more than fly-and-flop winter sun.
INTERIOR LIFE Just a short journey from one of the two bus stations in Las Palmas lies the lush, banana tree-filled area of Tafira, home to the Jardín Botanico Viera y Clavijo. Alternatively, head towards characterful Telde, filled with cave complexes dating back to pre-Hispanic times. Agüimes, another east-coast spot that’s easy to reach from Las Palmas, boasts Guayadeque, a deep
40 23 OCTOBER 2025 GOING FURTHER
E Puerto de las Nieves You could be forgiven for thinking you’d gone back in time to a small Mexican fishing village, in this ridiculously cute, traditional seafront village backed by cliffs on the northeast coast of the island, near the similarly sedate town of Agaete.
E Dunas de Maspalomas No trip to the island would be
complete without a visit to this astonishing dune complex. As you clamber up and down across almost 1,000 acres of sand dunes, it genuinely feels like being in the midst of a vast desert.
E Puerto de Mogán Expect another ‘where am I?’ moment as you cross the canals and wander the colourful streets of this west-coast seaside village, where bright bougainvillea tumbles down whitewashed walls at every turn.
valley housing buildings and a church hewn out of the mountain rock, contrasting with sandy spots such as Cabrón Beach, which is rich in marine life. Away from the coast, the mountainous interior offers
a vastly different landscape. Teror, with its cobbled streets, hanging balconies and a church dedicated to the island’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Pines, is just 12 miles from the city, while Tejeda is less than 30 miles from Las Palmas, along the winding GC 15. Tropical scenery lies in every direction, and the island’s pre-Hispanic past is palpable through burial caves, ancient dwellings, rock carvings and the Roque Bentayga Archaeological Park, making this region a great place to learn about and understand this heritage. As a frequent visitor to the island, I might be biased, but it offers an absolute feast for winter sun seekers in search of food for the brain, as well as the body and soul.
TW BOOK IT
Tui offers four nights at AC Hotel Iberia Las Palmas from £401 per person, based on two adults sharing a standard room, flying from Southend on February 4, 2026.
tui.co.uk
Jet2CityBreaks offers three nights’ room-only at Santa Catalina A Royal Hideaway Hotel from £519 per person, based on two sharing, with flights from Manchester on January 29, 2026, and 22kg baggage.
jet2holidays.com
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Marcos Cabrera
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