Gran Canaria is the second most populated island among 7 of the Canary archipelago.
I will not tell you again how to live in the Canaries and other details that I wrote in the post of Tenerife, but I will speak only of this beautiful island.
Gran Canaria, as well as Tenerife, is full of beautiful beaches to visit and enjoy a virtually all year round spring weather.
Majestic and vast several km, the Maspalomas dunes are in my opinion the most beautiful attraction of the island.
It is in fact sand dunes that reach the sea and ending in what is the longest sandy beach of the island.
If you really want to find fault in this part of the south island, what would be the presence of nudists.
I knew that there were nudist camps, but I thought they were confined in their area and did not think I vedermeli walking on the shore as if nothing happened.
Nothing against nudists, but we say that in some cases are not exactly a pretty sight: p
However, apart from beaches, Gran Canaria also has several attractions and excursions to do, even in the mountains.
Unfortunately, having only a few days left, I made only the simplest trips.
A quaint and very touristic place I visited is the village of Puerto de Mogan:
Then of course I could not fail to visit the island's capital, Las Palmas.
Really very beautiful and varied, Las Palmas has both an old and characteristic, is an area of small shops from the waterfront, that a zone of the most fashionable shops ... class or for all budgets.
In addition, as mentioned in the post of Tenerife, the great thing about this city is that it has a beautiful sandy beach (Playa de Las Canteras), just a stone's throw from the center:
Summing up, I would say that Gran Canaria I liked most of Tenerife, although it is still not without its flaws.
First, it is much less slope of Tenerife. It seems a diminished but the uphill road can make you never want to go to the beach: p
Then the sand dunes, where I would spend hours and hours to make us the walks.
Maybe there is a fault, however, that it seemed slightly more expensive of Tenerife, also they say that the city of Las Palmas is a bit 'dodgy in some areas (but I guess nothing compared to some areas of some of our cities).
Below the video playlist that I made in Gran Canaria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc_2ZT6fg-I&list=PLCBrso9WwkFZtZDwPa-NpAmeC2Yn-9kTc
DICEMBER 2015 UPDATE
About six months after my first holiday in Gran Canaria, I was lucky enough to find a cheap flight from 80 € (round trip) and so I said to myself: "Why not go back to Gran Canaria?"
And here I am updating this post with other beautiful photos and videos (this time without the limit of 5 seconds).
This time as the base point I chose the famous Play de Ingles, which fortunately December 13 to 20 was still uncrowded.
The south of Gran Canaria, as I understand it, is the island less windy and warmer, so it's the ideal place to get away from winter Italian.
In addition to revisiting some places that had particularly impressed me as the dunes of Maspalomas and Puerto de Mogan, I've got to make more trips to some places I had to jump in the previous trip to lack of time.
The first mini tour we did in San Agustin, within walking distance with a good walk from playa de Ingles.
Nothing special compared to the area where I was, I was just there to see how was the beach, since houses cost a bit 'less them: p
On the way to San Agustin I still saw interesting things, like a red crab and a giant lizard.
The second tour I did it by bus (or guagua, as they say in the Canaries) to the west.
I visited the beautiful Playa de Anfi and the city of Puerto Rico.
In Playa de Anfi I went to make a direct comparison with the nearby Playa de Amadores, I had seen in June.
Playa de Anfi VS Playa de Amadores, who wins?
The answer is always a little easier if a Playa de Amadores part is larger and thus can accommodate more people and perhaps can better manage the crowd, Playa de Anfi has a marina and a nice walk. As sea and sand are the same ... I would say instead then choose the one you prefer as well :)
The town of Puerto Rico instead I visited thinking of an investment, as an alternative to Playa de Ingles.
Result of the visit: disappointment.
The beach is full of people and too small to handle the crowd, while the country is reduced to a sort of large shopping center ... in short, rejected!
A major tourist destination that I had left behind in June was the Roque Nublo.
The Roque Nublo is a rock that is located in the mountains, very characteristic, it attracts many tourists trekking lovers.
Having searched the internet for information on how to get there by bus from playa de Ingles at the Roque Nublo, I had read that you came by bus down to a place called Cruz de Tejeda and then from there it was half an hour to walk to the top.
Well I say, I take the guagua number 18 from Maspalomas lighthouse and starting at 9.30 in 2 hours arrival in Tejeda ... shame that I discover them that Tejeda! = Cruz de Tejeda (the car park I had read on the internet), so I shooting nearly 3 hours of walking to get to your destination exhausted.
Check up to under the rock, but I can not go because the weather is too little and miss the last bus back, that of 17.
So reluctantly begin the descent in a hurry, but then luckily I make friends with two Norwegians and then with two Swiss, and so I get a ride to the bus stop.
Despite faticanta was a nice trip, I also saw the inhabited caves and in the distance you could see even the Teide on Tenerife.
Another tour I've done in the bus has been to the mountain village called Teror.
Starting from playa de Ingles I took the guagua 30 to Las Palmas and from there in 20 minutes by bus (the 216 or 229) have arrived at their destination.
Teror is a really quaint village with a beautiful old town with typical Canarian houses and a church that is a pilgrimage destination because inside it houses the Virgin del Pino.
Finally, to conclude this wonderful holiday I also made two new experiences: Dr. Fish and Tandem Skydive.
Dr. Fish consists of dipping your feet in a tub full of water, where the fish eat the dead will pella feet.
nice and relaxing experience, try it at least once.
For Tandem Skydive I refer you to my post about it!
Hoping to soon return to Gran Canaria, I leave you with the inevitable link to photo album (almost 800!), Enjoy :)