Gran Canaria may not be thought of as a
typical walking holiday destination, suffering from a dubious reputation as a
mass tourism island of the "worst" sort (depending on your preferences, of
course, this may be exactly what you are looking for). The truth is, and more
and more are starting to discover this, the island is just terrific for
walkers. Even the authorities are realizing this now. Don't expect much in
the respect of waymarking etc., but old "caminos" ARE being restored. And
hardly anywhere in the world will you get landscapes as diverse as this
packed into the same place.
If you can stand the city, Las Palmas
is the best place to stay if you are planning to do a LOT of walking. Buses
will take you to all of the northern/northeastern part of the island, with
its many GREAT walks, and even the more remote areas of the south/southwest
are within reach (but perhaps not very practical). If, on the other hand, you
would like to get the most out of the sun and the sea and the sand,
Maspalomas/Playa del Inglés is a better bet. You would still be able to do a
fair amount of walking.
Good news to all who want to take the
local bus to get around (an experience in itself): The three bus companies on
the island have joined forces to make a "Tarajeta Insular" that is
valid on all buses (yes, even the yellow city buses). It saves you around 30% off the regular fare, apart from being very
convenient. I managed to use up two of these in just one week, beat that!
When it comes to eating in Las Palmas
things are (as expected) not overly exciting. If you, as most tourists, are
staying in the Las Canteras area, there is so much on offer within walking
distance that it's not really sensible to hunt around in other districts,
this is a big city. But the menus tend to be very internationalized, too much
of the same standard boring stuff everywhere. And some outlets are tarted up
beyond belief (as well as having Swedish names). But the food is invariably
eatable. As a basic principle, the further west you walk, the more quiet the
restaurants get. But they also tend to get simpler, perhaps even too much so.
You will have to find your own balance here. For a really good dinner with
good wine from a more international menu, try e.g the Gallo Feliz. For a
quiet and more Spanish meal, try e.g the Restaurant Royal. You may not get
all that is printed on the menu, but you might get something else that is
more exciting. If you ask her, the friendly hostess will prepare a genuine
Spanish meal from what she has available (she also speaks good English, which
is surprisingly rare in this big port).
In Playa del Inglés variety is huge, but at the top of the line is the superb fish restaurant Rías Bajas. It has also an immensely cozy place for true Scandinavian home cooking at "Hos Pia". Both are at or close to the Avenida de Tirajana.
- Walks accessible from Playa del Inglés
-
Selected walks: For walks on Gran Canaria take a look in Noel
Rochford's Landscapes of Gran
Canaria. All references below are to this book (as "/Rochford/", and PLEASE
NOTE: when I refer to walk numbers etc. from this book they are all taken
from the 6th edition). You should also check out Walking in the Canaries Volume 2 by Paddy
Dillon and Gran Canaria by Izabella
Gavin. On the web visit Gran Canaria
Travel and Holiday Guide by Foxy's Island Walks.
•PDI1 ARTEARA - AQUALAND (my total time 5h07; 469a 737d; net walking time
4h22): This is walk 19 in /Rochford/. A
nice opportunity to stretch your legs a little, after all those cramped
mountain paths you can find elsewhere on the island. Let your legs roll. Enjoy the ENORMOUS
canyon vistas along the way. For once a walk where you can walk and look
around simultaneously. Normally this is suicide...
Note that the last part of the walk now goes a totally different route than in previous editions of the book to pick up the Los Palmitos bus at Aqualand. This is because the previous direct decent to Los Palmitos is fenced off, making the climb into that valley a complete waste. They have however not updated the title of the walk in the new book. BTW, outside Aqualand there is also a taxi rank...
•PDI2 PASEO COSTA CANARIA (my total time 1h54; 172a 167d; net walking time
1h43): The seaside promenade from Playa del Inglés to San Augustin is approximately 4kms (but goes even further) and can be followed for as long as you want and back. It starts at the hotel Riu Palace at the bottom of Avenida de Tirajana and is probably mentioned in every tourist guide in print. As expected there are plenty of opportunities for all kinds of refreshments en route. Wonderful views to the dunescape...
- Walks accessible from Las Palmas
-
Selected walks: For walks on Gran Canaria take a look in Noel
Rochford's Landscapes of Gran
Canaria. All references below are to this book (as "/Rochford/", and PLEASE
NOTE: when I refer to walk numbers etc. from this book they are all taken
from the 3rd edition). You should also check out Walking in the Canaries Volume 2 by Paddy
Dillon and Gran Canaria by Izabella
Gavin. On the web visit Gran Canaria
Travel and Holiday Guide by Foxy's Island Walks.
UPDATE: As of 2011 /Rochford/ is up to its 6th edition. Where I have any comments at all, updates are noted under each walk.
•LP1 BANDAMA (my total time 3h15): This is
walk 14 in /Rochford/. This very concentrated walk is a great appetizer, and is
easy to find and follow. You will see most of the area at all times, and it
is quite impossible to get lost. That is, if you don't fall down. Because the
walk should be avoided by those most prone to suffer from vertigo. Really no
great difficulties, but care is needed. The only really awkward point is a
small climb/scramble up the rock face to get from the last portion of the
crater rim and up to the golf course at the end of the walk. There is only a
few other points to note. At my visit, the path to the guanche caves had been
covered by screes at a couple of points, some twenty meters or so before the
actual caves. If you carry a shovel, please be my guest, otherwise it is
probably not very safe to continue. Remember, it's a long way down.
/Rochford/'s description of the initial path around the crater rim is not very
good. The path is OUTSIDE the rim when you climb the initial crest, after
which it is exactly at the center of the rim (for good reasons). There is no
path running INSIDE the rim as the book says, of course it runs ON the rim itself. OK, there might be something
like a goat track there, but use the PATH, or else it's bye, bye...
OBS: I did this walk last in 2000!
•LP2 CRUZ DE TEJADA - TEROR (my total time
3h45): This is walk 6 in /Rochford/. The walk is mostly easy to find and
follow. Time to get up into the mountains! Take a few minutes at Cruz de
Tejada to admire the view towards Rouque Nublo etc, before you head in the
other direction. Only a few points have to be made:
Although /Rochford/ grades this walk as "Easy", the descent is often very
steep, and the path stony and gravelly. Please do not compromise at all wrt footwear! Now for some tricks of this trail: When you cross the
road at Cruz de Constantino you are not supposed to take the path
that starts at the exact opposite side of the road and then curves left.
Instead take the cobbled path descending a few meters on the right. At the
end of the walk, where you are supposed to shortcut the road (it's only by a
few meters, so you can just as well skip it), the map trace (p.53) of the
"C814" is slightly wrong, the "C814"/"C817" crossroads is actually more or
less inside that last curve of your road towards Teror, so the shortcut is
BEFORE the crossroads, not AFTER, as the map indicates.
UPDATE: In the 6th edition of /Rochford/ the road numbers have the correct C21/C42 (instead of "C814"/"C817").
OBS: I did this walk last in 2000!
•LP3 ARTENARA - LOS BERRAZALES (my total
time 3h45): This is walk 25 in /Rochford/. It should be no problem finding and
following this walk, as long as you carefully read the map and the
accompanying text. Finding the correct bus however, DID give me a small
surprise, as the bus never arrived at the advertised gate inside the Las
Palmas bus station. But a small sign soon appeared in the front window of a
bus at a neighboring gate (a bus towards Teror, as far as I remember), it
turned out that on this day passengers towards Artenara had to change buses
somewhere in the outskirts of Las Palmas. This was probably just an anomaly,
just be aware. The walk is of great variety and beauty, one my greatest
walking experiences to date, and is greatly recommended. It is also very
dramatic, and when you have finished carefully sliding yourself down the last
meters towards Los Berrazales, you will feel a certain degree of
accomplishment. Take a few minutes to admire the view towards Rouque Bentaiga
e.g from the left of the crossroads above the football field in Artenara
before setting off on the actual trail. And do mind: The comments about footwear
for the previous walk also goes for this one.
OBS: I did this walk last in 2000!
•LP4 BARRANCO AZUAJE (my total time 2h50):
This is walk 10 in /Rochford/. Now, this was more of an experiment, but it
turned out very lucky. It was great fun, climbing and sliding over cliffs and
crawling under masses of bamboo, and should by no means be missed. I think
the difficulties and the grade is exaggerated by /Rochford/ here. Just take
your time and it will work out for the best. The path is not difficult to
find and follow, the biggest problem might in fact be finding the correct bus
in Arucas. The correct bus number on my visit was 118 (not 123 as suggested),
and it is possible to take a "Direct Service" bus from Las Palmas to Arucas,
as an alternative to the one /Rochford/ suggests. And do mind to get off the
number 118 bus at the correct place, as far as you can get inside that deep,
deep barranco after Buen Lugar. Quite unmistakable, really, and there IS a
sign, but AFTER the spot where the bus normally stops. If the bus does not
have a fatal accident before you can get off it (in my mind, the bus ride
must be the most risky part of even this adventure), the walk up the barranco
will be a great thrill, in serene surroundings. After about 35 minutes of
climbing, sliding and crawling you will reach the spring, where you can rest
and enjoy the bird song for a few minutes before it's time to turn back. Just
after the spa, take the track down the barranco. This is a much easier part
of the walk, it gets rather rough towards the end, but no big problems. There
is only a little bit of confusion about the last part, to find the track for
San Andres, where you should leave the barranco bed for the last time. Also
mind that the timings are a bit off between the last two landmarks here. I
used just about the same time as /Rochford/ for the entire walk, but found that
I used about 50% longer between these than suggested. So 5 mins between
barranco bed and abandoned house, and 5 mins between house and you leaving
the barranco, should both read 7-8 mins if you match my speed. The
description in /Rochford/ is not very clear either, and I am not sure you
really have to leave the barranco bed at all, you are just about 50m from
your goal (the track) when the walls closes in and the barranco turns left.
Well, I did not investigate. Inside the turn, you have a water channel on
your right, you will have seen it for a couple of minutes already, but do not
mount it before a faint, but still clear path takes you to it. Then climb the
edge of the channel and use that as your road. Curve to the right, pass above
a water cistern, then pick up a narrow path on the other side, and continue
for a few meters, then follow it down to a wider path which will take you to
the rather overgrown track. In San Andres, cross the football field and take
the stairs up on its RIGHT for the main road.
OBS: I did this walk last in 2000!
• Good starting points: • Las Palmas - from here buses will take
you to most of the island • Maspalomas/Playa del Inglés - Enjoy the
great sand dunes, buses will take you to walking opportunities in the
southern part of the island
• How to get there: • By air • Some ferries from other Canary
islands do exist
• More info: • Welcome to Gran Canaria, the official tourism website of Gran Canaria • Gran Canaria
Travel and Holiday Guide by Foxy's Island Walks • Global - Transporte interurbano en Gran Canaria has routes for intercity buses
