Skip to main content

Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Agaete, Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria, the blue island

Here begins a journey of the senses around Gran Canaria, through the colour blue, one of the island’s essential elements.

Some living beings from Gran Canaria inhabit an ever blue territory, because the sea and the sky are the canvass on which their lives are etched. The first shearwaters, Atlantic birds par excellence, begin nesting in March high on the crags on the island. At nightfall these marine tones are intensified, and the birds can be spotted flying round in groups, skimming over the water, gliding for a few minutes before shooting forward once again with five or six flaps of their wings. Suddenly, they plunge under the sea in search of fish, splitting the frontier between the two immense blue expanses of Gran Canaria.


El Juncal, Agaete, Gran Canaria

She, Gran Canaria

She, Gran Canaria, also celebrates March, woman’s month. Women have shaped the history of the island with the same wisdom with which María Guerra, the potter from La Atalaya de Santa Brígida, shaped her pieces of clay as she turned them into unique pieces of art. Take any mountain, beach, monument, rock or any landscape whatsoever, behind each of these you will always find some mark left by women, without which Gran Canaria would not be what it is.


"Entierro de la Sardina". Maspalomas Carnival. Picture by Carnaval Internacional de Maspalomas

You’ll cry over a sardine

The Maspalomas International Carnival, the sunniest in Europe, will provide a crazily happy time on the ocean’s edge.

Don’t worry. Your eyes and your head aren’t deceiving you. At this time of year it is quite normal to see some extremely fun-filled and strange goings on at the south of Gran Canaria. For example, you might see a group of people crying around a giant sardine that they are dragging along the shore. This is what goes on at the Maspalomas International Carnival, this year dedicated to the millions of European tourists who make their dreams come true at this holiday paradise.


Bodega Arehucas on Gran Canaria. Picture by Destilerías Arehucas

The rum temple of Gran Canaria

A visit to the Arehucas Distillery, the oldest rum maturing bodega in Europe, offers a truly sensual experience.

The statue of Alfredo Martín Reyes welcomes visitors at the entrance to the Arehucas Distillery, in Arucas (Gran Canaria). In 1935 Don Alfredo reopened the old Factory of San Pedro, originally inaugurated back in 1884, but this time dedicated exclusively to rum production. Today, from his pedestal, Don Alfredo seems proud of his legacy, an international landmark in rum culture. Indeed, these facilities are home to the oldest rum maturing bodega in Europe.


Carlos Menéndez in Las Canteras Beach. Gran Canaria

Memories of a Drag Queen in Gran Canaria

The first ever winner of the Drag gala at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival dusts off his platforms and his memories

Evening starts to fall on the bay of Las Canteras, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Hundreds of people soak up the last few rays of sun down on the beach, as do some crabs in their prívate hide-outs, in a corner of La Puntilla, where the ocean laps over the age-old strips of volcanic lava giving them a polished finish like a skin covering a thousand year old black, dormant dragon. Nearby some fishing boats bob up and down, in view of diners from all over the world who are finding out what a papa arrugada salted potato and a chunk of sea bass taste like.


Voix at the 49 edition of the Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Alfredo Kraus opera season. Picture by Nacho González/ACO

Half a century of applause in Gran Canaria

The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Opera Festival reaches its fiftieth edition with a world class programme.

The ending is a familiar one: the applause fills the air like a swarm of flapping doves, with cheers and admiration of an awe-struck crowd. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Opera Festival is into its fiftieth year, during which time it has been a “cornerstone” in its role in making the city one of Europe’s leading musical capitals, as Ulises Jaén, the event’s current musical director, proudly puts it. Jaén himself has had a season ticket for this event since he was just sixteen years of age.