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Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Mirador del Balcón

Gran Canaria from a dragon’s eye view

The Mirador del Paso de Marinero viewpoint, also known as Mirador del Balcón, offers extraordinary views of the wildest areas of Gran Canaria and of the stars.

Silence reigns at these altitudes, broken only by the wind coming from the ocean and blowing up to the top of the cliff. No one wants to disrupt the dragon’s sleep, which has been dormant for millions of years. Indeed, when visitors arrive at the Mirador del Paso de Marinero (or Mirador del Balcón) viewpoint in La Aldea, on the west coast of Gran Canaria, they are often left speechless by the range of mountain peaks that plunge into the sea, and which certainly resemble the tail of a sleeping mythological titan.


Santa Lucía

Santa Lucía has launched its new tourism brand and website

With an advertising spot that delivers a sensory experience along with beautiful images, the municipality of Santa Lucía presents its new tourism brand and website (turismo.santaluciagc.com), in which senses play a leading role, inviting us to see the wind, to taste the landscape, to feel the sunrise, to listen to the silence of an endless view... ”Come and visit Santa Lucía. Get closer to you” concludes this new advertising spot.


Tejeda

The Gran Canaria Wine Route, in search of something extraordinary

Gran Canaria has been able to bottle its essence. Each of its wines is a reflection of its varied landscape, its extensive varietal heritage, its history and the strong commitment to produce high quality wines that allow us to taste the flavours of the island sip by sip. The Spanish Association of Wine Cities (Acevin), in recognition of the island’s unique winegrowing characteristics, has awarded the first, and so far only, wine route certification in the Canary Islands and outside mainland Spain to the Gran Canaria Wine Route.


Muelle Viejo, Arinaga

Arinaga´s old jetty

The municipality of Agüimes has recently opened a new bathing site to the public in the old jetty located in Arinaga, popularly known as Muelle Viejo. This jetty was built at the end of the 19th century and is considered of great historical and ethnographic value.

The Muelle Viejo is half hidden at the foot of the mountain where the current lighthouse stands, in Punta de Arinaga. To the north, we find the El Cabrón beach, where divers plunge into the sea every day to explore the crystalline ocean, full of fish, starfish, seahorses, and large conch shells once used by the inhabitants of Gran Canaria.


Arucas

Arucas, the Gateway to the North of Gran Canaria

Arucas has launched its new tourism site with a campaign that emphasizes its role as the Gateway to the North of Gran Canaria.

A long time has passed since the city of Arucas was founded at the beginning of the 16th century. And many things have changed, but the essentials remain the same. The skilled hands of the workers and the blue-toned stone from the local quarry made it possible to build the Church of San Juan Bautista, an architectural emblem of the municipality and a symbol of the community’s commitment to the place they live in.


Camino de Santiago

Discover the famous pilgrims’ way known as El Camino de Santiago in Gran Canaria through www.jacobeogaldar.es

The Camino de Santiago in Gran Canaria stretches along 66 kilometers and takes about 23 hours to complete. A large part of this trail was used by the ancient inhabitants of the island as a communication route from the south to the north and, later, it came to be used by herders who practised transhumance, -that is, the seasonal migration of livestock in search of better pastures-, and by pilgrims.


Pico de los Pozos de la Nieve Viewpoint

Gran Canaria opens windows over the universe

The astronomic viewpoints in Gran Canaria help you really make the most of the Island’s excellent star-gazing conditions.

Frank was born in a place in Gran Canaria where the firmament is just another extension of life and forms part of the culture, the history and the language because you can really speak to the heavens here. Born in San Mateo, he grew up around Cueva Grande (Big Cave), at the island’s peak, where human beings and the infinite seem to go hand in hand. “I have been aware of looking at the sky since I was very little, four or five years old,” recalls this astronomy-mad teacher whose memory is a sort of planetary system around which family celebrations and lunar eclipses orbit and coexist.


Santa Catalina hotel

Santa Catalina hotel, the legend goes on

Restoration of the emblematic Santa Catalina hotel in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is writing a new page in its history.

Gregory Peck took refuge there after playing Captain Ahab, shooting scenes from ‘Moby Dick’ on the Las Canteras beach, under the watchful eye of director John Huston. The hundred-year-old memories in its rooms also conjure up smoke from Winston Churchill’s cigars, echoes of the voice of the soprano Maria Callas, the smouldering gaze of Ava Gardner and the dreamy although somewhat distracted look of Agatha Christie, probably because a mystery novel was always brewing in her head, even while she relaxed by the Atlantic in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.


Risco Caído Interpretation Centre, Artenara

Gran Canaria opens a passageway to the past

The Interpretation Centre of Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape highlights the values of this World Heritage site.

There was a time when the aborigines of Gran Canaria were able to create a bond between Heaven and Earth. It happened on the island’s highlands. Those people created a unique world with their own hands, involving the starts in the process. The most spectacular example of this dialogue between humans, the Sun and the Moon, happened eight centuries ago, in a cavity located at 1200 m of altitude, excavated in volcanic rock. The sunlight and the silver halo of the full moon magically came through the rectangular skylight designed for the purpose, giving light, in turns, to each one of the figures engraved on the walls of Risco Caído cave number six. But there was nothing magical about it, only observation, technique and belief.


Faro de Maspalomas Summer Crafts Fair

Gran Canaria, an Ocean of Crafts

The Crafts Fairs held next to Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) in Spring and Summer show the depth of the Island’s Traditions.

The waves, the breeze and the sea currents draw spirals and all kinds of whimsical meandering shapes next to the dike and breakwater at the foot of Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse). Gran Canaria’s Nature has been and still is a constant source of inspiration for the creation of beauty, like a guiding light. Like the Lighthouse has been doing for over a century. For this reason, and as naturally as the waves break on the shore, it is hard to imagine a most suitable space for two must-go dates for all looking for in-depth knowledge of the Island’s traditions. These dates are Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) Summer Crafts Fair and Faro de Maspalomas (Maspalomas Lighthouse) Southern Spring Crafts Fair. In both cases, the Atlantic Ocean is the best background to the displayed crafts.