The natural greenery of Gran Canaria shines through in the most wonderful and surprising ways.

There exists a magical kingdom with laurel trees, wild olive trees, willows, arbutus, yews, plus the indigenous viñátigos, paloblancos, tilos and mocanes, and it’s all here in Gran Canaria. This list of exotic words, which might seem to be taken from a book of fairytales, goblins and wizards, actually describes the trees that provide the body and soul to the mysterious, primitive laurel tree forest that hugs tightly onto the island and emits the clear, thumping beat of its green heart.

The real secret behind the marzipan recipe is its fruit.

The sprouting flowers of the almond trees hail the arrival of spring in Gran Canaria, early on in the month of February. The hilly regions of the island are decked out in a pink carpet, and the beautiful trees provide the sought after fruit which for several centuries was the main driving force behind the local economy of the village of Tejeda.

Unesco declares Gran Canaria a Starlight Destination in recognition of the high quality of its skies for star gazing.

Gran Canaria has graduated with honours at the school of amazing night skies.  Unesco has declared the island a Starlight Destination, which certifies it as a privileged location for anyone who wishes to contemplate the stars and feel they can nearly touch them. Gran Canaria now joins a select club that includes Chile, New Zealand and Hawaii.

The spirit of the Carnival possesses a thousand different faces in Gran Canaria and reflects hundreds of years of tradition.

Ana lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Ever year she improvises with a couple of different fancy dress costumes, while there is one fancy dress that she uses year after year for carnival. She goes outdoors in the middle of the fiestas in her pyjamas, a pair of slippers, a worn-out but adorable blue-coloured teddy bear, and a mug with a camomile tea bag hanging on a thread. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what shapes the unbreakable spirit of the carnival, which, on the island of Gran Canaria, is a particularly lively and rowdy affair.

The Canarian palm tree forms part of the landscape and identity of Gran Canaria, and will linger in your mind following your stay

They have always been around, rustling in the breeze, providing shade, breaking up blue skies with their slim shadows. A group of them even led to the name of the island’s capital city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, over five centuries ago now. Poet Bartolomé Cairasco de Figueroa (1583-1610) used to say that they were “so, so tall, much taller than the Pyramids in Egypt”, while the chronicals of the Conquest referred to the island “being just like a garden, covered with palm trees”.

The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium triumphs as an icon in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for how it fits in with its surroundings. 

As a boy, Juan Bordes described the existence of some little caboso fish that inhabited the pools left at low tide by Las Canteras beach. Juan then grew up, became a man and a famous sculptor, but those little fish continued to swim around in his mind, the very place from where they came out to become the sculptural series set into the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The mermaids on the façade are inspired by those early salty memories.

The humble potato, one of the jewels of Gran Canaria’s cuisine, has a passionate tale to tell.

Let us tell you the story of an incredible journey which is not yet over. Our hero in this story is not that big, but has become world famous, has received countless awards, and has inspired poems and songs, has fed whole generations, and has become one of the greatest symbols of Gran Canaria’s gastronomy.

El Faro de Maspalomas Lighthouse in Gran Canaria is planning to open a craft shop, museum and a tourist information point.

Maspalomas lighthouse launched its first beam into the skies one night in 1890. Over 125 years on, this emblematic display of Gran Canarian civil engineering located down at the south of the island is gearing up to beam a brand new kind of light, thanks to a project to open a craft shop and information point to the general public on site. They will also be restoring the former living quarters of the lighthouse-keeper, prior to the installation of the automatic beam mechanism, and also the rooms where the old machinery is kept, a real museum piece indeed.

Amadores Beach, in Gran Canaria, guarantees total tranquility in a place where a stretched out towel is a conquest of the good life.

Nobody does this nowadays, but there are chronicles out there that indicate that ancient inhabitants from this area on occasions used to go up to the top of the mountain of Amadores (that appeared on some old maps at ‘Llamadores’), at the top of Lechugal Ravine, to shout out to the fishermen. Today it is still possible to cast our eyes over the gentle bobbing of fishing boats as they come in and out of the coast of Mogán, the municipality in which the velvety beach of Amadores nestles invitingly, a beach where people now only speak quietly and whisper.

The Poema del Mar Aquarium, the most spectacular one of its kind in Europe, opens a window to the marine universe in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The oceans are now reciting their own verses on the island. The Poema del Mar, the grand aquarium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has opened its doors to offer a window to the marine universe. Its facilities are the most spectacular in Europe and is therefore set to become one of the great attractions, not only in the city and on the island, but in the Canaries as a whole.

The Sand Nativity Scene at Las Canteras beach is the flagship of dozens of Birth Scenes spread all around Gran Canaria.

Leonardo, Benoît, Marieke, Aleksei, Enguerrand, Dan, Vadim, Alexey and Jonay come from different countries around Europe. Yet, for several weeks they speak a single language: the language of sand. They are sculptors who between them have used some 2,000 tons of arid sand from Las Canteras beach, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to build the greatest Nativity Scene of its kind in Continental Europe. Its sheer size however is by no means its only attraction, as they have also managed to express real emotion through this temporary structure, which leaves a permanent mark in the memories of those fortunate enough to get a close up of it.