A GIANT PLAYGROUND
Gran Canaria is one of the main islands of the Canaries, an African (but Spanish) archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean. The closest point to Africa its about 150km and the closest to Europe 1350 km. This island is the third largest of the seven that compose the archipelago.
The island is well known by it variety of microclimates and it soft temperatures. The climate is subtropical oceanic on the coast that’s why it’s sunny most of the year with spring like winters and warm and sunny summers. However, the climate varies according to altitude and exposure to the point that the island appears divided in two, the northern part being verdant and the southern one almost desert.
If you want to check the weather before going somewhere, there are Webcams located at some beaches or spots of the island so you can always get a better idea of whats the weather like.
The trade winds prevail at the Canaries making the northern slopes more humid but also temper the heat during the summer. For this reason you can climb outdoors the whole year, north spots during the summer and south ones during the winter.
Calima days are characterized due to hot air from Africa, more frequent in spring and summer. It can also be felt on the highlands and often even more than in the plains because warm air is lighter and tends to rise. Coast stays fresh due to the sea breeze. On these days, we recommend you to be close to the coast and enjoy water sports like surfing, kayak or easy hikes in the canarian forest at the north area.
Safety
The Canary Islands are one of the safest holiday destinations on Earth at any time. Protected by the ocean, free of firearms, troubled neighbours and domestic instability. The islands belongs to Europe so we live under the European laws and conditions like no weapons, tight airport security, no radical religious or ideological groups and protected by Spanish navy patrols. Nowadays, it can probably be the safest destination of Europe.
However, there are still some warnings you need to be aware.
The islands are so close to the equator so you can burn quickly, please, take care of your skin, avoid turning yourself into a shrimp, use sunscreen and be sure to reapply it at least once every two hours if you are outdoors under the sun. If you are a climber, think about your neck and ears burned, that hurts!
Every beach uses a flag to warn about the water conditions, pay attention to it to your own and your family safety. Every year many tourists trust the sea and die drowned. Of course, if you are not a good swimmer, be careful too. Especially always pay attention to the children. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a nice holidays at the beach, the main beaches got lifeguard service and you can always try to do things like surf lessons with professionals who will take care of you.
Last thing, don’t worry about what you can find on nature, there are no big mammals, there are no dangerous animals or plants, you will be lucky if while hiking you see a rabbit but the most common are lizards. Around the ravines or some climbing spots like Sorrueda you can see goats, but don’t worry, they don’t bite, at least they don’t use to .
If you go swim, there are no dangerous sharks or fishes, so you can swim relaxed, snorkel enjoying relaxed all the little creatures you can see or surf calm without the idea of being bite by a kind of crazy shark.
Money
The official coint is the €. Canarias its a lucky place because its exempt from duty, while in the rest of Spain they pay a tax of the 20% over the products called IVA, the Canaries don’t. But there is a special one called IGIC that depending of the product can be a 7% , for example, alcohol and tobacco are cheaper than in the rest of Spain, in fact, many people buy here these kind of products to take them to their countries saving some money.
A tip if euro isn’t your country coin: Credit card exchange rates can be high. Airports tend to have the best ones, whereas hotels tend to have the worst. Take the time to ask various places about their exchange rates to ensure you get the best one when exchanging via credit card.
A bit of history.
The Canaries at the XVI century were well known due to production of wine and sugar cane. But at the XIX and XX centuries British people with lung diseases were assigned to the islands due to the perfect weather conditions like the sun, the sea breeze and clean waters to get well and improve their health situation. Because of this, many writers started talking about the islands and the passion about exotic and new destinations grew.
The heavy presence of international people produced a big development on the way of live of the local people, being advanced due to the source of wealth they brought to the island. The huge port of Las Palmas ( stills present nowadays but totally modified) did it possible.
Since those centuries, the canaries has been a banana,tomato and potato producer, that’s the reason why some of our traditional dishes are made of these products, for example: “Papas con mojo” (little salted boiled potatoes with red sauce) it’s the main one, if you visit the island, you have to try them, at least once.
Something quite traditional is the “gofio”, a baked flour ready to eat with everything. Local people do it salty (adding a spoon to their soups for example) or sweet. All your meals will be so energetic with it.
You can feel the old spanish influence at some areas or villages. Vegueta is a nice example of this, Las Palmas old town. A beautiful area to go around, have some tapas and appreciate the architecture while discovering curiosities of it history. If you want to discover more traditional villages you can visit some of them like Teror, Santa Brigida or Fataga.
Outdoor beauties.
Well well, outdoor lovers, welcome to the right island! Thousand possibilities are waiting for you. First of all, doesn’t matter which one is your sport (unless if you are a winter sports lover), here you will be able to try your best in addition to enjoy all the others you are interested.
The island shape and climate conditions make possible outdoors training during the whole year, in fact, many professional athletes train here due to the quality of the spots. Adventures like cycling, surf, climbing, via ferrata or kayak are hosted by the natural environment turning them into something inborn on it attributes. In this island you will find a wonderful school to be introduced at many sports.
Hiking can be considerate the “spoiled child” due to all the chances around Gran Canaria, you will find every kind of routes for all levels and an incredible landscape diversity. Depending of the area where you go, you will find deeper ravines, greener or dry and rocky as a western movie scene.
There are more than 90 ravines and around 200 routes I recommend some ravines like Los Cernícalos, Azuaje or other routes at the top of the island. With Climbo we organize circular routes of different nature and difficulty but always adapting ourselves to the group level.
Hiking looks so simple for you? Well,southeast area was blessed thousand years ago with marvellous ravines where you can get lost at climbing areas and via ferratas.
At the ravine “El Berriel” you will find many of them, in fact the hardest via ferrata of Europe is located here.
There are 10 ferratas in general around the whole island, you can check them on this website: Ferratas Gran Canariabut we recommend you to not trust all the information about the routes, sometimes is not correct if they are open or not, because of this reason, we advise you to check it with us at the following link: Via Ferrata . We work with this information everyday and we can always suggest the best options depending of your conditions.
About climb, if you like to go by your own we recommend you the climbing book guide of Gran Canaria, you will discover that following the climbing spots you can cross the island from side to side, sick!
Spots like Sorrueda, Moya or Fataga are wonderful climbing sectors where you can find lines from 4-5 to 8a. There are many possibilities to improve your climbing technique and resistance due to the variety. From traditional, sport climbing to bouldering you find “natural toys” to challenge yourself.
If you want to try a crazy experience at the island, jump to it! Here you will enjoy rope jumping from different highs and places, forget about your fears and try. If you prefer other kind of jump, well, you can run to it, try paragliding over the coast or over the mountains.
If you are a water sports person, he north area offers the best waves for surfing also climbing spots while the east of the island is often windy giving a chance for kite and windsurf lovers at places like Pozo izquierdo or Playa de Vargas. The east is well known too because of scuba diving at beaches like “El Cabrón” where underwater beauties are waiting for be discovered. Another interesting scuba diving spot is Sardina del Norte but if you don’t have the scuba diving course don’t worry, you can enjoy the canarian bottom as well due to the huge quantity of beaches with calm water where you can try snorkel. You can try Peña la Vieja at Las Canteras beach, an area where the water is so calm perfect for the family and snorkel to the volcanic natural rock bar called “La Barra”.
If you prefer something more relaxing, you can try paddle surf in Las Canteras beach or go around the south coast with a kayak while enjoying the sun and the privileged views.
Are you looking for a mixture between water and earth? Here you can go canyoning always following by the water flow while walking, jumping , descending and enjoying. Natural slides are waiting for you!
If you like to start or finish the day quite relaxed but awake and conscious of your moves, there are many possibilities for outdoor yoga and acroyoga. There are many lessons at natural spots where you will enjoy nature and you will be able to breath fresh air.
With Climbo we make possible most of these activities with the most well prepared instructors owners of a big knowledge of the island, the natural environment and techniques to help you improve at every modality you try.
If you want to learn more about Gran Canaria’s possibilities don’t be shy!
Don’t hesitate to find want you are looking for at Climboand take advantage at your favourites sport modalities.
