Gran Canaria is famous for its diverse microclimates, stunning coastline with spectacular beaches and sand dunes, inland forests, mountains, volcanic craters, exotic fauna and flora and picturesque towns and villages.

Continue reading... Top 7 resorts in Gran Canaria

1. Celebrate the Carnival. The dates vary from year to year, but it's usually in February or March. The most impressive fancy dress parades and processions of elaborately decorated floats can be found in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Continue reading... Top 25 Things to do in the Canaries

There is only one great classical music festival during winter in Europe: The Canary Islands Music Festival. With the start of 2012, the 28th edition of this festival took off. Unsurprisingly, this festival is a reason for music lovers from around the world to book flights to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and the other islands.

Continue reading... Bach on the Beach

Although almost half of Gran Canaria is under protection from the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos, there are plenty of places on the other half of the island where tourists can pore over the local flora. If you've booked flights to Gran Canaria to admire the pine forests, extensive palm tree groves and laurel woods, we've got a list of our favourite botanic hotspots for you.

Continue reading... The unique flora of Gran Canaria

The Canary Islands are to botany what the Galapagos islands are to zoology, because approximately 600 plant species that became extinct in the rest of the word during the ice age are still flourishing on these islands. OVer 100 species can only be found on Gran Canaria, which is why flights to Gran Canaria are very popular among biologists from all over the world. Almost half of the island's territory is under protection from the Canary Islands Network for Naturally Protected Areas (Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos). The 33 protected sites (667 km2 in total) are divided in six categories:

Continue reading... The unique flora of Gran Canaria

Comics will be the central theme of Gran Canaria's famous Carnival in 2012. If you want to see Spiderman, Cat Woman, The Joker and other superheroes in real life, hurry up and book your flights to Gran Canaria soon, as the carnival will take place from the 3rd to the 21st of February this year. In order to make the events more intense, the organisation has decided to host the festival for only 3 weeks rather than the usual 4. If you enjoy a good street party, you especially don't want to miss the Gran Cabalgata parades in Las Palmas. During the final weekend of the Carnival (18 and 19 February 2012), more than 200,000 Canarians in comic book costumes will dance to Latin music in the streets, covering a route of 7 kilometres from north to south.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Carnival Calendar 2012

Scarily, Christmas is already just around the corner. If you're wondering whether you can afford to escape to some winter sun, you'd do well to consider going to Gran Canaria, where the temperatures are in their mid-20s. Flights to Gran Canaria only take about four hours, making it a really manageable winter destination.

Continue reading... December in Gran Canaria

The sophisticated, cosmopolitan bar and club scene of Gran Canaria's principal city defies, and exceeds, most holiday makers expectations. It is easy to avoid sticky floored mega-clubs, lad filled boozers and extortionate, poolside cocktail bars in Las Palmas. As in Madrid, the urbane islanders of Las Palmas like to start their evening with a laid-back supper, grazing and socializing until midnight, in relaxed bar come restaurants such as the family-run Samoa bar (Valencia 46 E - 35006, Tel. 928241471), before moving on to livelier venues open till the early hours.

Continue reading... Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Nightlife

There are a lot of festivals and events that are held within Lanzarote. The town of Arrecife is the capital of Lanzarote. A lot of the festivals and events within this area attract a number of people from all across the world and the flights to Arrecife make this easy to do. There are a lot of tourists that plan their holiday around an event that they would like to enjoy.

Continue reading... Fiesta of Corpus Christi

There are a lot of events that take place throughout the year on the island of Gran Canaria and these events are popular with a wide range of people. Most of the villages and towns on the island have their own celebrations that they use to reflect the culture and heritage of the area. Most of the events on the island take place on an annual basis and this includes the festival that is known as Las Palmas Opera. This festival is popular with people from all over the world and they have a tendency to make use of the flights to Gran Canaria.

Continue reading... Las Palmas Opera Festival in Gran Canaria

One of the biggest attractions for most of the tourists come to Gran Canaria is the fabulous range of beaches that are on offer. A lot of the tourists that come to this area make the most of the flights to Gran Canaria

Continue reading... Beaches in Gran Canaria

Las Palmas has a magnificently maintained natural environment especially the 2 bays and 2 excellent beaches named Playa de las Alcaravaneras and Playa de las Canteras. In all Las Palmas consists of eight amusement and theme parks that include the Palmitos Park that happens to be a subtropical zoo. Holiday World is another one which is simply for leisure. If you are planning to visit Las Palmas then make sure you travel with children via one of the various flights to Las Palmas. Thats because there are other fabulous places to visit such as the Castellons Planetarium, which your children will not only enjoy but also learn a lot.

Continue reading... Castellons Planetarium in Las Palmas

Las Palmas is a well known tourist destination that not only welcomes visitors with a warm weather but also warm people. Las Palmas has an airport that is 11 miles from the city of Las Palmas. Flights to Las Palmas can be boarded from anywhere in Europe. Frequency of flights may be slightly lesser in other countries. Apart from the churches and other attractions the presence of Mary Magdelene can be felt through the Hermitage of Magdelena located within Las Palmas. The area is maintained by the Municipality Castellon de la Plana and the total land area is 14.05 hectares. It is the natural setting here that impresses the visitors the most.

Continue reading... Municipal Natural Reserve of the Hermitage of the Magdalena in Las Palmas

From the brighter and sunnier south to the laid back and cooler north, Gran Canaria is an ideal tourist destination that offers variety of places to visit. It also boasts of great diversity of flora, fauna and the climate which has given it the title of The Miniature Continent. This is one of the topmost tourist destinations in the world and you should plan your visit to Gran Canaria for your next vacation here. It is accessible by air and flights to Gran Canaria are quite regular.

Continue reading... Santa Catalina in Gran Canaria

Founded in 1478, Las Palmas is known for its natural surroundings. Las Palmas can be visited any time of the year as it is accessible by air. Flights to Las Palmas are quite regular from a number of locations across the world. The natural reserve of the Desert de les Palmes forms part of Castelló®® It is a Carmelite wasteland, situated at the coastal foothills. Reaching desert is easy. You can either hire a car or travel by the local transport.

Continue reading... Desert de las Palmes

Arrecife is probably the only city in Spain that does not really follow any organized pattern of architecture. The same is true of the Spanish people living and working here. It is indeed different among all the other islands around Spain. Several people at Arrecife work or are related to the tourism industry in some way or the other. There are several significant tourist resorts towards both the south and the northern part of the city. Arrecife can be reached by air as there are a number of flights to Arrecife every day from all major locations in the world.

Continue reading... Iglesia de San Gines in Arrecife

The initial settlements at this location, called Real de Las Palmas, explored the area around a ravine here. They then moved ahead into the towns named Triana and Vegueta on the right side and Barranco de Guiniguada on the left. Initially the Castillian Army encampment was located on the hillside close to the Barranco de Guiniguada where you will find the chapel called San Antonio Abad chapel. The elaborate highway of Las Palmas called Calle Juan de Quesada today extends beyond the Barranco de Guiniguada and assists people out of the town into the central part of the island. The highway is the landmark that divides the two historic sides of Las Palmas.

Continue reading... Pueblo Canario in Las Palmas

Las Palmas is set amidst magnificent scenery comprising of two vast bays and picturesque beaches named Playa de las Alcaravaneras and Playa de las Canteras. Las Palmas was founded in 1478 and it boasts of significant cultural and historical heritage especially in a district called Vegueta. Vegueta happens to be the oldest part of the island. The place was even proclaimed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990. There are several airlines that provide flights to Las Palmas including Thomas Cook. You can always look for some discounts offered when planning your vacation to Las Palmas.

Continue reading... Santa Ana Cathedral in Las Palmas

Every zone of Gran Canaria is worth visiting, north, east, west or south. You need to plan a longer trip if you want to enjoy the place thoroughly. There are several flights to Gran Canaria that will take you to the place safely.

Continue reading... Casa de Colonand Gran Canaria Las Palmas

ARC is the abbreviation used for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers which is a regular rally held on an international level and is much to do with sailing. The sailing calendar features the cruise every year without fail. Sailing enthusiasts look forward to the cruise and take part to experience the excitement during the event. It is a transatlantic rally that commences from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on its journey to the Rodney Bay Marina in St Lucia which is a Caribbean island. St.Lucia is a beautiful Island in the Caribbean that has some picturesque views to enjoy. As the cruisers reach the Island they are blinded by the clean blue waters and diverse flora and fauna all over the Island.

Continue reading... Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

If you are a resident of Spain you sure may be looking forward to the Carnival of Las Palmas, but if you are a visitor or going to visit Las Palmas, be ready to get shocked and enjoy it too. Gran Canarias party also called the carnival is a grand event of the year. It extends to 3 weeks at a stretch and starts before Lent. You can plan your vacation in Las Palmas in a way that you are able to attend the main events such as the popular Drag Queen Day held in January. Flights to Las Palmas are available from all the major cities of Europe.

Continue reading... Carnival in Las Palmas

A friendly, green island, of mountains and beaches, volcanoes and forest, the island of Las Palmas is packed with adventurous things to do. With villas in Las Palmas both on the coast and away from it all, a holiday in Las Palmas is ideal in both summer and winter with some great activities to try both on land and water.

Continue reading... Las Palmas guide to adventure holidays

The Canary Islands are located in Spain and are known for their year round festivities. Gran Canaria as the name suggests, is one of the largest islands within the set and it lives up to the name by offering a calendar of events that makes the island worth visiting any time of the year. The vents are often kept in and around the area of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria which is also the capital of the island. Many of the big festivals took place earlier in the year, but there are still many more to come. You may have missed the Music festival in January; the Opera festival in February or even the Jazz Festival in July, but they will be here again next year and there are still many of the good ones that you can still experience this year.

Continue reading... Festivity Non stop on the Gran Canaria Island

The capital of the Canary Islands, Las Palmas, plays host to the International Festival of Theatre, Music and Dance. The festival is in its fourteenth edition from 8 July to 14 August and has been gaining in strength and recognition every year. Las Palmas is a candidate for the prestigious award of European Capital of Culture for 2016, spurring large investments in everything cultural happening within the city.

Continue reading... Paving the way to becoming European Capital of Culture

Gran Canaria is an island famed for its beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters. However, there is a hidden world of exotic festivities and colourful celebrations that most tourists remain unaware of. If you can drag yourself away from the idyllic coastline and head inland for a day or two then you can get in touch with a vibrant local culture that has stayed intact for hundreds of years.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Fiestas

Visitors to Gran Canaria during May and June will have the opportunity to see some of the world's best known operas performed on the island as part of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria's 43rd Festival of Opera.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Operas

Many of the larger carnivals like the famous one in Rio de Janeiro and the carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife were held on the official carnival weekend of 13th and 14th February. Santa Cruz claims to host one of the biggest carnivals after Rio and this year the capital city of Tenerife had four live stages, an 84,000 Watt sound system and lighting rigs totaling almost 140,000 of power.

Continue reading... Maspalomas Carnival Details

One of the biggest carnivals on Gran Canaria has the green light to go ahead having been given assurances by its local mayor that proper finances would be available.

Continue reading... Maspalomas Carnival Get Go Ahead

The carnival season is an important time of the year in Gran Canaria and because the resort of Maspalomas and the capital Las Palmas are the two biggest towns on the island, it is not surprising that the most spectacular carnivals are held there. We will cover those events in more detail as they approach, but there are also other towns on the island that host their own programmes.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Celebrations

Gran Canaria's 11th International Film Festival is held between the 12th and 20th March 2010. The event which has graced the island since the year 2000 claims not to be seeking to duplicate its more famous counterparts in places like Cannes. The organisers are aiming a whole different segment of the cinema market and are looking to support the creative sector of the independent film industry. Don't expect to find any of the mainstream films that grace the cinemas up and down the country every week, the productions on show at this festival will be more leftfield, more unusual, more boundary-breaking than normal. They even describe some of the entries as bizarre and marginal.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Film festival

The Spanish music style of Flamenco is the kind of music played during traditional dances with performers dressed in stylish costume. The ladies wear long flowing skirts while the men dress in outfits that symbolise the attire normally associated with bullfighting. But in Spain, Flamenco is better known as a form of music rather than a dance. The castanets, or palillos as they are known locally, are small-hand held percussion instruments usually played in pairs.

Continue reading... Shake Out Your Castanets in The Canaries

There may have been a big freeze across northern Europe at the beginning of January but the attractions for tourists soaking up the sun in Gran Canaria were added to on 8th January when the Canary Islands Music Festival started in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Continue reading... Canary Islands Music Festival Schedule

If you go to the Canary Islands for a winter break, don't be surprised to find the locals with a healthy appetite for watching football. The islands currently have several successful teams, one that competes in the top Spanish League and others that play more locally.

Continue reading... Canaries Football Spotlight

Tourists on Gran Canaria during December may have been lucky enough to witness one of the more unusual events on the island.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria Winter Solstice

As well as many tourists from Britain, the Canary Islands are also popular with Scandinavian visitors, who probably also value the region's mild winter weather as means of escape from their naturally cold climate at home. Take the Swedish for example who have a shorter working week than anywhere else in Europe and, according to a 2008 study, take an average 33 days annual leave each year, much higher than the European average of 25.2 days. The Danes and Germans are both calculated to have 30 days annual leave, while in the UK, workers have to make do with a meagre 24.7 days, ranking them only 13th in Europe. Estonia and Cyprus come bottom with only 20 days per year.

Continue reading... St Lucia Day on Gran Canaria

One of the best ways to experience the true Gran Canaria is to take part in the annual carnival that started this year on the 26th January 2010.

Continue reading... Las Palmas Carnival

The Gran Canaria International Marathon took place on the 24th January 2010. Local council and tourism authorities saw the potential of hosting an international marathon race after witnessing what they called the "magnetic" effect of similar races in other Spanish cities. They quoted the success of cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Saragossa and Palma de Mallorca as some of those that have put on marathon races and attracted huge crowds in addition to the runners themselves. For Gran Canaria the obvious choice was to make the most of the island's mild winter weather and entice runners to take part in one of the only European marathons to be held during January.

Continue reading... Countdown to Gran Canaria Marathon

Once again Gran Canaria briefly became home to over 200 yachts as the fleet for the annual ARC trans-atlantic yacht race assembled in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ahead of the event.

Continue reading... Transatlantic Yachts in Gran Canaria

Sunny weather and a fresh breeze treated competitors and spectators to a spectacular start of the 2009 ARC Sailing event in Gran Canaria.

Continue reading... Fleet Departs Gran Canaria on Atlantic Voyage

The Canaries version of the WOMAD Festival took place from 12th to 15th November in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Continue reading... WOMAD Festival in Gran Canaria

Tourists heading for Gran Canaria early in 2010 will be interested to know about some of the important dates on the events calendar for the island.

Continue reading... Planning for 2010 in Gran Canaria

Mention International Film Festivals and places like Cannes, Berlin, Edinburgh and Moscow spring to mind. But there are many other festivals celebrating the work of filmmakers and the island of Madeira hosts its own event which has slowly been growing in stature since it first started four years ago.

Continue reading... Funchal International Cinema Festival

Once again Gran Canaria briefly becomes home to over 200 yachts as the fleet for the annual ARC trans-atlantic yacht race assembles in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ahead of the event.

Continue reading... Transatlantic Yachts in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria in October is much the same as Gran Canaria in September and November. The usual warm Autumn weather, lots of tourists arriving on the island for a late summer break and plenty of things going on. However the first weekend of October this year did seem to have an unusual combination of events on the calendar.

Continue reading... Cheese, Rock and Art Celebrations

With the Canary Islands being surrounded by Atlantic Ocean you would expect much of their commercial and leisure activities to involve water, but that is not always the case. However during October this year a group of hardy athletes tackled a challenging journey across the waters between two of the islands.

Continue reading... Lanzarote to Fuerteventura Swim

The Canary Islands International Jazz Festival was in full swing this year kicking off with a series of great performances where the beach at Telde on Gran Canaria and Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast of Tenerife both played host for opening night concerts.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria and Tenerife Open Jazz Festival

Popular tourist destination Gran Canaria was selected to host the World Cheese Awards in 2009.

Continue reading... Gran Canaria gets the Cheese

Visitors to the island of Lanzarote next weekend will have the opportunity to sample the Festival of Arrecife, a series of musical events taking place at different venues around the city on Friday and Saturday.

Continue reading... Lanzarote Festival in Arrecife

The islands are no strangers to motorsport events as the larger Rally Islas Canarias takes place earlier in the year and usually attracts large crowds. As a nation the Spanish are great fans of all motor sports. Fernando Alonso is their top Formula One driver while Jorge Lorenzo, who was born in Palma de Mallorca, is a top Moto GP rider.

Continue reading... Fast Cars in Gran Canaria

A varied mix of over forty events are planned across the seven islands, featuring cultural performances of music, film and theatre, sporting competitions and traditional celebrations.

Continue reading... Plans Announced for Canaries Celebration Day

The streets and squares of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria are preparing to welcome the world's best freestyle skaters as the first round of the 2009 World Cup Series for the sport comes to the island in the middle of May.

Continue reading... Street Skating comes to Gran Canaria