Walking on Gran Canaria

Walking on Gran Canaria

Introduction

Most keen walkers from the U.K. or northern Europe get a bit fed up with the cold damp winter, muddy paths, miserable picnics and daylight fading during the afternoon. Well everyone deserves some winter sunshine and a walking holiday on Gran Canaria is the perfect antedote to the northern European winter blues!

Paths through ancient terraces

Towards Roque Nublo....

Where it is and Climate

Situated approx 150 Km (90 miles) off the west coast of Africa (Morocco / Western Sahara) and 1350 Km (840 miles) south of Europe; Gran Canaria sits well out into the Atlantic and thus has a cooler more temperate climate than mainland Africa. Throughout the year, the average daytime temperature varies from 20 degrees in winter to 26 degrees in summer.  So it is an ideal venue for year round walking. However November to February are the months with the highest rainfall with between 3 and 5 days of rain per month. Having previously visited both Morocco and southern Spain for walking holidays, I shall be returning back to Gran Canaria for my winter “fix” of sunshine in early March where I expect to walk during warm days with plenty of sunshine! Take a look at my holiday.

What is the walking is like?

Sometimes described as ‘a continent in miniature’, Gran Canaria has a variety of landscapes: forests, hillsides covered in pink almond blossom, rocky paths and slopes, almost lunar (volcanic) landscapes, and lush green valleys.  Although there are coastal walks, the best hiking routes are to be found in the centre of the island, where the scenery is varied and often dramatic.

Well signed paths!

Most of Gran Canaria is hilly and mountainous so don’t expect a week of flat easy walking. That said, even in the mountains, there are some shorter and easier walks described by the local walking expert Rambling Roger. Expect a combination of mountain (rocky) paths, forest paths, old mule tracks and driveable dirt track roads. Rambling Roger has published a series of walks throughout the Island, which can be purchased online.  He also is able to send GPX files of the routes if you want to use a GPS device to aid your navigation.

Where to stay

This is a difficult one with no easy answer. Travelling around Gran Canaria even using a car can be a bit slow.  We have even found roads closed for repair with no advanced warning on more than one occasion!

Tejeda

Puerto de Mogan

The greatest concentration of walks are in the centre of the Island.  However in the cooler months the centre of the Island is the coolest place so you might prefer to stay on the coast and drive for an hour (scenic drive) to get to your walk. There is also plenty of cheap (for mass tourism) accommodation down on the coast at Maspolomas. It is the road from Maspolomas that you would take to get inland towards most walks.

If you are more likely to have shorter walks combined with touring and want to stay somewhere with more character on the coast, then a harbour front cottage in Puerto de Mogan is the place to stay.

If you don’t mind it being a little cooler and want to stay in the mountains then take a look at the pretty village of Tejeda, which is where we will be based this coming winter.  From Tejeda both short and long walks can be had straight from your accommodation.

Useful Resources

Rambling Roger is the definitive source of information about walking on the Island.

Maps. To accompany Rambling Roger’s walks, Discovery Walking Guides have produced a 1:50 000 scale map of Gran Canaria which is available from Stanfords.

Mountain HouseHolidays organise a week’s walking holiday at the beginning of March each yearbased in Tejeda.

Roque Nublo

Mountain House Holidays is owned by Jane Livingstone and Michael Hunt, both qualified International Mountain Leaders.  All of the walks they lead during the holiday have been walked beforehand and researched.

Winter Sun Hiking in Gran Canaria

Dramatic mountain scenery, warm settled climate, a myriad of ancient trails, Spain, with just a touch of Africa!  These are just a few of the highlights of our trip to Gran Canaria in February 2015.

We were aiming for a week relaxing in the sun, but not really being beach people, the hills and mountains beconned from the very start, and we were soon driving towards the mountainous centre of the island, with increasingly dramatic scenery.

Gran Canaria is part of Spain, so our moderate Spanish was useful, though not quite the same as southern Spain, as we discovered when trying to order our usual 'tostada con tomate' only to find that toast was not usually eaten for breakfast, nor tomato and olive oil readily available!  However we saw lots of tomatoes growing near the coast, together with banana, mango and avocado plantations, some rather weird cacti, stunning bougainvillea and almond blossom.

Back to the walking; many of the trails we walked were old Camino Reales - ancient trails, with a similar status to the English rights of way, which are gradually being restored and waymarked for walkers. Although there are coastal walks, the best routes we found were in the centre of the island, where the scenery is varied and often dramatic. We found ourselves walking through forest, hillsides covered in pink almond blossom, rocky, almost lunar Landscape, and lush green valleys; indeed a 'continent in miniature' as the island is sometimes described. 

Probably our best walk took us to the summit of Pico de Las Nieves - no snow to be seen, indeed sadly not a lot to be seen the day we were there, as the final 100m was shrouded in mist!  However it was a great walk, with a wonderful descent through spectacular terrain.

We did have a couple of days exploring and particularly enjoyed wandering We around the fishing boats of Puerto Morgan, and dramatic drive northwest from the pretty village of All in all a good trip, with lots more walking to be done. We are already planning a return trip to lead a guided walking holiday on Gran Canaria in 2016 - everyone deserves a break from the British winter! So why not join us.