The beaches of Gran Canaria

Beaches in the south of the island of Gran Canaria

It would really impress me if you came to Gran Canaria and you didn't visit the beaches in the south of the island. That would mean that you'd have wasted a huge opportunity during your stay in Gran Canaria as part of your Erasmus year abroad. So that this doesn't happen, in this post I'm going to recommend that you visit the following beaches that I'll describe throughout this text. If you're looking for sandy beaches where you can go for a calm dip in the sea, without any danger from a swell of waves, keep reading this post because these are the best known beaches in the south of Gran Canaria. You will be able to go swimming on these beaches for 80% of your stay, as the island has great weather and an ideal climate to do this all year round. It's true that the water is a lot colder in the winter, but it's not impossible to get in. Some of these beaches have the well known blue flag, which means they have a certification for the environmental quality of the beach. So that you know which flag I'm talking about, I'll leave a photo of it and the link I got it from below: http://lpavisit.com/images/stories/com_form2content/p17/f776/188.jpg

I have to say that Spain is one of the European countries that has this flag, putting itself in first place in the ranking because of the whopping 587 beaches with this flag. This gives a great advantage to Spain over their competitor who is at second best in the ranking, which is Greece with only 430 beaches that have this flag.

Playa de Pozo Izguierdo

Right, I spent a day preparing myself by going through the most important beaches to tell you about, and along the way I found the Playa de Pozo Izquierdo. I'm including this beach for if you're a fan of windsurfing, as this beach is the most important when it comes to this sport. Due to its meteorological position, it's perfect for windsurfing as there is an almost constant wind, making it ideal for the professionals of this sport. In order to locate this beach, you have to go towards the town of Vecindario and once you're there, you'll find a lot of signs directing you towards Poco Izquierdo beach. The beach is quiet and it's full of round rocks due to sea erosion, but it has a large sloping area where you can put your towels and and other material to catch some waves with. Right next to the beach there is an International Centre for Windsurfing.

It's on this beach that they do the Windsurfing World Cup, and it's one of the most important beaches for the professionals in this sport. Also, around the outskirts of the beach, you'll find a surfer atmosphere with shops that sell the stuff to be able to practise this sport with, and you'll also find cafes and bars. Depending on the time of year, you'll find more or less the same atmosphere there, but it's true that you'll find at least one person to share the waves with.

Playa de San Agustín

Let's leave the Playa de Pozo Izquierdo and go even further down south, where you'll finally see some sandy beaches. The first beach I'm going to show you is the Playa de San Agustín that you'll find just before getting to Playa del Inglés and Playa de las Burras. This is a recognised blue flag beach, which means that it's a quality beach. This beach can be a little bit windy during certain times of the year, but depending on the day that you go, it might be that the beach is peaceful and accompanied by great weather. The most recommended end to go swimming in is this beach on the left when facing the sea. There's an option to rent hammocks and umbrellas if you don't want to carry an umbrella from the city nearby, and the beach is around 50km away from the city. If you go by car it's easy to park as they have a plot of land which has been made for cars. It's near to number of hotels and it's also next to an area where there are a lot of places like restaurants where you can eat or buy a snack in one of the shops. On the beach there are lifeguard posts just in case something happens to you in the water, not that it will happen to you obviously, we hope.

Playa de las Burras

Right next to this last beach, you'll find the Playa de las Burras whose beach is even more sheltered from the wind by the hotel that they built right next to it. It's a very tranquil beach where to be able to immerse yourself in the water, you have to walk towards the sea quite a way. There are also hammocks and umbrellas as you can see in the photo. On these beaches, there's an avenue that connects them all. San Agustín, Playa de las Burras and Playa del Inglés are all along the avenue. As you can see in the bottom left of the photo, Playa del Inglés and the Maspalomas Dunes are already there.

Playa del Inglés

Once we leave the Playa de las Burras we walk in the direction of Playa del Inglés. You have to know that this area is the most touristic area on the island, and it's quite overcrowded by them, as you can see from the majority of hotels and apartments concentrated in this zone. Also you have to be aware that going out to PARTY party in this place takes priority, in the El Plaza shopping centre.

The par excellence party zone is Playa del Inglés and here is where most people who come to party in the south of the island stop. It's clear that there are many places to party, they could be pubs, clubs, or food places. It's practically open all night, from 10pm to practically 8am. In the photo it simply looks like a normal shopping centre, but at night it's all lit up and full of music. There are several flats distributed between the clubs and places to dance where you can listen to different music depending on the style you like.

Once we leave the centre of Playa del Inglés, we went towards the beach. This beach is considerably long, and the zone to swim in is calm. There are a lot of waves if you get closer to the nudist area of the beach which is the furthest away from the residents. This area joins with the Playa de Maspalomas which I have spoken about exclusively in another post. Playa del Inglés has a commercial zone where you can buy and each all kinds of products.

If you don't want to bring food from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, there's a McDonald's if you're a fan of fast food. Right next to Playa del Inglés at the other end, you can find some of the beaches separated by some dams to reduce the swell of waves on the coast. The whole of Playa del Inglés has a huge avenue on the upper part of the mountain, that has different access points to the beach by escalators or lifts.

As well as the shopping centre El Plaza, there's the Yumbo shopping centre. The Yumbo shopping centre is practically exactly the same as the El Plaza shopping centre, but they have a lot more gay bars. In this shopping centre you can also find all kinds of shops during the day, and at night it all turns into one big party. The south of Gran Canaria is very well known for itsGay Pride parties, and it attracts a lot of this kind of tourism too. They don't prohibit anyone from coming and there's a great atmosphere inside the shopping centre. The distance between the two most important shopping centres on the island, and I'm only referring to those in Playa del Inglés, are less than a kilometre away.

Views from a hotel, the Dunes of Maspalomas

After visiting the Yumbo shopping centre, I'll take you to the place where you can enjoy the best views you could ever see of the sand dunes of Maspalomas. The Dunes of Maspalomas are near the centre, where the beach of Playa del Inglés separates from the Playa de Maspalomas. To get here, you have to go right up to the RIU hotel that you can see in the photo. And to be able to get to see these views, you have to walk underneath this hotel, through an open door that you'll see from the centre of the hotel.

You don't have to ask for permission nor anything else to be able to get in. It's totally open as they consider the space as a public pedestrian path. Access is totally free so don't be embarrassed or shy when it comes to going inside. Once you go through this door, you'll find a following passage that you must follow. Look where those two girls towards the bottom of the photo are going, that's where you'll be able to find the view of the dunes.

When you arrive you are exactly at the viewpoint, which is where you'll find a tourist information centre about the Maspalomas Dunes. There's a sign there from the council of Gran Canaria which has all the tourist information you'll need. As you already know, I have always said that Gran Canaria is a mini continent, as we have all types of weather small quantities. If you don't believe me, it's confirmed in the following panoramic photo.

In front of you you can see the Maspalomas Dunes with the beach in the background, and to the right you can see the Maspalomas lighthouse far off in the distance. If what you want to do is walk amongst the dunes then I would recommend you do so during October or November. I went to take my photos in the middle of August and it was far too hot in that desert. Although it's possible that you'll be boiling hot when you're in amongst the dunes, just take a dip in the ocean when you head in the direction of the sea. At the bottom of the dunes you will find a certain type of bush that grows with a very little amount of water, and just because of these bushes, it makes the landscape even more impressive. If you want to know more about the Dunes of Maspalomas, I have written exclusively about them in another post on this page.

Playa de Triana

Grab everything now, and let's go to Playa del Inglés, jumping from Maspalomas beach onto the old road that takes us to Arguineguín beach or the town of Arguineguín. Along this road we'll find numerous beaches, and the majority are rock or stone. These beaches are where a lot of people decide to camp, both with caravans and tents. In my opinion, I'm about to show you the beach I like the most. It's the easiest beach to go swimming on. I'm talking about Playa de Triana which is divided into 3 small quiet and sandy beaches. As you can see in the photos there are a few small burial mounds of rock that face towards the sea, which divide the beach into 3 smaller ones.

Let's carry on down the road, and if you look just ahead and right above you, we'll arrive at the town of Pajar. This where the Boya restaurant is, where they do what is considered to be one of the tastiest paellas in Gran Canaria. You'll probably have to queue for a few hours if you want to eat there.

Playa de Arguineguín

By continuing ahead, we'll then find the town of Arguineguín. You have probably heard that this town is famous because of the legendary football player Juan Carlos Valerón. He played for Spain's national football team and gave more than one European team a headache with his playing, that's for sure. This town is very picturesque as it has a beach with very calm waters. The water is perfect for going in a submarine, because it's crystal clear.

The inside of the town is very pretty and I recommend walking through it. It has a port where there is an fishermen's association where you can eat very nice fried fish. Also it's full of restaurants and supermarkets where I made the most of the occasion and bought a strawberry Clipper ice lolly because of how hot it was.

Playa de Anfi del Mar

From Arguineguín, let's go towards Playa de Anfi del Mar. This beach is very touristic as in the mountain which is directly behind the beach, you'll find one of the most important hotels in the area. This place is also crammed with supermarkets and shops and the parking space is limited, which is why I would recommend taking the bus here. The company you can get the bus to Playa de Anfi del Mar with is called Global. Otherwise you can also choose to use the parking which is in the hotel that you can see in the photo.

The hotel of Anfi del Mar that you can see, is a Time Sharing hotel, which is an offer that various hotels around the world do for people who are members of these said hotels where they stay for a period of time each year when they go on holiday. Although the beach looks small, it's wide enough and as you can see just on the other side of the dike, there is a small island where they hold parties all year round. There is a huge chilled-out style open-air terrace where they have the parties.

Playa de Puerto Rico

Now let's go from Anfi del Mar to one of the most visited beaches by tourists that come to Gran Canaria. I'm talking about Playa de Puerto Rico which is known for all the services that it offers in terms of tourist attractions. The Playa de Puerto Rico has a pretty sports port and it's surrounded by apartments which are built into the cliff face next to the beach. On said beach, you can use things called pedalos, which are little boats with pedals that you navigate through the water. You can go with 4 other people and go out into the open ocean (in the zone) but be very careful with the big boat that come in and out of the port. Also you can rent jetskis, go on a banana boat with a big group of people and have a great time. The beach has calm waters and it offers all basic services. If you decide to stay in an apartment in Puerto Rico, you have to know that there is another party zone there that functions during the night. It's in a shopping centre that has many clubs and bars about 200 metres from the beach. All the apartments in this area have swimming pools if that bothers you.

Playa de Amadores

Now, let's go to the last beach I'm going to mention in this post. This is the Playa de Amadores which is located just after the Playa de Puerto Rico. This beach is an artificial beach that marries all the characteristics of all the beaches I've previously mentioned. It has an avenue full of shops and restaurants where you can satisfy all your needs. There is also a leisure area where you can rent pedalos and jetskis. Even though I see this as a very pretty beach, it's not one of my favourite beaches because it's artificial and you can tell because of the type of sand. Also, you can see it because of the path to the seashore. This beach has a special feature, which is when you get down to the seashore and walk a few steps, suddenly the floor will disappear and you'll find yourself completely submerged in the sea, and this is one of the things I don't like about this beach.

All the beaches that I previously mentioned have sand, as they are the most important beaches at a touristic level in Gran Canaria. This refers to the south of the island. Of course every part of the island has very interesting and very pretty beaches, some calmer than other but all of them have their own beauty. There are beaches that you can only access on foot on the island, and there aren't many people on them if you go during the week. It's important that I point out the capital city's beach in this post, which is Playa de Las Canteras. You'll probably visit it if you stay in the north for your stay in Gran Canaria, and it will be one of your favourite beaches on the island. And with that, I finish this report. I hope that you've liked this short post about the best known beaches in the south of Gran Canaria, and I hope you enjoy your stay here. Really enjoy it and as I always say, look after the beaches and don't leave rubbish on the sand. Have the best time!