Gran Canaria, and especially its southern part, is mainly associated with beaches. However, we decided to check what the island has to offer off the beaten track. Why?
First of all, we are not big fans of sunbathing, especially if we only have a week off. It’s just a waste of time, and higher state of laziness 🙂 It’s different during 2-3 weeks’ vacation, then we can settle down for a few days without any remorse. But in order not to be that extreme, I admit that I spent half a day with Adam on the beach, and we spent a few afternoons by the swimming pool in the hotel.
Secondly, we wanted to prove to ourselves that the Canary Islands are not as scary as we have previosuly thought (i.e. they have much more to offer than only sunbathing) and the island did not disappoint. We could have easily spent another week on GC and we would have something to do.
And third, well, the current pandemic situation does not encourage going to crowded places. And the places we chose to go, were usually empty 🙂
So let’s start our mini guide to southern Gran Canaria!

Dunes of Maspalomas
Dunas des Maspalomas is a nature reserve of over 400 hectares located on the south coast of Gran Canaria. If you have never been to the desert, this is where you can experience it in miniature format. After visiting Oman, Gabriela and Adam often asked when we would go to the desert again, so the visit to the huge dunes was a great attraction for them. They could climb the dunes and then roll down 🙂 We managed to cross the dunes and reach the beach in the eastern part of the reserve. It is worth knowing that it is very windy there and it is a good spot for all kitesurfing fans 🙂
At the western end of the dunes stands the Faro de Maspalomas Lighthouse, but unfortunately we did not manage to reach it.

Puerto de Mogán
It is a small port town on the southwestern coast of the island. This is the last town you can reach by the motorway, beyond it there are only mountain roads. Due to the channels connecting the fishing port with the yacht marina, it is called “Little Venice” (in my opinion this name is a bit exaggerated). All the buildings in the port are built in the same style: white and with characteristic color (yellow, red or blue) accents. An ideal place for an afternoon walk or a vacation in a calm small town.

Barranco de Fataga
The Fataga Gorge, starts north of Maspalomas and continues for several kilometers into the island. We went there for an afternoon trip, which ended with a dinner in the small, charming vilage of Fataga. On the way, we stopped at the mandatory Degollada de La Yegua viewpoint, from which you can admire the panorama of the gorge, called the Canary Grand Canyon, as well as Maspalomas and the ocean visible from a distance. A few kilometers away there is the Finca Canaria Aloe Vera plantation. We only stopped at the local goods store, but you can also organize a longer guided tour there. Driving further along the gorge, we passed the town of Fataga and drove to the next viewpoint, Fataga Mirador. If it wasn’t late, we would have continued to the Bodega Las Tirajanas vineyard (but unfortunately they close at 4pm). So, after the photo session with a view, we returned to Fataga through the serpentine roads and went for a short walk through the narrow streets of the town. We planned to eat dinner at El Labrador or El Albaricoque (both highly rated restaurants) but unfortunately they were closed 🙁 As a result we had to settle for Grill Fataga which actually turned out better than we thought. I don’t want to know how much alcohol was in my sangria, but it was definitely not a light drink 🙂

Salinas Tenefé
This is where sea salt is produced. We wanted to visit it on our way back from one of our trips to the north of the island, but unfortunately it was closed. We only managed to sneak in through the non-existing fence and take some photos. But it is definitely worth going there and learning a little about salt production.

Los Palmitos Park
I admit that we did not plan to visit any kind of attraction parks or zoo. I dreamed of a trip to the ocean in search of dolphins, but unfortunately, due to covid, many trips were canceled and we were unable to find anything within a suitable date. All week Adam was talking about wanting to see animals, so on the last day we gave the children a choice: the beach or Palmitos Park. The decision was quite quick 🙂 Tomasz did not come with us. He preferred to run a marathon in the mountains instead…
The park is beautifully situated in Barranco de los Palmitos among palm trees and cactuses. In the Park you will see many species of birds, mainly parrots, flamingos, toucans, peacocks, marabou and birds of prey. There are also snakes, turtles, crocodiles, monkeys, a butterfly house (but we didn’t see many butterflies), an aquarium and dolphins. And because of these dolphins, I personally was not convinced about the trip to Palmitos Park, but the joy of the children was definitely worth it. For the first time in his life, Adam took part in a dolphin show and he was simply delighted.
Tickets to the Park are not cheap, as an adult ticket costs € 30, children 5-10 years € 21, children 3-4 years € 11. These are the prices of tickets bought online, on the spot at the ticket office it costs a few euro more. It is worth mentioning that although we went to the park on Saturday, there were really few visitors. I tried to count the audience at the dolphin show and it turned out to be about 80 people. I assume that this was almost everyone present in the Park at that time. So there was absolutely no problem with keeping distance to others.

El Salobre Horse Riding
Finally, something very unusual, i.e. a horseback riding in the wilderness of the Canary Islands. As you may know, Gabriela has been riding horses for 2 years now and is totally in love with them. So on the occasion of her birthday we thought that it would be nice if she could ride a horse in a different place than our riding school in Sweden. So we bought a 2-hour trip in El Salobre for Gabriela and Tomasz. The owners of the riding school say that anyone can ride with them, because they have horses that are even suitable for complete beginners. It is said that you can ride a horse together with a small child, and alone only when you are 7 or 8 years old, and have experience. Gabriela knows how to ride, so of course she got her own horse.
Was it a good idea and experience? The feelings were a bit mixed, because Gabriela fell off her horse while galloping (yes, I know it happens, she also falls off here, and it is said you need to fall off a hundred times before becoming a rider). However, in a new, completely different terrain, on an unknown horse, galloping over rocky terrain was quite a different experience then through the muddy grass of Scania. Luckily the fall was not very painful and it ended up with a few small scratches.
Nevertheless, the first part of the ride (before the fall) was definitely a nice experience for Gabriela. Probably for people who ride horses, this type of attraction will be an interesting diversion from other activities. And the beautiful mountain terrain and nature surely add to the experience..

Beaches
As I wrote before, despite the fact that the Canary Islands are mainly associated with sunbathing, we did not visit too many beaches. The beach we stayed at, Playa de Amadores, is definitely worth recommending. Touristic, but not too many hotels around it, so it is definitely quieter than its neighbor, Playa de Puerto Rico. We visited the second one only in the evening, but it was enough to find out how touristy it is and how crowded it must be in the high season. Both of these beaches are situated in bays and are not open to the ocean, so there are no waves there and the water heats up faster. For 2 sunbeds and an umbrella on Playa de Amadores I paid 12 €. Besides these two beaches, we were on a beach in Maspalomas somewhere between Playa del Ingles and El Veril for a while. Unlike the first two, this beach is open towards the ocean and there is a lot of wind. In addition, it is practically wild and far from any infrastructure (which has its pros and cons of course).

For a long time, I pondered whether to write about where to eat, but I came to the conclusion that although we ate quite well, none of the places did actually knock us down nor off. Currently, there is a problem anyway, because some restaurants are closed and unfortunately you cannot trust the information on Google at all times.