Tamadaba

Anfi del Mar

A landscaped cove on the southwest coast, with a beach, palm trees and a marina, in the municipality of Mogán.

Gran Canaria in February: clear skies, strong midday light and long sunsets on the west coast. The volcanic island is nearly round, about 50 km across, and rises from the ocean to almost 1,950 m at Pico de las Nieves. Nearly half of it is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Agaete

Big waves break beside the seafront promenade, with the cliffs of the northwest coast behind.

Santa María de Guía de Gran Canaria

The green hills of the north, with villages in the valleys, prickly pears and a dwelling carved into the rock; above a sea of clouds stands Tenerife with its volcano, Teide.

Parque Rural de Doramas

A path through prickly pears in the rural park named after the old laurel forest of the north, looking toward the coast.

The first day crosses it from end to end. It starts in the southwest at Anfi del Mar, a landscaped cove with a beach, palm trees and a marina, and heads north to Santa María de Guía, where green hills, prickly pears and cave houses cut into the rock look out over the ocean. From here, above a sea of clouds, you can make out the silhouette of Tenerife and its volcano, Teide, at 3,715 m the highest peak in Spain. Also in the north, Doramas Rural Park is named after the laurel forest that once covered this part of the island, and at Agaete big waves break beside the seafront promenade. In the evening, on the west coast, the cliffs below the Tamadaba massif plunge into the ocean with the sun sinking behind them and Teide on the horizon, and at La Aldea de San Nicolás the sun sets straight into the sea beyond a breakwater.

Tamadaba

The cliffs below the Tamadaba massif drop straight into the ocean; at sunset, the coast road above Agaete turns orange.

La Aldea de San Nicolás

On the west coast, the sun sets straight into the ocean beyond the breakwater.

The second day shows the island's other side. At Maspalomas, the lighthouse built at the end of the 19th century stands in silhouette at sunset and in the blue hour at the end of the beach. To the north, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital, has a garden of columnar cacti and pines, and in Arucas the neo-Gothic church of San Juan Bautista, built of dark volcanic stone, towers over the town center.

Jardín Botánico Canario

A garden of columnar cacti and pines in the island's capital.

Arucas

The neo-Gothic church of San Juan Bautista, built of dark volcanic stone, above the town center.

Playa de Maspalomas

The sun sets beside the lighthouse over the calm water at the end of the beach.

On February 20 the route climbs into the heart of the island to Roque Nublo, a monolith of volcanic rock left behind by the erosion of an ancient volcano, at about 1,800 m. From the plateau you look over the deep inland valleys, the pine forests and, far off, Teide. The area is part of the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria cultural landscape, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. On the way down the same day come the Maspalomas dunes: a field of sand protected as a nature reserve, rippled by the wind, with low shrubs between the dunes and the ocean at its edge.

Maspalomas Lighthouse

The Maspalomas lighthouse in silhouette at sunset and in the blue hour, and the edge of the dune field.

Roque Nublo

The volcanic rock monolith at the heart of the island, at about 1,800 m, with deep valleys all around and Teide in the distance; to the southwest, a valley in evening light.

The last days return to the coast. At Mogán, waves break on the rocks along a promenade that lights up in the blue hour. To finish, the coast road above Agaete, carved into the steep hillside, glows in the sunset light above a calm ocean.

Maspalomas Dunes

The dune field, a nature reserve, its sand rippled by the wind and dotted with low shrubs.

Mogán

The southwest coast in the blue hour: waves over the rocks and a lit promenade along the cliff.