Gran Canaria tourist attractions include Casa Museo de Colón, Catedral de Santa Ana, Puerto de Mogán, Maspalomas sand dunes, and beaches of Playa del Inglés.
Casa Museo de Colón (grancanariacultura.com) is a museum that celebrates a unique moment in world history, when Christopher Columbus traveled — via the island of Gran Canaria — towards the new world.
In that year, 1492, Columbus anchored at the port of Las Palmas, and spent time on the island, buying supplies and making repairs on the ships, before the five-week trip to America…
…which began from the islands on 6th of September. The city Las Palmas, in fact, had been founded only fourteen years earlier, in 1478.
The museum also acts as a museum of the Canary Islands and its relationship with America, as well as a documenter of…
- how the islands were added to the Kingdom of Castilla,
- life in pre-Columbian America, and
- development of maritime mapping and navigation.
All in all, the museum has 13 exhibition halls, a library and a study center.
Of the Gran Canaria tourist attractions, Catedral de Santa Ana is one of the most impressive buildings in Las Palmas, located within Vegueta district, a short walk from the Christopher Columbus Museum, in fact.
The cathedral is a twin-towered building, built from the orders by theCatholic kings of Spain, after their conquest of the Gran Canaria island in 1478.
Construction work on the church, however, took closer to the mid-16th century, with several high profile architects participating in building the cathedral.
Because of this long construction time and use of many architects, you can find several styles used on the church, such as:
- Gothic,
- Renaissance,
- Neoclassical architecture.
Highlights of the Catedral de Santa Ana are also its statues, most of which were added to the buildings by the famous sculptor José Luján Pérez.
Gran Canaria tourist attractions also include Puerto de Mogán, a picturesque holiday and fishing village, located at the entrance of a steep valley in southern Gran Canaria.
What has made Puerto de Mogán famous are its many canals, which connect the yacht harbor to the fishing harbor.
These canals are also the reason why the village is nicknamed “Venice of the Canaries“.
There are several good restaurants and bars within the beach and the harbor, plus famous markets every Friday, which brings visitors from the entire island to Puerto de Mogán.
Puerto de Mogán is especially popular as a day trip destination, and you have several alternatives to coming here, using…
- rental cars,
- buses, or
- ferries (which is the most idyllic way, on sunny days, to visit the village).
Maspalomas sand dunes are one of southern Gran Canaria’s most famous landmarks, developed from the fine sand that has flown all the way from Western Sahara’s deserts.
These dunes consists of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) of wavy sands…
…next to which you can find Maspalomas’ 6 km (3.7 mile) long beach, the oldest tourist beach in Southern Gran Canaria.
Other highlights within Maspalomas include its 68 meter (223 ft) tall lighthouse, El Faro de Maspalomas, within an easy walk from Playa del Inglés.
Finally, Playa del Inglés beaches are formed from the same, uniquely beautiful Sahara desert sand as are the Maspalomas dunes.
As an area, Playa del Inglés is part of a tourism centers within southern Gran Canaria, together with San Agustín and Maspalomas.
The magnificent beaches here also feature a good range of services, including restaurants, taverns, and holiday villas for rent.