Gran Canaria

It is always nice to break up the long dark winter with a trip down south to catch up on some sunshine and vitamin D. This year we decided on a short hiking holiday in the mountains of Gran Canaria. We chose the easy way and booked an organised trip with SNP where the hotels and baggage transport were all arranged, so we just had to follow the route descriptions and walk from hotel to hotel. They had chosen some very nice small rural hotels, all transport was perfectly organised and the walks were varied and mostly along quiet mountain trails. So a good experience. And the weather was perfect all week, sunny and about 20-25˙C. 

The first 2 nights were in the northwestern part of the island with a walk in the steep coastal mountains and down to a rocky beach.

On the third day we walked to the next hotel, which was located in Tejeda, a beautiful village high up in the mountains. We stayed here for 3 nights and made day walks in the area.

View from our hotel room in Tejeda

One of the days we walked up from Tejeda to Roque Nublo, an interesting and very popular rock formation on top of the mountains. It is possible to drive to within half an hour walk from the rock, so it was busy around the rock itself, but the rest of the walk was along beautiful and quiet trails.

Roque Nublo

On day 6 it was time to walk to the third and last hotel of our trip, near Vega de San Mateo on the northeastern slope of the mountains. This was a long walk via the highest peak of Gran Canaria, Pico de las Nieves. It was a rather hot day, but quite clear and with fantastic views towards the neighbouring island Tenerife.

View from close to Pico de las Nieves towards Roque Nublo, with Tenerife seemingly floating in the air.

The northeast is the wetter part of Gran Canaria and there is therefore more terraced farming. The vegetation is also clearly different with more flowers attracting butterflies.

On the last day we walked down to the village Vega de San Mateo to do our 'souvenir' shopping on the local market, and enjoyed a last coffee and lunch in the sunshine before returning back to the dark north the following day.

Hotel garden outside our room