Gran Canaria is the third-largest of the Canary Islands and, with Tenerife, the most populated, with about 860,000 inhabitants, almost half of them in the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It's called a miniature continent because this round island, barely 50 km across, packs in desert, pine forests, ravines and summits of almost 2,000 metres. Around half of it is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The south has the famous Maspalomas Dunes, the beaches of Playa del Inglés and Meloneras, and picturesque Puerto de Mogán. The interior is another world: Roque Nublo, Pico de las Nieves (1,949 m) and ravines such as Fataga and Guayadeque, with cave houses still lived in today. In the north are the traditional towns of Teror, Arucas and Agaete, among banana plantations and coffee farms.
Las Palmas deserves at least a day: the colonial old town of Vegueta, Santa Ana Cathedral, the Casa de Colón and the city beach of Las Canteras, one of Europe's best.
With four or five days you can combine beach, interior and capital. The practical choice is to stay in the south for sun or in Las Palmas for city life, and hire a car or book tours for the interior. The climate is mild all year round (18-28 °C on the coast), but it gets much cooler on the summits, especially at night.
