Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

Arucas has launched its new tourism site with a campaign that emphasizes its role as the Gateway to the North of Gran Canaria.

A long time has passed since the city of Arucas was founded at the beginning of the 16th century. And many things have changed, but the essentials remain the same. The skilled hands of the workers and the blue-toned stone from the local quarry made it possible to build the Church of San Juan Bautista, an architectural emblem of the municipality and a symbol of the community’s commitment to the place they live in.

The Camino de Santiago in Gran Canaria stretches along 66 kilometers and takes about 23 hours to complete. A large part of this trail was used by the ancient inhabitants of the island as a communication route from the south to the north and, later, it came to be used by herders who practised transhumance, -that is, the seasonal migration of livestock in search of better pastures-, and by pilgrims.

La Aldea de San Nicolás is one of those privileged places for anyone who wants to gaze at the stars and feel that they can almost touch them.  

The astronomic viewpoints in Gran Canaria help you really make the most of the Island’s excellent star-gazing conditions.

Frank was born in a place in Gran Canaria where the firmament is just another extension of life and forms part of the culture, the history and the language because you can really speak to the heavens here. Born in San Mateo, he grew up around Cueva Grande (Big Cave), at the island’s peak, where human beings and the infinite seem to go hand in hand. “I have been aware of looking at the sky since I was very little, four or five years old,” recalls this astronomy-mad teacher whose memory is a sort of planetary system around which family celebrations and lunar eclipses orbit and coexist.

Restoration of the emblematic Santa Catalina hotel in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is writing a new page in its history.

Gregory Peck took refuge there after playing Captain Ahab, shooting scenes from ‘Moby Dick’ on the Las Canteras beach, under the watchful eye of director John Huston. The hundred-year-old memories in its rooms also conjure up smoke from Winston Churchill’s cigars, echoes of the voice of the soprano Maria Callas, the smouldering gaze of Ava Gardner and the dreamy although somewhat distracted look of Agatha Christie, probably because a mystery novel was always brewing in her head, even while she relaxed by the Atlantic in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

In Gran Canaria there is a large part of belenes (nativity scenes) with its own craftsman label.  They are made by specialists who put their soul in the design of this art.