Las Canteras Sand Nativity is one of many attractions in Gran Canaria’s warm Atlantic Christmas.

A reef that you can spot at low tide protects Las Canteras beach from the pounding ocean, like a long protective arm shielding Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’s emblematic sands. Seen from dry land, it’s just a brush-stroke on the horizon. The sand bar now also forms part of the island’s gentle Christmas. At the northern end of the beach, the skylight on the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium plays the role of the Christmas Star.

The unique trees of Gran Canaria offer their particular summary of the island’s history and biodiversity.

The unique trees of Gran Canaria have their own given name and the people of the island speak to them as old friends, venerable elders or a mother in whose shade several generations have grown up. This is the case with La Castañera Grande de Las Lagunetas, an over 300-year-old chestnut in Vega de San Mateo whose wood ash was used to heal the navels of children who were born on this island sheltered in the grove.

Like an actor refusing to leave the stage at the end of his scene, the sun is reluctant to abandon Agaete, in the north-east of Gran Canaria. By its side, the Dragon’s Tail also squeezes the last few moments out of the day while its pyramid-shaped cliffs are bathed in the sunset’s gold and bronze tones.

Remodelling its surrounding area and installing new services makes El Perchel Beach, in Arguineguín, even more attractive.

Peace and quiet bathe in the sea every day in Arguineguín, on the Mogán coast, in the south of Gran Canaria. The tranquillity of these waters is contagious. It sticks to your skin, like gentle salty residue. You can spot the same effect on the gentle pace of bathers as they stroll in and out of the ocean. Or in the conversations on the promenade that ebb and flow with the waves. “The sea looks perfect for fishing today,” say the locals sitting on the bench, as they look out over the immaculate blue mirror stretching out before them. Indeed, it is. In fact, around eleven in the morning, a slow trickle of local fishing boats begins to return to the harbour.

Leave no trace along the renovated promenade in this northern coastal town in Gran Canaria, just take away an indelible memory.

You won’t miss your step along the entire new promenade in Sardina de Gáldar, on the north coast of Gran Canaria. Just let yourself be carried along. You’ll always get to the right place at the right time because there’s no hurry in Sardina - not because the hours don’t matter, but because time literally landed on this coastline sheltered from the pounding of the Atlantic. Boats pulled into the Old Port of Sardina bringing the bells and the clock for the Church of St James, which overlooks the town.

The luminosity of the colourful houses in El Risco de San Juan and other hillsides around Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has an almost hypnotic effect.

Sometimes, the waves drag forgotten treasure to the coast to twinkle on the shore although this is not what is happening here. The colourful houses of El Risco de San Juan began to emerge in the 17th century, as on other hillsides around Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, once the city had begun to spread its wings to the future, from its core in Vegueta and around the Cathedral of Santa Ana.