Gran Canaria Educational Trip Nov 2021

Claire Summers on 29 November 2021
In November 2021, I travelled to Gran Canaria with the Tourist board and 8 other Travel Counsellors.

We visited a few hotels in Maspalomas, Meloneras, Playa Del Ingles, Anfi del mar plus Tajeda in the mountains.

From the airport we had lunch and a hotel visit at the 5 Star GL Santa Catalina, this is the infamous hotel in Las Palmas City Centre, many celebrities have stayed here, football teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc have stayed here when they come to play on the Island.

It has a lovely rooftop pool and is ideally located for a guided walk around the city, there is so much history to Gran Canaria with many countries trying to take it over, it is called Gran Canaria, because although they are small in numbers they have fought off many potential takeovers in the past.

After our guided walk in the city we drove to the mountains.

I have been to Gran Canaria a few times but never in the mountains, wow, I have been missing out, we stayed at the Parador Cruz de Tejeda and from there you can star gaze, watch the sunrise/sunset, there are plenty of walking trails and its a great area for bird watching.

The scenery is amazing, we walked the Camino trail which was about 4km and its not the easiest of trails if you have walking difficulties, the declines are quite steep and in places its uneven, but the views you get are stunning. You can see Mount Teide in Tenerife on a clear day.

The property itself has an infinity pool overlooking the mountains, as do the rooms, the view from your balcony is breath taking.

We stayed in the renovated rooms which have all the mod cons, everything you need and the food is delicious. Buffet for breakfast and a la carte for dinner.

After the Camino Trail we stopped for lunch and wine tasting at the Tirajana Winery, followed by a visit to Aloe Vera Finca. Where they demonstrate how they extract the Aloe Vera from the plant and you can purchase their products.

We arrived in the South to Maspalomas and stayed at the Seaside Palm Beach. This was right on the Maspalomas sand dunes on the beach and you can walk along the promenade or walk on the sand and be right by the water. There were plenty of runners and walkers just enjoying the lovely weather.

The buffet food is fresh, plentiful and a varied choice, lots to choose from, I cant believe that anyone would go hungry here.

The property has a spa, lovely sprawling pool area, it is colourful with its decor. I had a yellow room with multi coloured tiling on the floor and walls, its very vibrant. It was a perfect location for visiting nearby resorts.

We drove to Puerto Mogan, this is a very pretty, very Spanish feeling town with a marina, shops and restaurants, quite compact and an ideal place to mooch around.

We caught the glass bottom ferry from there and sailed past Amadores, Puerto Rico and we stopped at Anfi del Mar for lunch and a hotel visit at 5* Radisson Blu Artguineguín. This was right on the seafront, very high standard with separate pool areas so gave you a sense of space and a choice where to sit without feeling crowded, really nice hotel, would highly recommend for the high standard of food and the setting.

Another resort, Meloneras, has some high end shops as well and the whole resort feels upmarket, so a nice resort to stay or to visit on one of your days out.

There is a promenade which is approx 2km long, it’s nice and flat so ideal for walking, running, cycling and joins Meloneras with Maspalomas.

We travelled about 10 minutes out of Maspalomas to visit the Salobre Resort and Serenity Property for dinner. We had a drink at the top of the property to watch the sunset. Their buffet dinner consisted of separate sections covering all sorts of cuisine, Italy, Chinese, Seafood, etc.

The selling point of this property is that it is high end, remote and has a golf course on site so you can purchase golf and stay packages. Everything you need for golf is here: club hire, buggies, etc

Golf is a big sport on the Island with 7 very good golf courses and some are to international tournament standard.

There are too many hotels for me to mention each visit but all were 4 or 5 star, the food was incredible, the properties felt spacious and had a lot to offer, you wouldnt be disappointed staying in any of them.

I haven't been to Gran Canaria in 15 years and it has really changed. The towns that were quite empty back then are now built upon (in a nice upmarket way) which was needed really.

Happy to chat about hotels we visited:

5*GL Santa Catalina Parador Cruz de Tejeda 5* Seaside Palm Beach, Maspalomas 4*Sup Lopesan Costa Meloneras 5* Radisson Blu Artguineguín 5*Lopesan Villa del Conde 5* Bohemia Suites & Spa 5* H10 Playa Meloneras Palace 5*Salobre Hotel Resort and Serenity

I always thought of Gran Canaria as just a beach stay, but I would now promote this as a 3 centre holiday, 2 nights Las Palmas, 2 nights in the Mountains and finish off with a beach stay. So for those that want a bit of adventure coupled with relaxation, this is definitely the place.