Las Canteras - the famous beach of Las Palmas

The pulsating city of Las Palmas enjoys the best climate in the world, according to a study carried out by the Syracuse University (USA). Imagine combining this climate with a huge beach in the middle of the city… This is basically what the Las Canteras beach is about.
The Las Canteras beach - in the middle of Las Palmas

The beach is more than 2 kilometers long and 50 meters wide on average. The presence of an "arrow", or natural breakwater, formed by volcanic rock at one end of the bay increases the quantity of golden sand of this beach.

By the end of the beach you'll find the impressive "Auditorio Alfredo Krauss", home of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Las Palmas, named after Las Palmas born Alfredo Krauss, one of the legendary tenors of the 20th century.

The huge shopping center of Las Arenas is situated next to this concert hall. In there you'll find all the shopping you need: cafés, restuarants, Zara, Cortefiel, Massimo Dutti, multi-screen cinema as well as Carrefour, an enormous super market.
A fantastic promenade along the beach

The Canteras Promenade starts at Las Arenas/the Concert Hall, and reaches all the way down to La Isleta, passing the famous park of Santa Catalina a few blocks from the promenade. Along this walk, car-free of course, you'll find not only the beautiful beach, but also all kinds of bars, restaurants, hostals, luxury hotels and ice-cream shops.
Las Canteras attracts all kind of people

One of the nice things with Las Canteras promenade is the diverse mix of people passing by. Since we're talking about a beach in the middle of a city inhabited by 400.000 persons, you'll find all types of people at Canteras, from local office staff taking a lunch walk to north European tourists enjoying the beach.

The Las Canteras beach is indeed a touristic landmark; this is where tourism began in the early 60's. Nevertheless, nowadays foreign tourism is much less frequent than 30 or 40 years ago, since the south of Gran Canaria (Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas and Puerto Rico) has taken over.
Las Canteras - the perfect stay in Gran Canaria

Staying in a hotel in Las Palmas is definitely an alternative to Playa del Inglés and the rest of the resorts of the south. You get the perfect mix of beach, shoppping, culture and food (there are many, many good restaurants in Las Palmas) And if it is very cloudy in Las Palmas one day, just take the bus to Maspalomas in the south.

Andrew Johnson writes articles about travel and tourism in Spain. Read more about Gran Canaria and the Canary Islands at Best of the Canaries.