Assuming that you are visiting the island of Gran Canaria with the idea of getting to know its people, culture, fauna, flora and landscapes, here are 10 mistakes that you can easily avoid. Some of them may simply cause you a little inconvenience or a missed opportunity, but some of them may cause you to end your holiday in hospital.
Have you ever seen a Bedouin sunbathing in the Sahara Desert? Don't they protect themselves well?
Well, here the sun is as strong or stronger than in the Sahara.
Thinking that the sun is not harmful because the air is rather fresh is a very common mistake made by thousands of tourists every year. Probably more than 10% of our visitors make this mistake, especially in winter.
You may feel cold and your skin may burn very badly. The wind and breeze are usually fresh in the Canary Islands. Even in the summer months you will need a jacket to stay on a beach whipped by a strong trade wind. However, the island lies at about 28° latitude. This is the same latitude as the Sahara. The sun's rays pass through a relatively thin layer of a very transparent atmosphere. They are strong and harmful.
The locals know this. Even though they have the brown skin of their ancestors who migrated from Africa, they are wary of the sun. Most of them do not expose themselves much, they protect themselves and use sun creams. It is easy to tell: just walk along the beach near a family using umbrellas, wearing T-shirts and hats, and you will hear Spanish spoken with a Canarian accent.
On many occasions I have seen tourists sunbathing with no protection or with sunscreen with a factor of 20. At dusk, many end up in the emergency room, vomiting and blistering their skin.
Don't make this mistake.
The island of Gran Canaria has its highest point at 1949 metres. It's definitely a mountainous place. It is very common for tourists, accustomed to the mild temperatures of the coast, to go to the top in flip-flops, shorts and T-shirts.
If you do that, you're likely to have a bad day. The locals are used to seeing tourists shivering at the viewpoints.
Don't make this mistake. Unless there is a heat warning, take all the warm clothing you have with you to the summit. Don't hesitate.
Of course, in a restaurant you should ask what you like best. But I think a lot of people who come here ask for paella or sangria because they think it is a typical food and drink here.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Paella is a typical dish of the Valencia region in the east of the Iberian Peninsula (and is made with rabbit and chicken, not seafood). However, there are restaurants in Gran Canaria that serve a fabulous paella with prawns and mussels. There are also restaurants that serve excellent pizzas. But these are not the typical dishes of Gran Canaria.
Would you like to eat something typical of the Canary Islands? You can order "gofio escaldado", a corn flour toasted with broth.
You can order "wrinkled potatoes" ("papas arrugadas") with a spicy sauce called mojo.
You can also order local fish (vieja, medregal, sama...) fried or grilled.
If you find it and are brave enough, you can order a portion of tollos, strips of shark that have been sun-dried in a marine environment.
As for drinks, if you are brave, you can ask for Arehucas ron, distilled on the island. Otherwise, there are some local beers or "Teror" and "Firgas" water. As for lemonades, the Canaries are very proud of the local strawberry lemonade called "Clipper". For dessert, you can try the bienmesabe, "moles" eggs or a gofio mousse.
60 km can be done in about half an hour, yes. On a motorway. But the island is volcanic, the terrain is very steep with many slopes. So the roads that cross the island are narrow with very steep bends.
Crossing the island from north to south or east to west, passing through the summit, means several hours of driving in these bends. Passengers are likely to feel dizzy and it will be necessary to stop. In short, you need to reserve a whole day if you want to cross the island without getting uncomfortable. And it's worth it, of course.
It is also necessary to be cautious with the information provided by Google Maps, which can easily lead you to roads that are too narrow, too steep, in poor condition or even on dirt tracks. It is better to ask people who know the area.
Large online booking platforms are wreaking havoc on local businesses. Although they sometimes deny it on their website, they systematically charge commissions of around 30%. They also impose a way of working, a pre-payment by the tourist and certain cancellation policies that are not always adapted to the nature of the activity.
Unfortunately, many companies have no choice but to accept working with these intermediaries, and therefore, they have to raise their prices and / or lower the quality of their service.
If you want to do a certain activity, the best thing to do is to go to the company offering the activity and deal directly with them. You will get better prices, service and cancellation conditions.
You may have had a bad experience in Gran Canaria and you may want to express your dissatisfaction. However, please remember that there are people working behind these reviews. Your review may jeopardise a job. It's a very serious matter. Although things have gone wrong, there have often been people who have tried to make them less wrong. There may be honest employees who are directly or indirectly affected by this badly written review. Criticism in the workplace often does a lot of damage to people.
Is the worker or company really responsible for your bad experience? If so, does he really deserve this punishment? Wouldn't it be better to talk directly to the people who treated you?
Think about it, people make mistakes. And if someone was not very nice when they served you, they may have very good personal reasons for putting on a bad face that day.
Holidays are usually a good time to get away from it all. Forget about schedules, disconnect and get lost.
It is true that 'all inclusive' offers are often attractive, mainly because of their price. But does it make sense to ditch the office cafeteria for the hotel cafeteria?
I suggest that if you value your freedom, let the plan be that there is no plan. To be able to enter a restaurant because you like the view, the tablecloths or the smell of roast meat. Not to have the compulsion to calculate that you have already paid for your dinner at the hotel and that you must be back in time not to miss it.
Without the all-inclusive, you can try your luck in different restaurants, meet local people, listen to them and take their advice. Plus, without a schedule, you are free to go wherever you want to enjoy a beautiful sunset, the village party or a romantic moment with your partner.
As you walk around the island, you will see plants similar to the one in the photo. They're Opuntia, the plant that produces the fruit of the prickly pear, called "tuno" in Spanish. It is an introduced plant, originally from Mexico. Prickly pears have very striking colours, between violet and orange, depending on the variety. They are certainly appetising. And they're edible and juicy.
Well, it's a diabolical fruit. It has a fearsome defence of almost invisible spines that cover the fruit all over. The spines are so small that they are difficult to see, and even the wind can carry them from the plant to your skin.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Look at a photograph of a prickly pear taken with a powerful microscope. In the same photo you can see a human hair at the top and a prickly pear spine at the bottom. Guess what the scales along the prickly pear spine are for.
Many tourists clearly see the big spines, which are easy to avoid. But do not be overconfident. In fact, those big spines are just there to fool you. Once you have eaten a few prickly pears and are proud of not having been pricked by those nasty spines, your hands will start to burn. There are tiny spines all over them and there's no way to get them off. After your hands, your forearms, shoulders, neck, tongue and legs will itch. It becomes a real nightmare. It is even contagious, so do not be surprised if you see your friends who have stayed at the hotel looking at their hands in search of a non-know-what invisible and painful.
Only the authentic canaries of several generations (which is not my case) have the magic power of being able to peel the prickly pear without being filled with spines. Let them do it for you. Believe me: you cannot do that.
Few things are manufactured in Gran Canaria. If you go to a market in the tourist centre and buy a hat, T-shirt or sandals as a souvenir, chances are they are made in China.
If you want to buy a souvenir of authentic Canarian handicraft, you should visit the Christmas markets or the small shops in the villages away from the tourist centres. You can also find handmade products in the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
If you want to be sure that you are buying 100% Canarian. The best way is to go to the market in San Mateo on Sundays from 9:00 to 15:00 and buy goat's cheese and Teror chorizo, vegetables and seasonal fruit. I know it is a bit strange to take this home as a souvenir, but it is certainly preferable to the 'made in China' stuff.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: this is important. Tourists from the Mediterranean and Latin regions already know what I'm talking about. I am now addressing tourists from Northern Europe.
Sandals, flip-flops and open-toed shoes have the great advantage of allowing your feet to sweat. They are very comfortable, especially in warm weather.
The advantage of socks is that you can wash them without having to wash the whole shoe. They're hygienic. Also, when the temperature drops, the sock helps to keep the foot a little warmer.
So it might seem like a good idea to use both. In this way, we can enjoy the benefits of keeping our feet well ventilated, without losing the hygiene and warmth that the sock provides.
Well, no. I'm sorry, but it's not a good idea. If you love yourself at all, please don't do this. At the very least, it's in bad taste. Maybe you don't care about your image, but understand that this is a special case and you have to listen to me. Either you wear closed shoes with socks, or you wear open shoes without socks. And we will all be at peace. There is no middle ground, I'm sorry.
