Gran Canaria’s most popular resort is Playa del Ingles with its frantic nightlife and four miles of beach. Here you can join a camel train through the Sahara like sand dunes, go shopping in the colossal Yumbo Centrum or drink and dance the night away in some of the very best nightclubs and discos in the Canaries. A few miles to the west is Puerto Rico, a more family orientated resort. Situated within a narrow valley leading to the sea it is an attractive resort with gleaming white apartments built into the hillsides. The gently shelving man made beach is popular with locals and visitors alike and offers a comprehensive range of superb water sports. There’s also a great choice of family activities including tennis, mini golf, tenpin bowling and a fabulous water park. The immense and enduring popularity of Gran Canaria comes as no surprise. As far as sunshine breaks go, you simply can’t go wrong.

Like many of their mainland cousins, Canarios kick back and celebrate at plenty of fiestas and ferias throughout the year.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival is the most popular festival with the longest tradition in the city. Apart from the inhabitants of the island, thousands of tourists are attracted by the fun and colour of the carnival celebrations, in search of something more than just the sun, sea and sand that the city can also offer. Much of the spectacle of the carnival revolves around the Carnival Queen, who is elected in a grand gala that is held on a night considered one of the high points of the carnival. It happens in February/March.