Well. there is plenty of culture, and lots of history on every canary island, i know for a fact gran canaria's capital las palmas does have history, there are organised trips, that can be set up through your accomodation..

Does this help any?

Kate

There is so much to see on all of the Canary Islands! Tenerife and Gran Canaria have lots of old villages and there is also plenty to see on Lanzarote and even on Fuerteventura. I suggest you get a tour guide book from your local library before you go - we're off to Gran Canaria at Easter and I currently have 3 books on loan from our library to give us some ideas.
We're hoping to visit Las Palmas which was a major port back in the days of Colombus and trans-atlantic discovery. There are also musuems showing the lifestyles of the native Canarians (Guanches) before the invasion of the Spanish, Italian, Portugese and various other influences on the islands.
Have a look at these sites:
http://www.islascanariastours.com/trips.html
http://www.gran-canaria-info.com/

If you stay in Puerto Rico there are ferry boats which take you to MOGAN (about 30-35 mins) which is a lovely small picturesque town with restraunts etc, there is also a market on Fridays (I think it's fridays) Some of the ferry sailings take you out to see the dolphins at no extra charge!

There is also PALMITOS PARK - a bird park, they do a fantastic bird of prey show and also tropical bird show. There is an aquarium, butterfly house and orchid garden, there is also crocodiles etc, don't miss the parrot show it is really good.

You can also visit Tenerife by ferry from Gran Canaria.

Hope this helps a little

Do you know if its easy enough to get Mogan from Playa del Ingles? Do you have to get the bus to P.R first or can you go directly?

Last year I went to GC, only for a week and only went on 2 trips outside of the resort. The first took in Maspalomas Market and Palmitos Park, and the second one took in Sioux City. Having a background in Geography, (or at least I did it at Uni!) I am a bit of a wannabe explorer.

Has anyone on this site ever actually explored Gran Canaria for what it really is? I'm looking for ideas of places to visit, things to do - especially as I am in PDI for 2 weeks from 13-27th Feb and should have plenty of time to do so. A visit to Las Palmas is on the agenda also so anything of particullar interest there would be good.

Hopefully I can strike the right balance between exploring, drinking beer and chilling on the beach...

hi,the yumbo centre wich is in PDI in maspalomas there is a place called holiday world it has a bowling ralley,fair ground and a bar for night and a cafe.they are very friendly.there are 3 water parks but you get sun burnt really badly.callyxxx

Hi Comedy Dave

There are lots of ideas HERE, HERE and HERE, including HOLIDAY WORLD as mentioned by Cally.

Pippy

I cant remember which bus it is, but i know that you can go direct mogan-PDI

Kate

Hey Everyone, i read somewhere that you can get a helicopter ride over gran can (mabey playa del inglis) but i cant remember where i saw it! Does anyone have any info or sites i could go on? that would be a great help, thank you

Mandz xx

There is some information HERE

I've mooched around and places seem to be saying that they are no longer available on GC. Maybe someone who has been recently can up date you.

It was offered to me by the Thomson rep last March when I went. Sorry that's all I know.

I went to Gran Canaria in December 05 and the helicopter rides were still happening - we saw one most days. We were offered the chance to book this through our Thomson rep at the welcome meeting.

Hope this helps

Im going to Gran Canaria in July and want to swim with Dolphins does anyone know if they do it there and if so where

I do know it is possible to get trips to see the dolphins and whales from Puerto Rico. I do not know whether any of them allow you to swim with the dolphins.

My wife's daughter went out on a trip in May and she was not allowed in the water to swim. The dolphins are not usually close into shore, sometimes 5 - 6 miles out.

If anyone else knows if you can swim with them I would be interested also.

We went to Tenerife a couple of years ago and the trip we went on from there let you swim in the water.
On the way back in we stopped at a fish breading thingy just off Los Gigantis ?sp. There were loads of Dolphins there and people were in the water with them offering them fish.
I no this was Tenerife but I'm sure there should be places in Gran Canaria that do it .

Hi is it true that you can get a boat trip from peurto rico that takes you out to where dolphins swim and you can even feed them fish and swim with them??? If so does anyone haev any info on this
thanks

You can go out and see the dolphins etc but you cant swim with them

Info about some excursions...can't say we did them all..but i have some info anyway on some things to do in GC, prices and value for money etc..

Water Park.. situated at Maspalomas, and this was the only trip we booked through the hotel as they provided a free bus. It is 22 euro's for adults ( ie anyone over 12) and 16 euro's for kids with under 2's being free. We had a cracking day, 5 adults and 3 kids. There are height restrictions on certain things and they are very very strict. They wouldnt let my 7 year old nephew on a slide as he was 3 cm's too tall. The he had to be measued to see if he was tall enough for the oher rides and luckily for the water park ( we would have been seriously displeased if he was not allowed on anything at all) he was allowed on all the adult rides..
You get yur picture took with a parrot on the way in ..flogged for 7 euros on the way out if you want it... Lockers can be hired for 4 euro's...there is a minibank there, cafe's, souveneir shop etc. Bit pricey, but the rides were great...but the helter skelter one was rubbish. The best ones were at the far end. Good day out and would recommend it for the kids.

Go Karting...hmm, very pricey. It is at Maspalomas not far from the water park. There are 3 different tracks for various ages, 5-10, 11-16 and adults. The prices is 18 euro's for 10 minutes which we thought was a total rip off and so did not go. Amongst other things, yu have to ring the day before, they couldn't find anyone to speak english and for us, with Gav being 14 and my nephew being 7 and there being plenty of adults, we would have been on 3 different tracks and spending a total fortune as you would want at least half an hour to appreciate it.

Didn't do Garbo's or Sioux City but other people at our hotel did and both were recommended.

Dolphin Trips..these are 10 a penny from anywhere, same as the fishing trips. The prices vary from 30 to 45 euro's and are better book direct at the resort. Never trust anyone that promises 100 % chance of seeing dolphins. They just want your money and if the weather is abit iffy, the dolphins do not come out to play.

Do not have anything to do with anything that says Anfi...they are trying to sell you apartments...

Take a trip on a glass bottom ferry around the coast..very cheap and nice expereince.

Yellow Submarine sails from Mogan..27.50 for adults and 13.75 for all kids over 12. Babies free. Good to say you have been on it, but when we went visability was low and so we didn't see much. Worth the trip to see the ship wrecks but a bit pricey for what it is. Trips last about 40 minutes and again there is the photo taken as you are boarding.

More info about stuff later....

oops.. forgot to talk about the camel excursion and the sand dunes..
my mum and dad went on this one and i am afraid to say i think thomsons mis repped this one. They charged 41 euro's per person for this but on the leaflet it said you got travel, a lunch and a video of your camel ride included in this price so we agreed it was not too bad. Upon return, my parents said they enjoyed their camel excursion, enjoyed seeing in the baby pen ( a 15 day old camel was there) and enjoyed their ride, but they got no video and they had to pay a further 10 euro's to get their photo.. come on thomsons remove your leaflet on display in the taurito princess...totally misrepresenting what is on offer and we think a total rip off in price for that much money without the video...

Cheers for the helpful info. We are definately going to go to the water park at maspalomas, do the local buses go their? and if so, do you get to see the sand dunes?
Did you go into Las Palmas Val? or have you been before on your previous visits. We were thinking of going on the sunday morning when they have the traditional canarian dancing, just too see a bit of local culture really. I bet the kids will be bored after 5 mins though
Just another question(and slightly off topic) was it quite cool at night? Im in the processing of packing at the mo, and wonderering if we will need cardies and jackets. and another one... is the sea cold?????

Thanks

Jackie