Gran Canaria, the third largest of the Canary Islands, is home to around three quarters of a million people and its number of annual visitors peaked at around six million. Seen from the air it looks to be almost perfectly round and its fifteen hundred square kilometres boast one of the world's most varied landscapes ranging from the beautiful to the breathtaking. The coast road which circles the entire island offers part modern motorway, part twisting cliff-edge thrills as it wends its way past soaring peaks and sheer-faced rocks, plantations and forests, villages, towns and cities for two hundred and fifty kilometres.

The island lies two hundred kilometres off the coast of the Spanish Sahara and is level with the centre of the Sahara desert.  Flying out from London you know you are just over halfway as you pass Gibraltar. Here the sun is one third stronger than southern Spain but the Atlantic is so much fresher than the Med., even at this latitude. Most days bring clear blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine although the temperature rarely rises above the twenties during the day and drops comfortably back into the late teens at night allowing for a refreshing sleep. It only varies about ten degrees all year round. The trade winds, which once made England rich by speeding their ships, constantly blow cool breezes so that one never feels too hot.

But if you get bored with one climate you can simply change it -- we have several on offer here! The higher you climb into the centre of the island the cooler it gets - a six thousand foot mountain range holds the Atlantic clouds off the southern coastline with its miles of golden beaches and sweeping dunes. Moister air in the north promotes the world-famous banana cultivation. '

And if you get bored with the scenery you can change that too! Swop the sand one Sunday for lunch in one of the beautiful, lush mountain villages. Change the deep sea fishing for an inland lake, and if you get totally tired of country life we have a major city on the island which is also the largest port on the eastern Atlantic. Here, in Las Palmas, you will see supermarkets with one hundred checkouts - so large that you cannot see from one end to the other! It has some of the world's top restaurants and of course the usual' EI Corte Ingles' except this one is on both sides of the street!

Gran Canaria is one of the islands from which Christopher Columbus set sail to discover America and his house has been preserved here as a museum.

Las Palmas is less than one hour away from the south by the frequent express bus service. If you are driving it's under half an hour with motorway all the way.

Most of the southern resorts are less than thirty years old and are kept immaculately clean, smothered in flowers and wreathed with smiles -- after all, most people here are on holiday! 
 
Food and shopping is of the best and cheapest with the butcher, the baker and the candle- stick maker (literally!) just a stone's throwaway. Discos, bars and night-clubs cater for all ages and tastes and satellite TV shows programmes and films in at least five different languages around the clock. Duty-free benefits offer booze and baccy at a fraction of the usual cost along with all of the designer clothes, perfumes and other luxury goods. The island boasts two concert halls, theatres, cinemas, half a dozen museums and more art galleries than you can count. And you can still get half a roast chicken with salad, french fries and a beer for less than five dollars!