Gran Canaria is one of the Swedes’ absolute favorite destinations. Every year, around 600,000 Swedes travel there and close to nine out of ten Swedes have ever visited the island. It was also here, on the vast Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas, that charter tourism was born in the 1950s. Then a week with full board cost a few hundred bucks. Over the years, the tourist hotels have moved down to the southern part of the island, which is more sun-safe. Most tourists who visit the island do not see much more than the tourist resorts, but by renting a car it is possible to discover everything else that this island has to offer.
Book on site or in advance
How you choose to rent a car is up to you. Some prefer to be spontaneous and just stroll in to the nearest car rental company in the tourist resort. This is good if you may be thinking of renting a car a few days or want to take the opportunity to take a car trip if the weather is worse one of the days. Others prefer to be well prepared and choose to book a rental car already at home. For those who want to book their rental car before the trip or simply just check out different prices, there are a number of different services online that help with this. At Hyrbilguiden , for example, you can search for rental cars in several different places around the world. You get a list of prices from different landlords, car models and so on. Another service is Biluthyrning24 where you can book a rental car at over 30,000 locations in more than 180 countries. They compare prices from reputable landlords like Hertz , Avis, Budget and many others. It is often also possible to book a rental car through a tour operator, both in advance and on site.
Sunny on the south side
According to itypejob, Gran Canaria is mainly known for its beaches and sunny climate. Especially during the winter, it is popular to travel there from cooler countries in Europe. However, this island has much more to offer its visitors. Gran Canaria in particular is called a mini-continent because it has so many different climate zones and a varied nature. Therefore, it would be a shame not to take at least one day off from sunbathing and with the help of a rental car see more of the island. In the southern part of the island the climate is warmer, it can differ around ten degrees to the temperature on the north side of the island. In the middle of the island you are met by a wetter and cooler climate with many opportunities for breathtaking views of the landscape.
Genuina byar
Getting around Gran Canaria is easy by car. They have right-hand traffic just like us and from the tourist resorts in the south there is a motorway all the way up to Las Palmas. In Las Palmas you can experience a real big city feeling with world-class shopping while you never have far to the beach. A bit of a curiosity is that the city has one of the world’s busiest ports. Both large cargo ships and long-distance sailors call here to supply supplies before crossing the Atlantic. However, it is best to take the car up one of the winding serpentine roads that lead up to the center of the island. There you can experience much of the genuine Canarian culture in villages built by the first European colonists. In Teror you can walk in the pilgrim’s trail on picturesque streets lined with old houses and visit the basilica. Drive past the island’s second highest point, Roque Nublo which is a huge volcanic rock and an important symbol of the island. Not far from there is the village of Tejeda which is considered one of the most beautiful villages in the world. With the help of these excursion tips, you will hopefully get even more out of your stay in Gran Canaria.
