Gran Canaria is more than just a place in the sun

Robin’s latest trip offers great hiking, spa treatments, fine food and brilliant beaches on the ‘continent in miniature’

I’m writing this on the plane home and I’m next to a couple who have just been on a beach holiday confined to the resort of Playa del Ingles. I haven’t the heart to tell them they have just missed out on an isle that the Canarios themselves refer to as the ‘continent in miniature’. I’m sharing this year-round warm oasis of world-class hiking, delicious seafood and charming resorts and villages with you so you never make the same mistake.

Over the years I’ve been out to Gran Canaria half a dozen times and it really does offer an epic range of scenery. There are the parched deserts fringed by beaches in the south where the big resorts have sprung up, through to verdant forests, towering mountains, hulking volcanoes and the rugged coastline of the wild west.

I kicked off this visit in my favourite resort. Puerto Mogan boasts real character, a picturesque resort with its waterfront lined with a glitzy marina and a network of canals that are crisscrossed by wee bridges. Whitewashed houses and brilliant bougainvillea complete a scene that is as pleasant to stroll around as it is to look at.

My base was the Cordial Mogan Playa (www.becordial.com). This efficientlyrun four star sits just back from the resort’s wee beach and is awash with subtropical greenery. As well as a buffet restaurant, I appreciated that they had a more fine dining restaurant too, Los Guayres, which is handy for those staying a week or two. They also have plenty for kids to do here and the ace Inagua spa, where I enjoyed a massage. Afterwards, it was blissful to float under big skies in their outdoor hot tub and their floatarium.

After a couple of days of blue skies and 22C heat – unlike Spain’s Mediterranean resorts, Gran Canaria offers proper, dependable winter sunshine – I eased back along the coast to Meloneras, which sits on the edge of the remarkable Maspalomas Dunes. These sweeping sand dunes are like something out of the Arabian Nights. Beware, though, that if you keep walking east you eventually come to a stretch of beach where clothing is very much optional!

I was lucky enough to be staying at the Seaside Palm Hotel (www. hotel-palm-beach.co.uk). I thoroughly recommend booking a room on one of the upper floors with a view out over the gigantic palm trees to the ever-shifting sand dunes. I love the restaurant set up here, with an outdoor buffet area with a choice of cooking stations and plenty of surrounding greenery. Their Esencia a la carte restaurant is worth the extra for more sophisticated fare, as are the local wines, which are really starting to get noticed outside Macaronesia these days.

On my last morning at the Seaside Palm I treated myself to a massage at their spa. The therapist was spot on, diagnosing my ‘laptop shoulders’ and then working on my tense muscles. Spa treatments may be relaxing, but even more relaxing and refreshing for me is a good hike. Gran Canaria is a truly world-class island for hiking. I was invited to the first-ever Gran Canaria Walking Festival a few years back, an event that finally brought the island to the attention of walkers worldwide.

The hiking on Gran Canaria is incredibly diverse. The perfect example was my drive north to stay at the island capital of Las Palmas. Rather than take the motorway, I eked up through the emerald green, forested mountains in search of adventure. I found it with a yomp to the island’s most distinctive peak, Roque Nublo. At 1,813m it’s a good bit higher than Ben Nevis and definitely