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Its the best! That's not just our opinion but the opinion of American climate researcher Thomas Whitmore, who after studying 600 cities worldwide concluded Gran Canaria having the most pleasant climate! Gran Canaria is known as a continent in miniature and is the most densely populated of all the Canary Islands with nearly one million inhabitants. It is also an island rich in culture, folklore and history. A vibrant nightlife of top restaurants, shows, theatre, clubs and casinos. Sailing, golf, diving and just about any sport you can imagine. A warm, welcoming people who know how to make visitors feel right at home.

CLIMATE
The climate of the Canary Islands is said to be a subtropical climate, due to its mild temperatures and the irregular and scarce rains, which raise from the eastern to the western islands.

Among the geographical factors which have influence on the climate, the latitude, the orography and the orientation of its slopes, the cold ocean current crossing the Canary Islands, its closeness to Africa and the incidence of the humid trade winds from the northeast are essential.

Thanks to these factors, a hot mild climate without aggressive thermal contrasts generates a climate with temperatures ranging from 18ºC to 23ºC in the coldest month - usually February. The average temperature of summer is 25ºC.

Occasionally, the dry hot wind coming from Africa ("sirocco"), generates a phenomenon called "calima" (clouds of dust from the Sahara) and gives rise to clouds of very fine particles from the desert and pours tons of dust in suspension on the islands.

BEACHES

Maspalomas Beach
Famous for it's sand dunes and the length of its beach (stretching a staggering 6km), the resort has much more to offer than a day by the sea, although if that's your plan, this is your place!

Nothing but golden sands from Faro at it's south past Playa del Inglés & San Agustín to its north with a backdrop of sand dunes and a gentle surf to swim in, this is our favorite beach on the island. Faro, which means lighthouse, is the southern most point of Europe!

At each of the main areas you will find both a medical centre and a bar, everything you'd need really for a day out in the sun! There's also sunbeds and parasols for hire. Lifeguards patrol the beach here and much less frequently there are police patrols.

Camel rides are also available on the Maspalomas dunes. Prices start from around €9 for a short trip into the dunes. For around €30 you get a longer journey, nice food and a visit to the camel park (with baby camels).

Amadores Beach
A short walk from Puerto Rico, Amadores beach is a man made beach with golden and white sands. Amadores is a fantastic relaxing area with a wide range of many different restaurants, café’s, and convenience stores. Scuba diving is operated from here from Puerto Rico diving (Telephone: 928-560512 or check out www.prdiving.com).

BOATS, EXCURSIONS AND FERRY SERVICES

The towns of Mogán and Arguinegín are both fishing villages with their own harbours and angling is popular sport and pastime, not just here but all around the island.

A ferry service operates from Puerto Rico to both Mogán and Arguinegín. The journey time to each of these is approximately 30 minutes. Mogán operates a market every Friday which is very popular and well worth including on your stay here in Gran Canaria.

There are quite a few different boats offering excursions from Puerto Rico, most cruising around the south of the island, between Maspalomas to the east and Mogán to the west.

Two or three small, glass bottom boats cruise around the Puerto Rico area only, just far enough out to sea to throw anchor and enjoy watching the marine life from inside the boat's hull, which is lined with seats and windows. Two further decks on these boats are above sea level. There's a bar onboard too. They operate between 10:00 and 17:15 daily and cost around €9.00per adult, €6.00 per child. If this sounds appealing to you, but you want to do more than just gaze at the fish in their natural habitat, worry not! Many of the larger cruisers and catamarans also have a glass bottom section and sail further afield.

The choice of boats is quite extensive, small and large cruisers, yachts, catamarans, and even a galleon style, transatlantic sailing ship! In addition to cruising along the south coast, each boat sets anchor out to see while its passengers enjoy sunbathing on deck, swimming,
snorkeling and banana boat rides, all of which are included in the ticket price. Jet skis and parascending are also arranged at an extra charge ( about €12.00& €21.00 respectively). These cruises operate once during the day at around €36.00 and once for an evening cruise at around €30.00 lunch or dinner is also included.

There's a couple of smaller catamarans that can be rented out exclusively to small groups or large families if you want to have it all to yourselves. Down at the harbour where each boat docks there's usually a promotion person you can talk to for further details and making
reservations or If you prefer we can arrange this for you.

If you wanted to do something a little different, you could hire a yacht for the day ( about €600) or for €60 per person, if it's not booked by a group, join a handful of other guests to really sail the southern coastline for a day with gourmet lunch and wine included.

ATTRACTIONS AND THINGS TO DO

Sioux City
Website: www.siouxcity.es/en/index.shtml
Open 6 days a week - closed Monday - from 10:00 to 17:00. (Entrance €17 adults and €11 for kids).

A very entertaining day out to a western theme park that offers a wild-west town with saloon, bank, general store, sheriff's office, church, houses, indian reserve with buffalo and more. Shows include a bank hold-up, sudden shoot out, cattle stampede, knife throwing indians, lasso tricks and dancing saloon waitresses! There are cowboys, indians and Mexicans. For an extra charge you have the chance to ride a horse here too. Originally built as a movie set for wild west films (Fist Full of Dollars), this is now put to very good use.

Sioux City is also open one evening a week - Fridays from 6pm at €48 for adults and €27.00 for children including BBQ, free bar and a 90 minute "wild west" extravaganza.

Karting
Tel 928 157190 Open 10:00 - 21:00 7 days a week. Prices - Adults: €15 & Children €9 for 8 minutes

The Karts are located just of the main motorway (exit 38 GC1) after the San Augustin and about a €15 taxi ride away.

This is Spain's longest carting track and the price shown is for ten laps. There's a junior and regular track and children must be 12 years or over to go on the larger, regular one.

We’ve had some great fun here. These karts are quick and your so low to the ground that it feels even quicker.

Ferrari Driving Experience
Tel: 638 429 628
Fast and Furious is the ultimate driving experience on Gran Canraia. Test drive a Ferrari 360 Modena Spider, complete with 6 speed F1 paddle shift gear box. What more can we say... It’s the ultimate dream ride!

Water Parks

Aqualand is one of the best for adults and children alike, enough attractions here to keep everyone busy all day long, it's huge, go there!

Take flip-flops or something to protect your feet from the heat of the ground, also a towel and sun-cream and that's all you should need. You'll be leaving your belongings unattended for a large part of the day and although there are lockers for valuables such as a camera or camcorder, it's not very convenient having to go back there too often.

The park boasts 90,000 m square of space, 13 attractions having a total of 33 slides, 5,300m square of swimming pools with the wave machine going every hour. They have their own man-made "lazy river" where you can float around the complex on an inflatable tyre. There are several attractions and slides for the smaller kids, restaurants, snack bars and cafés and a souvenir shop. As we mentioned there are lockers and there are changing rooms, toilets and extensive garden areas too. Sun beds are 2 euros for the day with parasols when you rent a bed. There's also an 18 hole, mini golf course costing 4 euros a round.

Ctra. Palmitos Park, Km 3
35100 Maspalomas
Gran Canaria
Tel: 928 14 05 25

Puerto Rico also has a very good aqua park which is very god for smaller children.

Holiday World
Villa Cosmos in only a five munite walk from Holiday World. Not just a fun-fare, it's a whole leisure area with attractions such as a bowling alley, amusements, entertainment, café’s bars and lots more.

Opposite, a five minute walk away is a large park with a boating lake, pony riding, a karting track, childrens playgrounds. There's also the "wellness center" which is a health spa and gymnasium.

Finally...
Your villa will contains a welcome pack, in which you will find we have provided many more details, brochures and flyers from many of the attractions and excursions available.

All our extras are FREE! That means cots, buggies, high chairs, toys, etc etc. You name it, if it's an extra it's free with Joes Villas.

Click here for more details here.