Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

About Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Las Palmas is the largest city of the Canary Islands and a standard transatlantic-repositioning stop for ships moving between the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and West Africa. Ships dock at Puerto de La Luz, a short cab ride from Playa de Las Canteras — an urban beach that regularly ranks among Europe's best. Excursions visit the Bandama volcanic caldera, Roque Nublo, and the historic Vegueta quarter with Columbus House.

• Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the capital of the Canary Islands and the ninth-largest city in Spain, yet it sits in the Atlantic Ocean just 150 km off the northwest coast of Africa — closer to Morocco than to mainland Spain.
• The city was founded in 1478 by the Spanish Crown and served as a key resupply stop for Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the Americas in 1492; he stopped to repair the Pinta's rudder here.
• Las Palmas enjoys one of the most stable climates on Earth — an average annual temperature of 21.2°C (70.2°F) year-round, thanks to the cooling effect of the Canary Current, which earns it the informal title 'City of Eternal Spring.'
• Playa de Las Canteras, the city's 3-km urban beach, is consistently ranked among the best city beaches in the world and is protected by a natural lava reef called La Barra.
• The Canary Islands sit on the African Tectonic Plate and are of volcanic origin; Gran Canaria's dramatic interior landscape of calderas and ravines contrasts sharply with its beach-resort coastline.