Looking for a bit of summer when it is not quite the season yet? Then the Canary Islands are a good choice as they have long summers and warm winters. It is still no guarantee that you will be able to go to the beach in April or May and actually swim, but in the early European season, you will have better chances on doing just that on the Canary Islands than in other European locations.
We went to Gran Canaria with a baby, but we didn’t want to stay in the very touristy part of the island which sometimes has quite tall appartment buildings on the beach. We therefore chose a location in the North and rented a car to explore, because there are some nice things to see in Gran Canaria!
The hotel we stayed at was a beautiful rural Hacienda. They grew bananas there which was perfect for a stay with our baby as he ate quite some bananas that week 😊. The staff of the hotel was also very friendly to us and liked to help us with our little one. The hotel has a nice outdoor pool, an indoor spa and an on-site restaurant.
The northern part of Gran Canaria is perhaps less visited, apart from Las Palmas, but we thought the little town Arucas was very nice! Arucas has nice colorful buildings on cute streets to walk around in, a big cathedral, and we found it less touristic. The better beaches however were on the south of the island, but we just drove there while sightseeing and went to the beach every day.
During our trip we found Gran Canaria easy to get around in by car. We went to the picturesque town of Puerto Rico in the South of Gran Canaria, and we drove through the mountains more inland (this is what we preferred). Just driving on the winding roads and stopping whenever we saw something we liked. In the mountains nice restaurants with local food can be found, like for instance the Restaurante la Cilla in Artenara, which has breathtaking views. There are also mountain villages where time seems to have stopped. Very beautiful! Of course we went to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Appearantly new in 2018 is that they now have a big Aquarium to visit in Las Palmas called Poema del Mar. We have not tested it ourselves yet, but it looks great!
Where to stay
To see the rural Hacienda hotel we stayed in, click here. You can add the number of children in the comments when booking. We had a relaxing holiday in Gran Canaria!