Gran Canaria Mountain Ring

A complete island ride from deep barrancos to Atlantic cliffs.

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Why this ride

A complete island ride from deep barrancos to Atlantic cliffs. The road: GC-15, GC-60 and GC-200. Distance and riding time are estimates from the checkpoints until the road is measured on this page.

Roadbook

1. Las Palmas start

   Las Palmas is a city that does not look like most people's idea of a Spanish island. It is large, with nearly four hundred thousand people, it sprawls along a narrow neck of land between two seas, and it is the busiest port in the Canary Islands. The beach of Las Canteras, a long curve of sand sheltered by a reef, runs right through the city, and the old district of Vegueta, with its colonial plazas and the cathedral, recalls the days when ships bound for the Americas stopped here for water.

   Columbus is said to have stopped on Gran Canaria on his first voyage in 1492, and the Casa de Colón, a museum in a beautiful old mansion, tells that story. The island is also known for its climate. Although only a day's sail from Africa, Gran Canaria enjoys mild temperatures all year thanks to the trade winds, which is why it is nicknamed the continent in miniature. Within a short ride you pass from dry southern desert to green northern forest.

   That is what makes the mountain loop so good. From the city, roads climb through Arucas, with its banana plantations and a large neo-Gothic church made from dark volcanic stone, then up into the central highlands. Here the landscape turns dramatic: deep barrancos, pine forest, and the rock tower of Roque Nublo, a symbol of the island. The road to Pico de las Nieves, the island's highest point at nearly 1,950 metres, offers wide views, sometimes above a sea of cloud. Roads are narrow and twisty, with sheer drops, and the surface is usually good. Mornings can be cloudy on the north side, and the south is sunnier.

   Fuel is no issue in the city or the larger towns, but up in the mountains there are few stations, so fill the tank beforehand. Take a jacket, because temperatures drop quickly with altitude. Stop at a village like Tejeda for almond sweets and coffee, and try papas arrugadas, wrinkled potatoes with spicy mojo sauce.

2. Tejeda stop

   Tejeda sits in the crater-like bowl at the centre of Gran Canaria, with the great rock needle of Roque Nublo standing a short way to the south-west and the ancient shrine of Roque Bentayga showing on the skyline to the west. It is a white village of just over two thousand people, hung on a steep hillside at roughly a thousand metres, and it is regularly named among the loveliest in Spain for good reason.

   The geology is the headline. Gran Canaria is a volcano whose old summit collapsed and eroded into a maze of deep ravines, and Tejeda lies in the middle of that landscape, with the island's high ground, including the Pico de las Nieves at nearly two thousand metres, rising around it. The sky is often brilliant, and the clouds drift in from the trade winds and get snagged on the rim, so it is common to ride out of a cold grey mist and arrive in full sun.

   The roads here are the point. Tight, steep, switchbacked and often narrow, they climb to the Cruz de Tejeda viewpoint and wind down through the pine forest and the almond terraces, with big drops at the edge and views across the caldera that make you want to stop every few hundred metres. The surface is mostly good, but the corners are tight and blind, and the many tour buses and rental cars make passing a matter of patience. Be extra careful on wet mornings, when the moss and the mist can make the tar slick.

   Tejeda is famous for almonds. In January and February the slopes flower white and pink, and the village sells almond sweets, marzipan and a dessert called bienmesabe, a thick almond cream that is exactly as sweet as it sounds. There are bars and small restaurants around the church square, and good coffee is never hard to find.

   For fuel, do not count on a pump in the village itself; the nearest sizeable town is Vega de San Mateo, a little way east, and you should plan to fill up there before climbing. Artenara, higher up the road, is worth a detour for its cave houses carved into the volcanic rock, a way of living the islanders have used for centuries.

3. Mogán stop

   Mogán is the inland village that gives the south-west of Gran Canaria its name, and it is a good example of how this island works: a sunny, busy coast, and just behind it a mountain world that feels like another country. The village sits some distance up a barranco, one of the deep, dry ravines that fan out from the central peaks to the sea. The better-known place is the harbour town of Puerto de Mogán on the coast, with its canals and bougainvillea, but the older settlement up the valley has a quieter pace and a more rural feel.

   The municipality has around 21,000 people, spread between the resorts and the hills, and Puerto Rico is the larger neighbour down the coast. There is fuel and food in the area, and the road into the valley is one you will want to ride at a deliberate speed. It climbs in bends that tighten and widen as the valley narrows, with the rock walls turning from ochre to rust and the vegetation changing from sun-baked scrub to patches of palms, fruit trees and little farms. In the valleys here you will see mango, avocado and papaya growing where water allows.

   Gran Canaria is sometimes called a continent in miniature, and the claim has some truth: the island is a volcanic cone, and the weather varies sharply with altitude and side. The south-west is dry and warm for much of the year, but once you climb toward the central highlands the temperature drops and mist can roll over the ridges. This makes spring and autumn the best seasons, when the heat is moderate and the light is clear. Midsummer afternoons can be hot, and the winter north is cloudier.

   Take care with surfaces. Mountain roads here are narrow, occasionally rough, and shared with cyclists, goats and hire cars driven by people still learning the width of the car. Watch for gravel on the inside of bends after rain, and for rockfall on the steeper cuttings. Stop in the village for a coffee, look up at the barranco walls, and take note of how quickly the road drops back toward the sea afterwards.

4. Agaete stop

   Agaete sits at the north-west tip of Gran Canaria, where the mountains drop abruptly toward the Atlantic, and it has the feel of a place that has seen a lot of arrivals. The town itself is white-walled and low, set a little back from the water, while the old fishing harbour of Puerto de las Nieves lies on the coast with a ferry terminal and a row of seafood restaurants. From there ferries cross to Tenerife, and on a clear day Mount Teide stands up on the horizon like a cut-out.

   Beside the harbour rises a thin sea stack called the Dedo de Dios, the Finger of God. Its tip was broken off in a tropical storm in 2005, and the stump still stands as a local landmark. The valley behind the town is a surprise: it is green and sheltered, with fruit trees and, unusually for Europe, coffee plantations, which benefit from the mild climate on this side of the island. Above the valley the pine forest of Tamadaba climbs toward high ridges and vertiginous drops to the sea.

   About 5,500 people live in Agaete itself, with the larger towns of Gáldar and Guía a few kilometres east, so fuel, groceries and a proper meal are all easy to find. The riding is in the roads leading up and away. Inland and upward, the route to Tamadaba and to the mountain villages involves tight, climbing bends with sharp exposure, and the west-coast road southward is famously winding, with big cliffs and sections that can be affected by rockfall, so it pays to check conditions before you commit.

   Choose your timing with the wind and the sun in mind. Mornings are usually clear and calm, afternoons can bring cloud to the heights, and the trade winds make some exposed sections gusty. After the ride, grab a table near the harbour, order whatever came off the boat that day with a plate of local potatoes, and sit watching the ferry come and go while the stack turns pink in the last light. It is an easy place to stay longer than you meant.

5. Back to Las Palmas finish

Where this sits

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