Visit Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles, Spain and see the incredible sand dunes

Photo of Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles

Visit Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles

The wonderful sand dunes of Maspalomas and neighbouring resort of Playa del Ingles are on the island of Gran Canaria, one of the Eastern Canary Islands. They are located on the south of the island.

Explore Maspalomas

The Maspaloma dunes look like a part of the Sahara desert with their incredible sand dunes. The dunes are a protected nature reserve preventing building from encroaching further upon them. The neighbouring Maspalomas resort is more up-market than that of Playa del Ingles with luxury hotels and a golf course.

The dunes of Maspalomas are a spectacular sight you won't forget. The Maspalomas Natural Dune Reserve is made up of three ecosystems; sand dunes, ponds and palms and these run in parallel to the sea and the beach. The area is very popular with bird watchers because of its unique environment.

Maspalomas is not just a tourist resort, it is a town with all facilities and even a summer university. For visitors there are shops, a casino, a cinema, a golf course, theme parks and sports centres. Basically everything you need for your stay.

Explore Playa del Ingles

The Playa del Ingles resort is a massive resort on the southern tip of Gran Canaria. There is a motorway directly from Las Palmas airport to the resort. This resort is one of the biggest in Europe and has more than 500 restaurants and loads of discos. During the main summer months the resort is largely given over to the young and is a fun and lively spot. The rest of the year it is a popular choice with all ages.

Obviously it is the beach that attract people to this area. The Playa del Ingles beach is almost 3 km long and is informally divided into a family section, a nudist section and a gay section. Playa del Ingles has a very strong gay tourism and is host to one of the largest Gay Pride festivals in Europe on the second week of May.

To the east of the Playa del Ingles resort are the San Augustin beaches and resort, and to the west the magnificent Maspalomas.

A wide range of water sports are available on the beaches of both the Playa del Ingles and the Maspalomas resorts.

If you get fed up of the beaches there is an aqua park and an amusement park nearby. Aqualand Maspalomas is a few kilometres north of Maspalomas and has loads of slides and water based attractions. Holiday World is an amusement park with a big wheel and roller coaster but also a bowling alley and a health spa.