While on vacation in the Canary Islands recently, one of our main goals was to hike as much as possible. We weren’t there to enjoy leisurely days on the beaches, although that’s certainly a popular option with tourists as you can read here.. There’s so much more to the Canary Islands than the beaches, however, and we found some gorgeous day hikes while in Gran Canaria, two of which we combined in one day.
We started off in the center of Gran Canaria at Caldera de Bandama. If you’re staying in Las Palmas, it’s only a 20 minute drive from there. The crater was formed by a volcano Pico de Bandama many years ago and is 216 meters (709 feet) deep, 574 meters (1883 feet) high and 1,000 meters (3281 feet) wide. We picked up our lunch from a market on the way, with the intention of enjoying our lunch with a view along the hike. The first thing we noticed when we arrived was all of the flowers and shrubs in bloom. The contrast between all of the flora with the black lava rocks was stunning.
About an hour away from Caldera de Bandama is Roque Nublo, a natural monument 67 meters (220 feet) tall with the top 1813 meters (5948 feet) above sea level. This is an easy hike and not far from the nearby parking lot. Only the first portion is paved with cobblestones, but most of the trail is well-cleared dirt and easy to navigate. From the main road it’s about 1.5 kilometers to the proximity of Roque Nublo and Roque de la Rana. Before getting there, you go past another natural monument, el Roque de El Fraile. When we were there it was foggy when we reached the monuments but fortunately the fog cleared enough to get this photo:
This was only one of many days full of hiking that my family and I did while in the Canary Islands but this was probably the best hiking we did during our stay in Gran Canaria. I’ll have another post later about hiking in Tenerife.
Two things to remember if you’re hiking in the Canary Islands that we discovered: 1) caldera means it was formed by a volcano collapsing onto itself but more importantly for hikers it means there will be great scenery for hiking and 2) barranco means ravine. Wherever you see barranco on a map, chances are there will be great hiking in this area.
How many of you enjoy hiking while on vacation? What are some of your favorite places you’ve hiked?
Happy travels!
Donna
runningtotravel 
Beautiful shots, as usual. As far as best places I’ve hiked I don’t have many, but I do love Lake Tahoe.
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Thanks, Randy. I haven’t been to Lake Tahoe but I hear it’s beautiful. I’d love to hike there one day!
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Looks fabulous! James is famous for taking us on “short easy hikes” on vacation, only to find they’re long and treacherous, lol! We went hiking in Oregon once, and it will now and forevermore be known (by AJ) as the hike when he almost fell off a cliff, 🤣. He didn’t, only slipped, but there were some dodgy parts that had been washed away by rain. Fun adventures.
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That’s a great story! I love it!
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Love the views Donna!! We have only really hiked in the Smoky Mountains, however I am not opposed to hiking on vacation.
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I think I read once that the Smoky Mountains are the most-visited park in the US. I know it’s popular anyway! I went there once and it is very pretty.
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What a beautiful photo of you amongst the flowers!
I love hiking. It was something I did regularly when I lived in Toronto, but I wasn’t running back then. My favorite hike of all times is Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. It’s known to be a “dangerous” hike because there are areas where there’s a steep drop off. As long as you’re hiking in good weather and not immediately after a storm, which would make the trail slippery and you’re not being foolish and goofing off, the hike is safe.
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I was scared away from hiking Angel’s Landing when we went there last year. Someone had fallen and died a couple of weeks before we went. Mostly though, I was scared my then-11-year-old would slip and fall off. She was a little mad that I wouldn’t let her hike that trail but I told her when she’s an adult, she can go and hike there if she wants!
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Excellent post. Last year we visited there.
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Thank you! I hope you enjoyed it there as much as we did!
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