La Puntilla

The north corner of the beach where the little fishing boats are pulled up by the coconut palm trees. Always calm, always pretty, this is quintessential Las Canteras beach and a great spot for lunch on the promenade. The water is almost always calm and warm, and there are plenty of loungers and parasols to rent. The La Puntilla crowd is a good mix of foreign visitors and locals. 

Choose La Puntilla for its local charm and palm tree shade.

Playa Grande

The widest section of Las Canteras and the one that gets the most visitors, Playa Grande is all about golden sand, blue-and-white parasols and palm trees. 

Playa Grande is so wide that you will always find space for your towel. The waters off Playa Grande are sheltered by the reef and very safe for swimming. It has toilet and facilities, disabled beach access and shops selling international papers. Playa Grande is the most popular part of the beach with tourists because several of the city's big hotels are right by it.

 Choose Playa Grande for its beautiful golden sand, calm waters and amenities. It is perfect for families who want to spend a day lazing around on the beach and be close to shops and restaurants. 

 Playa Chica

Tiny Playa Chica is a beach within a beach right in the centre of Las Canteras. With no sun loungers, it's a local area. Swim out from Playa Chica towards the reef for some of the best snorkeling in Gran Canaria. The rocks and weed beds are full of colorful wrasse and parrotfish and you may even see moray eels, rays and octopus. 

Choose playa chica for a local feel and for the snorkelling.

La Peña

Just round the corner from Playa Chica the beach doesn’t seem to have a name. Instead, it is called “la zona de la Peña de La Vieja”.  La Peña is a big rock that sticks up out of the water just off the beach and is named after the parrotfish that swim around it.  

La Peña has one sun bed concession and some good local restaurants on the promenade. This part of the beach is also great for snorkeling on calm days. At low tide, you can swim all the way out to the reef and snorkel along it. 

Alex says: The sun bed concession on the La Peña section of beach is run by the three legendary Momo brothers. Between them they have save dozens of lives on the beach and from wrecked ships. You can almost always see one of the Momos sitting under a parasol by the sun beds.

 Choose La Peña for a quiet section of the beach that still has plenty of golden sand.

La Cicer 

La Cicer is the sporty end of Canteras beach with surf schools and lot of people playing beach football and tennis. There is no reef off La Cicer so it almost always has surfable waves. The sand at La Cicer changes colour depending on the tides and the waves. One day it can be golden and completely free of pebbles and the next the sand is black and covered in pebbles. Rent your surfboard in one of the many surf schools just behind the beach. The local surfers are pretty friendly provided you follow the rules; they are posted all along the beachfront of board-shaped signs.

Choose La Cicer if you love surfing or beach sports.