PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Passports and Visas

If you are a citizen of the EU/EEA, or of Switzerland, you will only require a valid passport or ID card to enter Spain and its territories. Visas are not required for stays of up to 90 days for nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UAE and the US. A full list of countries whose citizens need a visa in order to enter Spanish territories can be found on the website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

A number of countries, including the UK, US and Ireland, have their consulates in Las Palmas.

Customs and Immigration

Although part of Spain, the Canary Islands fall outside the EU for customs purposes. Duty-free allowances for tourists travelling back to the UK are 1 litre of spirits, 2 litres of wine, 200 cigarettes, and gifts (perfume, cameras etc) of up to the value of €460. If goods exceed that value, you’ll pay duty and/or tax on their full value, so make sure you keep receipts of your purchases.

Travel Safety Advice

Visitors can get up-to-date travel safety information from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the US Department of State and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Travel Insurance

All travellers are advised to buy insurance against theft or loss, accidents, illness and travel delays or cancellations. Spain has a reciprocal health agreement with other EU countries, and EU citizens receive emergency treatment under the public healthcare system if they have a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with them. Dental care is not covered, and prescriptions may have to be paid for upfront, so keep any receipts. Non-EU visitors should check if their country has reciprocal health arrangements with Spain.

Emergency Services

All emergency services can be reached by dialing 112, where multilingual operators will connect you to the service best suited to your needs.

Health

There are no vaccination requirements for Spain, and there are few serious health hazards aside from the sun. Always use a high-factor sunscreen and re-apply regularly, especially after swimming. Tap water is drinkable, although most people buy bottled water or use natural springs to fill containers.

For minor ailments, any farmacía (pharmacy) will give advice on treatments, as well as dispensing prescription and over-the-counter medications. The usual farmacía opening hours are 9am–1:30pm and 4–8pm Monday to Friday. Outside those hours, check the window to locate the nearest out-of-hours service.

In an emergency, head for the urgencias section of either of the large hospitals in Las Palmas: the Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín and Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria. For non-urgent cases, there are clinics in every town. Generally, a clínica is private, while a centro de salud or ambulatorio is run by the state.

Personal Security

While serious crime is rare, even in Las Palmas, you may encounter pickpocketing and petty theft in some areas of the city and the resorts. Take the usual precautions: look after your bags and wallets, especially in markets and on busy beaches and don’t leave valuables unguarded in the car. Report any theft to the Policia Nacional and get a crime number for insurance purposes. Very little English is spoken by the police, so you may need someone to interpret for you.

Travellers with Specific Needs

Accessibility for visitors with disabilities is still in the process of being developed in the Canary Islands, although all new-build hotels are required by law to be constructed in a manner that makes them fully accessible. In major resorts, most shops and restaurants also now have ramp access, and many resort beaches in the south have wheelchair accessibility. Most buses have wide access, low floors and extra space, and more equipped ones are being introduced. SolMobility, based in the south, have mobility scooters, wheelchairs and hoists for hire. They also operate adapted taxi services.

Currency and Banking

Spain uses the euro (€), which is divided into 100 cents. Bank-notes can be found in denominations of €500, €200, €100, €50, €20, €10 and €5. Coins are €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c.

You can exchange your money at banks, casas de cambio and hotels. There are ATMs (cajeros) in all but the tiniest of hamlets, and they are the easiest way to get cash, although they do carry a surcharge.

Credit cards are widely accepted across the island, with the exception perhaps of small bars or restaurants. It’s best to check if you can use your card before you order. When paying by credit card in stores you will need to provide ID.

Telephone and Internet

Many hotels in the Canary Islands still charge for Wi-Fi in rooms, but access is usually free in the lobby. Many bars, cafés and restaurants now offer free internet access, and there are multiple Wi-Fi zones within Las Palmas. As internet costs in Spain are high, consider arranging access through your local provider before travelling. You could also buy a SIM card that will buy you telephone time. Vodafone offers a 4G prepaid SIM card for internet and phone.

International calls can also be made from a locutorio, a small shop offering special rates for overseas calls. You can find internet cafés dotted around resorts and in hotel lobbies.

Postal Services

Main branches of the Correos (post office) are open 8:30am–8:30pm Monday to Friday and 9:30am–1pm on Saturday. Smaller branches, however, close at 2:30pm Monday to Friday. You can usually buy stamps in newsagents, kiosks and souvenir shops selling postcards.

TV, Radio and Newspapers

Gran Canaria receives the national Spanish TV channels, as well as TelevisiónCanaria, and with digital TV you can change the language to hear programmes in their original language. Many hotels have satellite and British and German TV, while bars have extensive sports coverage.

There are two local Spanish-language newspapers, Canarias 7 and La Provincia; both are good places to find out about concerts, festivals and other events. Foreign newspapers are widely available in the tourist resorts and in Las Palmas.

Several foreign-language radio stations are available, and you can find a full list of these on Radio Station World.

Opening Hours

Most shops are open 9:30am–1:30pm and 4:30pm–8:30pm. Large stores and Commercial Centres generally open 9:30am/10am–8pm Monday to Saturday. Virtually every shop closes on Sundays, with the exception of a few grocery stores. Larger supermarkets open 8am–9:30/10pm. Banks close at 2:30pm/3pm, although main branches will have late openings one or more days a week. Banks, shops and offices close on public holidays, and local towns observe a holiday on their Patron Saint’s day. Many museums close on Mondays; check individual websites for details.

Time Difference

The islands observe GMT and BST, so mainland Spain is always an hour ahead. When it is noon in Gran Canaria, it is 7am in New York and 4am in Los Angeles.

Electrical Appliances

The standard two-pin European plug is used. The electricity supply is 220 V, 50 Hz. Visitors from the UK will need an adaptor, and visitors from the US will need a converter, as well as an adaptor.

Weather

The Canary Islands are known for their year-round good weather with warm, sunny winters, and summer heat fanned by the Trade Winds, so there is no bad time to visit. Winter is the busiest and most expensive period with prices doubling over Christmas and Easter. Spanish mainlanders arrive during summer, and July and August are busy and can be sweltering. May, June and October are quieter, less expensive and less hot, so they represent good times to visit. The mountains of the interior are most likely to see rain and low cloud in January and February, and Las Palmas can experience a lot of cloud cover in summer.

Visitor Information

The Gran Canaria Tourist Board has an excellent website with handy visitor information on every aspect of the island in PDF downloads, videos, ebooks, useful apps and podcasts.

There are tourist offices in every town on the island and most have their own website, filled with useful, local information.

Las Palmas Ayunta-miento (Town Hall) has a helpful website that includes accommodation, restaurants, galleries and a calendar of events for the city. Other good websites include Spain Gran Canaria and Gran Canaria Local.

Trips and Tours

The Guagua Turística in Las Palmas is an open- topped, double-decker bus that operates on a hop-on, hop-off basis with audioguides in eight languages. It takes in all the city’s main sights. Buses run every 30 minutes between 9:30am and 5:30pm.

Gran Canaria Tourist Board offers free podcast tours (in English) to 25 locations across the island, including three in the city of Las Palmas.

Dining

Like mainland Spain, the Canarios eat their main meal at lunchtime, when the menu del día is available, offering three courses plus water, beer or wine for around €10. Lunch is taken late, rarely before 2pm and often continuing to 4pm or later, particularly on Sundays. By late evening, just a small meal is required, so tapas or raciones are in order. Raciones are about half the size of a main portion, and three raciones between two is a decent amount. Tapas are more like taster dishes or hors d’oeuvres and are a fun way to try lots of different dishes. There’s a tapas trail in Vegueta in Las Palmas every Thursday night, in which participating restaurants offer a tapa plus wine or beer for €2; this is as popular with locals as visitors.

Restaurant opening times are usually 1–4pm and 7–11pm, with many places closing on Mondays and occasionally Tuesdays, too. Diners arriving in the first hour of opening will find an empty restaurant, as locals eat much later than northern Europeans.

Dining out in Gran Canaria isn’t easy for vegetarians, and even less so for vegans. Newer restaurants, however, are recognizing the move to a more meat-free diet and will usually include one or two vegetarian options. Salads appear on every menu, but they are often just onions and tomatoes, and if you opt for ensalada mixta, it usually includes tuna. The best options for finding a good vegetarian meal are to head to an ethnic restaurant such as Indian or Lebanese.

Accommodation

Most people heading to Gran Canaria have pre-booked their flights and hotel as a package on a bed-and-breakfast, full-board or all-inclusive basis. Hotel standards vary hugely, but a recent government initiative to move the island’s image more upmarket has seen a rise in the number of five-star hotels being built in the south. Rural hotels are frequently weaker on facilities, but stronger on personality.

Aparthotels are a cross between an apartment and a hotel. There are usually rudimentary cooking facilities in the room, but guests can choose to take meals in the on-site restaurant(s).

There is a vast choice of accommodation when it comes to self-catering, including characterful casas rurales (country houses); casas emblemáticas (historical buildings), which will find you ensconced in pretty cottages in the country; restored mansions; cave houses; city apartments or luxury villas. Good research is the key to finding what you want, and there are a huge number of websites to help you.

As much of Gran Canaria is a designated protected environmental area, camping outside of authorized areas is strictly forbidden and the law is rigidly enforced. There are a number of commercial campsites (see Hotel Neptuno, Playa del Inglés) and eight Cabildo (local government) sites, which are free to use, but you have to have written permission in advance to camp at either site. You can apply online but you must collect your approval in person from the offices of OIAC (Oficina de Información y Atención al Ciudadano) in Las Palmas, which is open 8:30am–2pm Monday–Friday, 4–6pm Thursday and 9am–noon on Saturdays.