Where to stay in Gran Canaria

Where to stay in... Gran Canaria

The majority of visitors to Gran Canaria head to the south of the island, where sun, sea and sand are pretty much guaranteed all year round.

This is one of Gran Canaria's most famous sites, the Maspalomas Dunes, nestled between Playa del Ingles at one end and the newer Meloneras resort at the other and in between 6 kms of gorgeous beach.

The Maspalomas lighthouse is another landmark and up until 1964, when tourism development began in the south, this was pretty much the only building south of Las Palmas.

The tourism boom in the 70s and again in the 90s created Playa del Ingles, not a pretty resort by any stretch of the imagination but very much the tourist hub. With little land left to develop, the pressure is on to update and modernise the older hotels. Leading the field, by some margin, is the 5 star Bohemia Suites & Spa. The rooms are really cleverly designed with high tech and incredible attention to every luxurious detail. The Thai influenced Spa is one of the very best on the island... and the elegant 360 restaurant and adjoining Atelier cocktail bar is the place in town to be seen. The food is both exceptional and, given the quality, reasonably priced.

If Playa del Ingles is too much of a throwback for you, at the other of the beach is Meloneras, billed these days as the more upscale resort based around a promenade with lots of restaurants and shops. There are some huge, conference type hotels here but one of the longest established and most popular with the British market is the Seaside Hotels, Palm Beach. Again, recently refurbished, but still with more than a nod to the original 70's decor, the Palm Beach has the very best location on right on the edge of the dunes and beach.

Heading further along the coast, things get a little quieter. Puerto de Mogan, just a 15 minutes or so drive from Playa del Ingles is like a different world.

And 5 minutes drive from Puerto de Mogan is Amadores, a small resort based around a perfect wine glass shaped bay. The best views are from the Gloria Royal Palace Hotel.

Set out on several levels with loads of sunbathing areas, the hotel also has a Thalassotherapy Centre and a choice of restaurants.

If golf is high on your agenda and you don't necessarily want to be right on the beach, a little further inland is the 5 star Sheraton Salobre Golf & Spa resort. Set in a private estate and blissfully quiet, the resort has superb facilities as sales manager Hina explains

And if you are after a different type of holiday altogether, there are also a number of rural hotels in the dramatic, volcanic interior of the island.

Perfect as a base for walking or cycling holidays or indeed touring between them, these hotels are all unique, both in location, size and style.

Perhaps best known of them all is the Paradore de Cruz de Tejeda right in the very heart of the island. Complete with an excellent restaurant and relaxing Spa, like all the rural hotels I looked at, it comes with astonishing island views.