As a RE/MAX Collection agent, I specialise in luxury Gran Canaria property. Here’s my guide to the main luxury Gran Canaria property areas and where to look for the island’s best villas, penthouses and grand old townhouses.
Let’s start with the capital city with its world-class urban beach and cobbled old town.
Luxury property in Las Palmas city
The Las Canteras beachfront
When most people think of luxury in Las Palmas, they picture a beachfront apartment with a big terrace and views of Las Canteras beach and the sea.
With views of the beach, the ocean and the sunset, a Las Canteras apartment is a dream for many people both local and foreign.
The good news is that large apartments with sunny terraces and uninterrupted views do come onto the market.
The bad news is that they don’t come up all that often and are amongst the most expensive property in Gran Canaria (4000-6000+ euros per square metre). The price per metre tends to be higher for smaller properties because you pay a premium for the location and the view (and because the holiday rental boom is pushing up demand and prices).
The Las Canteras beachfront is Las Palmas’ des-res location because you have all the benefit of living by the sea and of being right in the centre of Las Palmas with its myriad shops and restaurants.
One thing that is scarce on the beachfront is parking as most buildings don’t have their own car park in the basement. You can rent or rent a parking place in a nearby building or private car park (around 100 euros per month to rent or 20K to buy).
The Port District
The flat area of Las Palmas city behind Las Canteras beach is known as El Puerto. It’s a busy and high-demand area of the city and has some stunning penthouse apartments and even terraced houses with luxury fixtures and fittings.
Mesa y Lopez Street (about to become pedestrian) is a good place to look for big, open plan apartments. Most top floor properties have private terraces and the whole street is within easy walking range of the beach as well as the marina.
The Port District is the heart of the city and the benefit of living or owning here is that you are close to the beach and shops and to hundreds of cafes and restaurants.
The Garden City (Ciudad Jardín)
Las Palmas’ villa district grew up around the Anglican Church at the beginning of the 20th Century and many of its houses are protected as architectural treasures (which also means no IBI tax). Prices start at around the half-million mark for a small house with some outside space.
Ciudad Jardín is a quiet residential area and the city authorities plan to make many of its streets pedestrian within the next few years. There are a few supermarkets and cafes in the area but not much else in terms of local life. You are close to the city’s marina.
Paseo de Chil
Sandwiched between the Garden City and the modern La Minilla development, Paseo de Chil is named after the busy road that connects the Port District to the Old Town areas of Vegueta and Triana. Luxury houses here tend to face east and have gardens and stunning views over the city and the port.
It’s a quiet area and close to the beach and shopping zones, but you do really need a car to take advantage.
La Minilla & Siete Palmas
Both areas are modern developments and many buildings have large central courtyards with gardens, kid’s parks and swimming pools). Top floor properties tend to have great views and get plenty of sunshine. La Minilla also has a range of terraced villas with gardens.
La Minilla also has a range of terraced villas with gardens.
As modern gated developments, property in these areas tends to include a parking place, storeroom and security features like decent doors and security.
Avenida Marítima
The highrise buildings that line the east coast of Las Palmas and look out over the Port have large, well-distributed apartments. You want to be on the fifth floor or above for the best views of the sunrise and to be high enough to escape traffic noise from the busy road by the coast.
If you want all the benefits of a sea view and central location, the Avenida Marítima is a good option and often goes under the radar.
Vegueta and Triana
Old Town Vegueta still has some beautiful medieval houses with central courtyards and balconies as well as more modern but still period properties dating up to the beginning of the 20th Century. Many have protected facades but you can do plenty of work inside to open them up and change the distribution. Older properties tend to need new wiring and water pipes.
Just over the road, Triana district, famous for its open-air shopping, has property dating from the medieval period up until the 1940s. Most of the best are modernist with wrought iron balconies, high ceilings, and large rooms.
Again, if you find a good one you can expect to have to update the electricity and water.
This is the place to look if you love property with period features. Triana also has a fantastic atmosphere with quality restaurants and cafes and lots of boutique shops as well as the main High Street chain stores.
See this guide for more detail on Las Palmas’ main property areas.
In the hills
One of the main luxury property areas of Gran Canaria is the hill towns and countryside just behind Las Palmas city.
It’s a beautiful area with vineyards and quiet local towns and plenty of large houses and villas with big gardens.
Tarifa
Closest to Las Palmas, Tafira is more a large suburb than an actual town. It’s home to the island’s University and Botanical Garden and has a milder climate than other areas a bit higher up. If you want a large house with space for a pool that is within 10 minutes of Las Palmas and 20 minutes of the airport, Tafira is a good place to start.
Most houses are villa-style homes although there are plenty of modern homes and even some old Canarian townhouses and farmhouses.
The downside of Tafira is that it is residential and doesn’t really have a local centre with shops of cafes.
Monte Lentiscal
Monte, as it is known, is the island’s oldest wine area and lots of its rural land is planted with vines. Its lower reaches merge into Tafira and it stretches uphill until it meets Santa Brigida town. Monte has a small centre along the main road but most property is in small, upmarket estates, or dotted around the countryside.
The area is a mix of villas within walled gardens, and old houses surrounded by farmland and vineyards.
Santa Brigida
The main market town in the foothills behind Las Palmas city, Santa Brigida was originally laid out by the British as a summer escape from their base in Las Palmas. It has a charming old centre and is a quiet town with some shops and cafes. Santa Brigida also has a cute weekend market selling fruit and veg and local produce like wine and cheese.
The east coast
Seafront property is in short supply in Gran Canaria outside the resorts and the capital city. However, the east coast does have some superb houses with sea views. Some are right by little beaches that rarely get crowded.
The main cluster of upmarket homes in east Gran Canaria is at Playa del Hombre.
The downside of the east coast is that it gets windy during the summer months and isn’t that close to a major town with a good range of shops and restaurants.
El Cortijo
El Cortijo is popular with expats who want a villa-style home close to the airport. It’s a modern and exclusive development linked to the El Cortijo golf course and the houses are about as close to classic villas as you’ll find on the island.
Pre-crisis, El Cortijo was slated to become a much larger suburban area but development stalled and hasn’t yet started up again. You need a car if you plan to live here.
Playa del Hombre
The main luxury property enclave on Gran Canaria’s east coast.
Playa del Hombre is a modern development that faces a small beach of the same name. Luxury property in Playa del Hombre is almost all private villas on large plots of land. Most have swimming pools.
Playa del Hombre is an excellent area to look if you want a luxury villa with sea views and plenty of outside space.
Inland
Telde was Gran Canaria’s second biggest town for years and has a lovely old centre and urban park. Most residential property is modern and there isn’t much luxury property in town. However, once you head back into the hills there are some stunning houses with lots of land and great views out over the east coast.
Areas to look at are the rural areas around Valsequillo town and the luxury enclave of La Herradura- Balcón de Telde.
South Gran Canaria
Before tourism took hold in south Gran Canaria in the 1960s, the south of the island was a remote and barely inhabited area. The only real towns were Arguineguín on the coast and San Bartolomé (also known as Tunte) way inland.
Once tourism took off, the area grew fast and it’s now one of the world’s biggest resort areas.
But don’t think that it’s all a giant Benidorm; there are plenty of quiet, upmarket spots in south Gran Canaria and some stunning property.
San Bartolomé de Tirajana
South Gran Canaria is divided into two municipios. The largest is San Bartolomé de Tirajana and it includes the big resorts of Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés.
Bahia Feliz and San Agustín
The first two resorts you reach as you head south in Gran Canaria and amongst the quietest and most attractive. San Agustín itself is a small resort popular with Swedish visitors and residents. It’s got the obligatory shopping centre for the tourists but also plenty of quality restaurants.
Bahia Feliz is a cluster of small condominiums and houses running along the coast and there are some real seafront gems in the area. It’s quiet, private and you pretty much get the ocean to yourself.
Playa del Inglés
Gran Canaria’s biggest resort has a cluster of luxury homes looking out over the Maspalomas sand dunes and west over the Maspalomas golf course, but not much other luxury property.
However, if you find a property with dune and sea views, then it’s a spectacular place to live or holiday as the surrounding resort is quiet away from the big shopping centres.
Maspalomas (Campo Internacional)
Campo Internacional is a quiet and flat resort area close to the upmarket Meloneras seafront with its boutiques and restaurants.
Most of it is low-rise bungalow complexes and a few hotels, but there’s a discreet enclave of villas right in the centre where superb property occasionally comes up for sale.
If you ant to be close to the beaches at Maspalomas, but not within the resorts themselves, there are several excellent options.
Pasito Blanco
This is Gran Canaria’s mot exclusive marina because you can only drive in if you own a property or a berth. The marina itself has a mix of yachts and gin palaces as well as smaller pleasure craft and there’s a fabulous decking area and swimming zone at the end of the harbour wall.
Property in Pasito Blanco is villa-style and it’s all right by the water. This is one of the most pleasant places to live in south Gran Canaria if you value peace and quiet (and if you own a boat).
El Salobre
Two eighteen-hole golf courses, a Sheraton hotel and lots of modern villas make El Salobre south Gran Canaria’s most recent and desirable residential area. It was developed in the 1990s and most of the houses are modern with gardens and private pools.
El Salobre is popular with investors as the area is popular as a holiday let and golf destination and has a well organised rental management system.
The downsides of El Salobre is that it is tucked away inland and doesn’t have many shops or restaurants.
Monte León
This is south Gran Canaria’s original luxury property enclave and is known, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, as the Beverly Hills of Gran Canaria. It’s just behind Maspalomas resort and set on a hill facing the sea.
Monte Leon property is mostly high-end villas and mansions surrounded by gardens with palm trees and swimming pools.
Inland in San Bartolomé
As I said, there really wasn’t much in terms of population in this area prior to tourism so rural property here is limited. Fataga village has some lovely homes and is just 20 minutes from the coast. Further inland you have Santa Lucia and San Bartolomé towns with some old houses in the centre and a few modern luxury houses.
There are even some old manor houses and mansions dotted through the areas palm groves and wineries but they are remote and a long way from the sea.
Perhaps the best place to look for a big property in rural SBT is the Ayagaures valley inland from Maspalomas. It’s narrow valley and much greener than you’d expect for south Gran Canaria. It’s also been a quiet retreat for peace-loving foreign residents for many years and some stunning houses do pop up every now and then.
Mogán
The Mogán municipality in the south-west of Gran Canaria is one of the sunniest and most sheltered places in the world. It gets over 320 days of blue skies every year and is rarely windy.
Arguineguín
South Gran Canaria’s only real coastal town, Arguineguín has an authentic feel missing from the modern resort areas. It’s the only coastal place in south Gran Canaria where you actually feel like you are living in Spain rather than in a resort.
However, as local as Arguineguín feels, it’s property prices owe more to Oslo than Las Palmas. The town has been an enclave for overwintering Norwegians for decades and prices reflect their spending power.
Beachfront property in Arguineguín is amongst the most expensive on the island and even the modern villa and housing developments on the hill behind the town are more expensive than equivalent property in other areas of the island.
That said, there are plenty of properties on sale and you get the famous Mogán weather, sea views and a peaceful lifestyle with a good mix of local events and international amenities.
Puerto de Mogán
The most famous place is Puerto de Mogán with its iconic white houses right by the marina. These are hard to buy as they are mostly snapped up by holiday let investors. You need patience and a good estate agent to buy one.
The same goes for the modern apartments right on Playa de Mogán beach, and even the larger houses in the original fishing village just behind the marina.
Puerto Rico & Amadores
Puerto Rico resort is about as close to Benidorm as you get in Gran Canaria but it does have a few areas on the fringes with some gorgeous villas. The best place to look is the high part of West Hill overlooking Amadores beach.
Inland in Mogán
The Mogán and Arguineguín valleys are still largely rural and life revolves around mango farms rather than sun loungers. Quality properties in these areas come up and are worth considering if you want the benefits of south Gran Canaria’s weather and international scene without being in the thick of the tourist areas.
Buying a luxury Gran Canaria property
Gran Canaria is a big island so if you don’t have a particular area in mind, it’s vital to get good local advice before you start looking.
Most people find that they face a choice between the sunshine and bright lights of the south and the authenticity of the capital city and surrounding areas. However, even within the capital city or a resort area like Mogán, there’s a huge range of differences.
As a Collection Agent, I’m always available to help you decide which areas to focus on, and I can show you almost all the luxury property on sale in Gran Canaria; the island has a well-developed MLS-style property database that allows me to represent you anywhere on the island.
Using a specialist luxury property agent gives you the security of knowing that you’ll get quality service and have someone in Gran Canaria with your best interests at heart.
I’m Laura, and I’m always here to help.