Amadores Holidays

Amadores sits on a hillside on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria. It’s a fairly new addition to the Canary Islands holiday scene, but the place has kept things low-key – waterfront restaurants and a quiet beach sum up the highlights. Evenings here tend to be pretty relaxed, though next-door neighbour Puerto Rico has plenty of lively pubs and bars should you want them.

A curving bay ringed by promenade restaurants is what you get at Amadores Beach. There’s about 500 metres of sand here – it’s actually crushed coral that’s been shipped over from the Caribbean. And it’s spotless, as befitting a Blue Flag winner. As for the sea, handy breakwaters keep the Atlantic nice and calm.

Amadores happily shares its holidaymakers with Puerto Rico, which is a 5- to 10-minute taxi ride away. The place has a marina and a couple of shopping centres filled with buzzing bars and discos. It’s also rather nice to walk there along the scenic clifftop path – at a very leisurely pace, it should take half-an-hour tops.

On the other side of Amadores – about 20 minutes’ drive away – you have Puerto de Mogan. It’s known as the Venice of the Canaries due to the waterways that flow under bridges around its marina and fishing harbour. Or it’s an hour to the capital, Las Palmas, for the cathedral, museums and boutique shops.