Las Palmas Audioguides

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria sits closer to Morocco than to Madrid, about 150 kilometers off the coast of West Africa, and the light and landscape reflect that proximity. The city is one of the larger ports in Spain and has been a major Atlantic crossroads since 1492, when Christopher Columbus stopped here on his first voyage to the Americas to repair the Pinta and resupply. The house where he may have stayed, the Casa de Colon, is now a museum in the Vegueta neighborhood, the original colonial quarter with its cobbled streets, cathedral begun in 1497, and low whitewashed buildings that have remained largely intact since the 16th century.

The city's carnival is one of the most famous in the world, typically ranked behind only Rio de Janeiro in scale and spectacle, drawing hundreds of thousands of participants each February for parades, performances, and elaborate costume competitions that represent months of preparation.

Beyond carnival season, Las Palmas has a permanent pleasure in Las Canteras, a 3-kilometer urban beach in the city center that is sheltered by a natural reef and offers calm water for swimming year-round. The temperature is what draws the over 130,000 northern Europeans who live here more or less permanently: the Canary Islands sit in a trade wind belt that keeps temperatures between 18 and 26 Celsius for most of the year, which has made the archipelago the most popular winter sun destination in Europe.