The chic sleep: Seaside Palm Beach, Gran Canaria
With access to some of the best surf on the island, this colorful ’70s icon of Gran Canaria raises the bar with its flamboyant design and thalasso spa. By AUGUSTA BRUCE
Beaches make up more than a quarter of Gran Canaria’s 147-mile coastline, and here at Maspalomas, which boasts the second longest beach on the island, the Seaside Palm Beach hotel makes the most of its incredible location and the epic surf on offer. With its bold design (thanks to Alberto Pinto’s fantastic redesign of the property), this ’70s icon has been jazzed up with bright block colors and Pucci-inspired prints. Behind the Miami Beach-inspired facade, each of the hotel’s 328 rooms comes with a terrace, many with views stretching out towards the famous Maspalomas dunes. Days here drift by in a sun-drugged haze (on average, Gran Canaria has over 360 days of sunshine per year), where you can order tapas at the poolside African Bar, walk along the hotel’s private five-mile stretch of powdery yellow sands, or wander into the nearby Maspalomas Dunes Nature Reserve, habitat of majestic herons and the Gran Canaria giant lizard. There is also an AstroTurf tennis court, an open-air gym, outdoor chess and a spa with two thalasso pools – book a Rasul bath, a decadent treatment where the body is lathered in mineral mud before being shrouded in steam.
THE DETAILS
Dine
There are three restaurants to choose from here, but whether you opt for classical Mediterranean cuisine at Esencia, a starlit barbecue in the main restaurant, or tapas at La Bodega, make sure you try the Canarian staple papas arrugadas – wrinkled potatoes with lashings of red mojo sauce.
Visit
Don't miss the painted cave (Cueva Pintada) of Gáldar, excavated by the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The basalt walls feature paintings in organic pigments of red, white and ochre, depicting geometric motifs and hunting scenes. The museum is constructed on the remains of an ancient settlement and exhibits ceramic pots, feminine idols and goat-bone needles for stitching leather clothes.
Explore
Charter a yacht from Puerto Rico harbor and set sail to the remote beach of Güi Güi in the wild west of Gran Canaria with its jagged lava cliffs and hidden caves.
Shop
Head to Vegueta, the historical quarter of Gran Canaria’s capital Las Palmas, which has a craft market on Sundays out of season. Alongside the Guiniguada barranco (ravine), opposite the Pérez Galdós theater, you will find an old town of quiet cobbled streets, cafés on every corner, and a mesh of late Gothic and Renaissance architecture.
The people featured in this story are not associated with NET-A-PORTER and do not endorse it or the products shown.