Playa del Ingles Holidays - Compare Prices & Departure Dates

Playa del Ingles is the liveliest beach resort on the south coast of Gran Canaria, the third largest of the seven Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa.

Literally meaning ’Englishman’s beach’ the resort has long been a favourite year round package holiday destination with a real ‘fun in the sun’ atmosphere.

The eight kilometre stretch of golden sandy beach between Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas further south is what really makes Gran Canaria stand out over Canary Islands.

As well as impressive sand dune beaches, Gran Canaria’s capital Las Palmas is a sprawling city on the north coast of the island. In between the two areas are mountains which make for impressive back drops whilst holidaying in the Playa del Ingles area.

It has to be said that Playa del Ingles is not known for its culture or sightseeing and is pretty much made up of large hotels and apartment blocks, but if you’re looking for a holiday filled with sunshine, long golden sandy beaches, shopping and nightlife Gran Canaria and Playa del Ingles could be the perfect choice for you.

The currency in Play del Ingles is the euro, the official language is Spanish with the local dialect Canario still in existence. In the tourist areas English and German are widely spoken. Gran Canaria is on GMT – the same time as the UK and UK nationals do not need a visa to visit.

Most visitors to the island arrive on charter flights as part of package holidays, but low cost airlines also fly into the main airport at Las Palmas (IATA code LPA). Known almost everywhere as Las Palmas airport, the official name is Gondo Airport as it sits just inland of Gondo Bay. The airport is around 25km or 30 minutes by car from Playa del Ingles in the south.

If your holiday doesn’t include transfers from the airport, you can book shared or private transfers with taxi operators via low cost airline websites or direct.

You can also take local buses, take a taxi when you arrive, or hire a car for the short journey. There are no trains on the island, but the road network is good and many who want to explore choose to hire a car.

Once in resort, you can many wander around on foot, but the area is renowned for being hilly and access to the main beach at Playa del Ingles is via steep steps from many hotels and apartments, but there are taxis and local buses available in resort.

Playa del Ingles is a sun worshipper’s paradise. The long, golden sand beach stretches all the way south from the resort centre to the famous dunes of Maspalomas eight kilometres away.

The beaches are zoned in Playa del Ingles, so there is the main family beach as well as mixed adults-only, gay and nudist beaches.

The resort centre is dominated by the four-storey Yumbo Centre, which is home to over 200 shops, boutiques, cafes, bars and restaurants. The centrepiece is a thrilling skyride where ‘dropped’ from 70m in the air, right in the middle of the whole centre.

During the day Yumbo is mainly about shopping with everything from market stalls, hair and beauty salons and boutiques to supermarkets and banks. The centre comes into its own at night with the many bars, gay clubs and restaurants get busy.

If you want to explore further afield there are several well-known attractions within easy distance of Playa del Ingles beach.

Palmitos Park is a animal, aquarium and botanical park with hundreds of different species of flora and fauna to see.

Holiday World is a traditional theme park with enough rides to keep everyone happy for a day. There are also waterparks, the biggest of which is Aqualand. There is even Sioux City which is a cowboy themed park.

If the natural world interests you, head up to Bandama to see the 3000 year old volcano. Although now dried up, it still makes for an fascinating visit and boasts amazing views too. You should make sure you visit the famous sand dunes of Maspalomas. Created from sand blown in from the Sahara, these golden dunes feature on all the postcards.

If you want to be more active, there are loads of watersports on offer at all the beaches. Grand Canaria is well known as a great place to learn to scuba dive and most scuba schools will even come and pick you up from your accommodation. The waves are also good for learning to surf and there are many schools dotted around the beaches.

Anyone who likes hiking or biking will be spoilt for choice. The hillsides and mountains are littered with walking and biking trails and if you’re a road bike fan there are many routes on quieter coastal and mountain roads. You can hire bikes in resort.

Despite only being a small island, Gran Canaria boasts nine different 18 hole golf courses, the majority of which are in the south.

Playa del Ingles is packed full of hotels and apartment blocks offering a full range of accommodation with prices to suit all budgets. Package holiday accommodation tends to be in the mid-range, in two or three star hotels and apartments.

Families and older couples tend to stay in the quieter areas on the edge of the resort, whilst the party animals are nearer the main beach and the Yumbo centre.

Gran Canaria is actually a duty-free island, so many people find themselves bowled over by the price of things like electrical goods, alcohol and cigarettes.

The resort is also full of souvenir and craft-type shops, where you can buy all your going home gifts. If you want some serious retail therapy head to the Yumbo Centre, where you’ve got 200 or so shops, supermarkets, markets and boutiques to wander around.

Eating and going out is one of the main delights in Playa del Ingles. The beach areas are lined with bars, cafes and restaurants offering every type of food you could wish for. The Yumbo Centre is packed full of restaurants offering everything from English, German and Dutch cuisine to Italian and Indian.

If you want to try some local dishes, Canarian food is along the same lines as Spanish food, with tapas, tortilla and paella appearing on menus everywhere. There is also a massive choice of fresh fish and seafood with squid and octopus to name but two.

As well as good old San Miguel and Sangria, you will also find the island produces some good wines, as well as finding Spanish wines such as bottles of Rioja on drinks lists.

Gran Canaria has a varied climate, but the southern area around Playa del Ingles is well-known for having a pretty much constant and dry climate, meaning it’s a popular year-round sunshine holiday location.

The sub-tropical climate means it does get very hot in the summer, usually between 25 and 33 degrees and remains in the 20s at night. In the winter the temperatures drop to the low 20s and goes to between 10 and 12 at night.

The island can also be quite windy, which although perfect for windsurfing, kitesurfing or whipping up good breaks for surfing, is less so for sunbathing on a sandy beach.

• Party animals who want long, golden sandy beaches too
• Older couples and families if you keep to the quieter areas or go out of season
• Holidaymakers looking for a thriving gay scene

• Anyone who gets bored after a day or two of lazing on the beach
• Less-abled holidaymakers who may struggle with the amount of steps in this hilly area

• Gran Canaria Info – a blog style website with news, views and interesting snippets of info on Gran Canaria
• Maspalomas Hotels – a resort guide and hotel information website

Playa del Ingles is the most popular resort on the island of Gran Canaria and deservedly so with its vibrant nightlife, huge choice of bars and restaurants and long, golden sandy beaches offering something for everyone, year round.