Gran Canaria's beach hotels divide by what is underfoot. In the south, Playa de Maspalomas is 2.7 km of golden sand with a Blue Flag in 2026 and the protected dunes behind it. West of the lighthouse, the Meloneras beaches are short and part pebble. Further west, Playa de Mogán is 209 metres of golden sand and calm, clear water. In Las Palmas, Las Canteras runs 3.1 km, and La Barra, a reef along more than half of it, keeps the water inside calm. Every beach in Spain is public by law, so no hotel owns the sand: what it gives you is the walk, the loungers and the pools.
The south also lies in the lee of the north-east trade wind, while summer can bring low cloud to Las Palmas. Choose Maspalomas for the long sand and the dunes, Meloneras for the pools, Puerto de Mogán for a small, calm beach in a harbour village, and Las Canteras for a beach with a city behind it.
Seaside Palm Beach keeps the beach and the pool a few minutes apart. Playa de Maspalomas, golden sand with the Dunas de Maspalomas nature reserve behind it, is four minutes' walk from the door, and the lighthouse, where the promenade to Meloneras starts, is eight.
The pools are reason enough to come back for the afternoon. There are five, all outdoors in the palm garden: the main freshwater pool, heated in the cooler months, with Bar Africano beside it; a children's pool with a slide and a 0.5 m baby pool; and, in the spa garden, two warm pools for adults only, a 30°C saltwater pool with underwater jets and a brine pool, both included in the room price. Loungers cannot be reserved, and staff clear towels left on empty ones every day.
The room to book
Superior Room
about 25 m², plus an 8 m² balcony€287 a night
The entry room's 25 m² and furnished balcony, but over the palm garden and pool, or on the dunes side, where the higher floors see the sea.
At Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso the pools are the point. Almost 4,000 m² of water is spread across six outdoor pools. The centrepiece is Tambor, in fresh water; El Crucero, by the promenade, is 526 m² of salt water; Relax is kept for adults; and children have Arenal and a shallow pool of their own. Sunbeds, parasols and pool towels come with every room, and hotel guests pay €40 for three hours of seawater pools, sauna and steam at Om Thalasso.
A garden gate opens onto the seafront promenade, and below it lie short, part-pebble coves: Playa de las Mujeres, pebbles, gravel and dark sand, and Playa de Meloneras, 7 minutes north-west of the gate, pebbles, gravel and golden sand, with loungers for hire. The long golden sand of Playa de Maspalomas begins at the lighthouse, 17 minutes along the promenade from the gate: a morning's outing, with the pools for the rest of the day.
The room to book
Junior Suite
about 80 m², plus a 16 m² terrace€348 a night
With 561 rooms the main pools fill early, and the Junior Suite is the cheapest way into Unique by Lopesan, with reserved loungers in a pool area of their own.
Bull Reina Isabel & Spa is the beach hotel with a city behind it. It stands on the Las Canteras promenade, three minutes on foot from the sand: 3.1 km of fine golden sand where La Barra, a reef running along more than half the beach, works as a breakwater and keeps the water inside it calm. There are lifeguards every day of the year, and hotel guests get free loungers and umbrellas on the beach.
The roof holds the heated pool and a sun terrace, with the beach running away below them to La Isleta. The spa, free and unlimited for every guest, puts its hydrotherapy pool behind glass over the bay, so a morning swim in the sea can end with an afternoon in the spa.
The room to book
Double Sea View Room
€180 a night
The plain Double turned from the street to the beach: the same room and balcony, with Las Canteras and the bay in front of it.
Hotel Faro, a Lopesan Collection Hotel, stands where Playa de Maspalomas begins. The golden sand starts at the building's seaward corner, three minutes from the front door, and runs east past the Charca lagoon to the dunes, a ten-minute walk along the beach. Directly below the lighthouse the shore is rock, and after winter seas the sand at this end can narrow, so walk east for the widest stretch.
At ground level the 232 m² freshwater pool is free to guests, sunbeds, umbrellas and towels included. On the roof, two small infinity pools face the Atlantic with the lighthouse alongside; those and the Bali beds cost extra, and day passes let in visitors from 16. The hotel itself is adults only, 18 and over, and the restaurants of the Meloneras promenade start across the plaza.
The room to book
Double Superior View
about 33.5 m²€301 a night
The first category sold on a direct sea view, with a balcony over the Atlantic; the doubles below it face the mountains and the street, or see the sea only from the side.
Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa reaches the beach through its own gardens. It sits on the valley floor behind Puerto de Mogán, and a gate at the bottom of the grounds opens onto the village: from there Playa de Mogán is four minutes on foot, 209 metres of golden sand with calm, clear water, lifeguards and a Red Cross post, and the harbour is nine. Sunbeds and umbrellas on the sand are for hire.
It is a small beach and a busy one, so the pools do the rest. There are two, both heated in winter and both with jacuzzis: the pool by reception is the quiet one, where inflatables and ball games are not allowed, and the family pool has a children's pool beside it. Sunbeds with mattresses, parasols and towels come with the room, so a morning on the sand can turn into an afternoon among the gardens' more than 450 plant species.
The room to book
Junior Suite
about 39 m²€275 a night
In Jazmín, the low houses at the south-west end beside the family pool and the garden gate, so the beach is the shortest walk, with sunbeds on your own balcony or terrace.
Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia is 8 minutes' walk from the golden sand of Playa de Maspalomas, and reception lends beach bags with towels and water. Back in the palm grove, its heated saltwater pool, at about 27°C, has a lounger for every guest.
For a pool with a view rather than sand, Salobre Hotel Resort & Serenity has an adults-only infinity pool, for 16 and over, at the resort's highest point, looking down the ravines to the sea and the dunes. A daily shuttle runs to Maspalomas beach.
From about €210 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about Gran Canaria
Do any hotels in Gran Canaria have a private beach?
The long beaches are sand. Playa de Maspalomas is 2.7 km of golden sand in front of the dunes, Las Canteras in Las Palmas 3.1 km of fine golden sand, and Playa de Mogán 209 metres of golden sand. West of the Maspalomas lighthouse the beaches are mixed: Playa de Meloneras is 283 metres of boulders, gravel and golden sand, and Playa de las Mujeres, below Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso, is pebbles, gravel and dark sand. Pozo Izquierdo, a bay of pebbles and black sand, belongs to the windsurfers: go to watch, not to sunbathe.
Is Las Canteras good for swimming?
Yes. La Barra, a natural limestone reef along more than half of Las Canteras, acts as a breakwater, so the water inside it is calm, and lifeguards are on duty every day of the year, from 10am in summer and 11am otherwise. The city's tourism site sends families to Playa Chica and surfers to La Cícer, at the southern end. Bull Reina Isabel & Spa is three minutes from the sand, with free loungers for its guests and a heated pool on the roof. In summer, expect some days of low trade-wind cloud, the panza de burro.
Is the north or the south of Gran Canaria better for a beach holiday?
Is Gran Canaria warm enough for the beach in winter?
Mild rather than hot. AEMET's normals for Gran Canaria Airport give January an average high of 20.8°C (69°F), against 27.5°C (82°F) in August, and the sea at the Puertos del Estado buoy off the north-west coast read between 19.6°C (67°F) and 24.5°C (76°F) in the year to November 2025. Heated pools help: Seaside Palm Beach heats its main pool in the cooler months, Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa both its pools in winter and Bull Reina Isabel & Spa its rooftop pool, and four of the six at Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso can be heated.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The design one
