For a family week, Gran Canaria means the dry, sunny south, and our three are all there: a garden village behind Puerto de Mogán, and two resorts by the Maspalomas lighthouse, one among the palms by the dunes and one on the Meloneras seafront. Check two things before the pools. First, ages: the clubs at Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa and Seaside Palm Beach take children of 4 to 12, so under-fours stay with you at the first and join with a parent at the second, while Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso publishes no age range for its Mini Club. Second, beds: none of the three sells a standard double for a family of four, so look at a Family Room, a suite or two rooms.
Rates rise with the northern winter: the February half-term and Easter are among the peaks, while May, June and the autumn before the October half-term cost less.
Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa is built around families. Its Family Room joins two rooms with a hallway, about 63 m² in all, with a bathroom on each side, and sleeps a family of four, or up to two adults and three children. La Alpispa, the mini club, looks after children from 4 to 12, while the animation team fills the days and evenings with bowling, trampolines and a mini disco. Both pools are heated in winter. The family pool is the lively one, with a children's pool, also heated in winter, and a playground beside it; the pool by reception stays quiet.
A gate at the foot of the gardens opens onto Puerto de Mogán, and Playa de Mogán, a small beach of golden sand with calm water and lifeguards, is four minutes beyond it. For a night off, Los Guayres, in the grounds, holds a MICHELIN star and serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday.
The room to book
Family Room
about 63 m²€275 a night
Two rooms joined by a hallway, each with its own bathroom and balcony or terrace; short of the duplex Senior Suite, it is the only room here for a family of four.
Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso gives a family a whole village to roam: ten buildings joined by stone lanes, courtyards and gardens, and six outdoor pools. Arenal, a 1,258 m² freshwater pool for children and families, has a ramp, and there is a shallow children's pool as well; both can be heated. Parents can slip off to Relax, the adults-only pool. A Mini Club and an entertainment team run a daily programme with shows, and sunbeds, parasols and pool towels come with every room.
Spend on space. The Junior Suite is the first room here sold for two adults and two children: 80 m² with a separate bedroom, a sofa bed and a terrace furnished for four. On a 561-room resort the main-pool loungers are claimed early, and the Junior Suite comes with reserved ones in a pool area of their own.
The room to book
Junior Suite
about 80 m², plus a 16 m² terrace€348 a night
The first room sold for two adults and two children: 80 m², a separate bedroom, a sofa bed, a table for four and reserved loungers by the pools.
Seaside Palm Beach suits a family that wants a design hotel with a kids' club. Pepe's Club is for children of 4 to 12, and younger ones can join with a parent. The palm garden has two heated pools just for children: one 0.9 to 1.1 m deep with a slide and a water polo net, and a 0.5 m baby pool. The golden sand of Playa de Maspalomas, with the dunes behind it, is four minutes on foot, so beach mornings need no car.
Parents get the spa garden, where a 30°C saltwater pool and a brine pool are for adults only and included in the rate. Plan the rooms first: a double takes two adults and a child and a suite three people, so a family of four books two rooms.
The room to book
Junior Suite
about 34 m², 48 m² with the balcony€448 a night
A bedroom with an integrated lounge, about 34 m² with a 14 m² balcony, that sleeps three: the first room here with real space, and the one for a family of three.
Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia suits a family that wants a smaller, calmer base: 94 rooms and suites in villas in the Maspalomas palm grove, with a baby pool, cots and connecting rooms. It has no kids' club of its own, but its guests may use the one at Seaside Palm Beach next door.
Salobre Hotel Resort & Serenity suits a family with a car: its 84 m² Junior Suite, with a small kitchen, takes two adults and two children of 12 or under, and there is a children's pool and a playground with an indoor play area, though no kids' club.
From about €210 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about Gran Canaria
Which Gran Canaria hotels have a kids' club?
Three of our ten. At Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa, La Alpispa takes children from 4 to 12, and the animation team's programme runs into the evening. Seaside Palm Beach's Pepe's Club also takes 4 to 12-year-olds, and younger children with a parent. Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso has a Mini Club, with shows every day, but publishes no age range, so ask when you book. Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia has no club of its own, but its guests may use Pepe's Club next door. With under-fours, plan the days around the children's pools.
Where should families stay in Gran Canaria?
Puerto de Mogán, for children of 4 to 12: a small harbour village with a calm beach, where Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa has Family Rooms, a mini club and two pools heated in winter. Maspalomas is the alternative, for the long golden beach and the dunes, with Seaside Palm Beach four minutes from the sand, and Meloneras, next to it, has the six pools of Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso. Off-peak, the airport is 43 minutes by car from Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa and 31 from the other two.
Which Gran Canaria hotel rooms sleep a family of four?
At Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa, the Family Room: two rooms joined by a hallway, about 63 m² with two bathrooms, for a family of four or up to two adults and three children; short of the duplex Senior Suite, nothing else there takes four. At Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso, the Junior Suite is the first room sold for two adults and two children, 80 m² with a sofa bed. At Seaside Palm Beach no single room takes four: a double sleeps two adults and a child and the suites three people, so book two rooms.
Is Playa de Mogán good for children?
Yes, for calm water. Playa de Mogán is a small town beach, 209 metres of golden sand with calm, clear water, lifeguards and a Red Cross post, and it fills up, so go early. Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa's garden gate is four minutes from it, and the hotel's family pool, children's pool and playground are there for the afternoon. In Maspalomas, Seaside Palm Beach is four minutes from the long golden sand of Playa de Maspalomas; the coves below Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso are part pebble, with that sand 17 minutes' walk from the garden gate.
When is the cheapest time for a family holiday in Gran Canaria?
May and June, and September and October before the English half-term, which in Surrey runs from 25 to 29 October 2027. The peaks are Christmas and New Year, the February half-term (15 to 19 February 2027 in Surrey), the carnivals and Easter, on 28 March 2027. In the low season our three start from about €190 a night for two with breakfast at Hotel Cordial Mogán Playa, about €245 with breakfast at Seaside Palm Beach and about €200 at Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso, where breakfast is usually included; family rooms and suites cost more.
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 family one
