Puerto Mogan Gran Canaria

Puerto Mogan Gran Canaria is for sure the absolutely most cutest, most peaceful and most flower decorated place (and they do have flowers all over the island) I have been at when visiting Gran Canaria. It is located in the north-west area of the island, and is the end line of the pompous hotel complexes and beaches of the north, a point of beautiful simplicity and tradition, a place where is very appropriate to listen a bit of “Café del Mar” after a long party and/or sit down in a café to talk about all the adventures you had on your vacation.

Puerto Mogan General Information

On the other hand, it is also a touristic place, so you can rent hotel rooms and go to the local beach from there. If you are into “I really need a calm vacation to take off the load off and out of my head” – this is the place for you!

OK, not that it’s no one there. I can’t really explain it. It’s weird. Strange. Like someone turned off the stress generator – totally. Calm. Lovely. And brings out a smile too. Did I mention that there is a lot of flowers all over the place?

If you choose to stay here, it is recommended that you rent a car, and take the GC500 highway to visit other parts of the island too. Bus lines and cabs are also readily available, so depends what you wish for more.

I hope that the following text and images can at least bring some of the local atmosphere to you.

Puerto Mogan General Information

Beautyfuly decorated streets of Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria

Walking around will make you totally forget that you are in a purpose built resort. The Mediterranean style buildings are not more than 2-3 stories high in the old part of the village, beautifully decorated, Italian style bridges over the ocean that partially flows into the city. For the latest, Puerto Mogan might be called (actually it is, as promoted by the local tourist campaign) the Venice of Gran Canaria. The local beach is characterized with the golder sand brought there by the winds of Sahara over the the Atlantic Ocean, the marina is jeweled with gleaming yachts, and the seaside restaurants and bars are blended into this scene in a very subtle way. Very, very nice and romantic.

Actually, the village is composed from two nearby places that “grew together”: Puerto de Mogan and Playa Mogán. Puerto Mogan is the traditional and historical part of the settlement with labyrinth type small seaside streets, and Playa Mogan is the newly built hotel and beach complex area. Both are delightful and the crossing or an adequate border could not be precisely drawn between the two.

Hotels in the Area

Puerto Mogan Gran Canaria might be one of the smaller resorts in Gran Canaria, but has a variety of choices when it comes to hotels, ranging from pension price accommodation to full blown luxury apartments with pools.

View to Puerto Mogan

Puerto Mogan marina has a very good choice of apartments

In the last decade the area behind the beach has been developed, with luxury apartments and hotels looking to the Atlantic Ocean. If you are not insisting to be too close to the beach, a 200 or so meters back from the beach is the Hotel Cordial Playa Mogan and the Cordial Mogan Valle Apartments which are excellent choices.

If you choose the harbor area, you can take a pick between apartment with garden or with a roof terrace type accommodation with views to the marina. The Club de Mar Hotel is close to the beach but has only 3 stars, so if you do not have problems with that, it’s cool. It also has excellent reviews.

Restaurants

Check out the local traditional dishes, fresh from the Atlantic Ocean

Puerto Mogan Gran Canaria has some excellent restaurants serving fish, Spanish and Canarian traditional food. There are as always nice addition to the menu if you are getting a non-local meal: variety of German, Italian and Chinese restaurants.

The marina is a good place for visiting in search of calories and specially nice in the evening so you can watch the sunset while having dinner.

If you are into Italian food is the “Il Bagatto” is a nice place (a bit expensive, though), a very tasty and traditional food is served in the “Restaurante El Capuchino 501, or “Playa de Mogan” for various European cuisines.

Shopping in Puerto Mogan

For the ones that find shopping relaxing, want to buy some souvenirs or otherwise, check out the growing shopping center just 200 meters up from the beach.

The center consists of supermarkets, cloth shops, jewelery, souvenirs, several banks and so on. If you are into getting a tattoo, haircut, check your mail, find some new shady glasses – it’s all provided for you there including a post office to send out love and kisses back to your relatives and friends from your vacation. The shopping center is otherwise marketed as an “architecturally interesting shopping center”.

Every Friday in the old town, a busy market is opening filling both plazas of the marina from the boatyard all the way to the harbor wall providing a wide range of souvenirs and an opportunity for taking a chance in bargaining. You can buy shoes, clothes, designer items, African cravings, drums, jewelry, books, fruits, vegetables, swimming wear – you name it! Also take time to check out the local craftsman’s creations of glass figurines and candles. The market is open to bargaining so take a chance!

On the beach

As stated previously the area behind the beach has been developed in the past decade, with luxury apartment buildings looking out over the beach of golden sand brought by the Saharan winds.

Playa Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria

On the Puerto Mogan promenade, you can find a variety of restaurants offering rich cuisines. Also a great place to watch for incoming boats, the local yellow submarine as they return or go out of the protected harbor.

Of course what would a beach be without all kinds of water sports? You can rent sunbeds, pedal boats, canoes… Take a visit to a local shop and buy a snorkel too to check out the marine life while you are swimming in the rock mole protected area. For better swimmers, you can also go a bit further, but take note that after the mall the sea is a bit rougher than back at the beach.

Fun Activities in Puerto Mogan

Take "Yellow Submarine" tours to see the rich marine life

Besides basking on the sunny beach, if you are interested in a bit of action, there is a variety of activities you can take to make your day better, more interesting and fun.

One of the relatively unique opportunities to explore the marine life without getting wet or if you are not into diving and snorkeling, is to take a “Yellow Submarine” ride featuring BIG round windows. It’s cool to take photos like this if you do not have a water-proof camera while checking out the sea flora and fauna, and a local ship wreck.

Like diving? PADI courses are available in Puerto Mogan!

If fishing is the thing that drives you, take a chance of catching a record sized tuna or marlin, and if you are in the area in July, you can even take part in the blue marlin angling competition.

Water sports in the area are quite diverse, so you can hire jet-skies, take a paragliding tour, and if you are into diving, there is a local center offering PADI courses. Also, the sailing school is offering RYA accredited classes and training.

If you want less action, take a ride in the glass bottom ferry to Puerto Rico and Arguineguín to check out the ocean floor and dolphins.

Take a day or two to enjoy yachting

If you own a yacht, Puerto Mogan has excellent facilities for repairs and servicing, or you can also dock there for some time or longer period to check out the island. Be warned, the island is very diverse and rich so you might stay longer than previously anticipated!

The boatyard has a boat lift and locally based specialists who can carry out majority of the eventual repairs needed, plus a hardware store for boats in nearby.

It is usual to take a stop in the harbor before taking the boat over the Atlantic Ocean or before taking part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) .

I hope you enjoyed this article about Puerto Mogan, as I enjoyed staying there checking out the shops, walking, taking a nice quiet evening with a glass of Spanish wine, and of course, catching the beams of sun!