Incredible Canary Island with huge desert sand dunes next to the seaside

Millions of tourists flock to this fashionable Canary Island each year, but galore miss retired connected its existent beauty

The third-largest Canary Island is often overlooked by the insatiably fashionable Tenerife, contempt its awesome 400 hectare dune system. Every year, millions of Brits flock to the Spanish-owned archipelago - successful hopeless request of sun, soil and sangria.

Located conscionable disconnected the seashore of north-western Africa, the hotspots are renowned for their consistently sunny and adust clime - with temperatures exceeding 20C adjacent successful the wintertime months. Gran Canaria is nary hidden gem, attracting a staggering 4 cardinal planetary tourists and 550,000 home visitors past year. The island, which is really a World Biosphere Reserve, tin sometimes beryllium viewed arsenic a specified alert and flop destination. However, this couldn't beryllium further from the truth...

Gran Canaria is renowned for stargazing owed to its deficiency of airy pollution, and hosts 1 of Europe's astir favourite Pride events each year. There are luxury golf courses, stunning seafood restaurants, and immoderate gorgeous stretches of formation too. Basically, immoderate benignant of vacation you're aft - Gran Canaria tin offer.

However, the Maspaloma Dune strategy is what truly sets this land apart, and needs to beryllium added to your bucket database consecutive away. "Its 400 hectares, protected by the Canarian authorities arsenic a Nature Reserve of peculiar value, see a fantastic beach, a dynamic soil dune system, thenar grove and a brackish lagoon," states Hello Canaries. "This premix of godforsaken and oasis is astatine the confederate extremity of Gran Canaria and is surrounded by the celebrated Maspalomas resort."

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Adrenaline seekers tin zoom done the Sahara-like dunes connected rented quad bikes, oregon instrumentality a slower thrust connected ft (just marque definite you instrumentality to the designated paths and don't litter). Camel rides thin to beryllium rather fashionable successful the country too, but often pull disapproval from animal-rights activists.

The dunes are besides a large spot for twitchers, arsenic 24 taxon of migratory and nonmigratory birds are known to person been spotted successful the area. "Grey herons and communal egrets are nonmigratory astir of the clip and hunt for food and insects, portion sanderlings hunt the mud bottommost of this quiescent wetland," the island's tourer committee wrote. "Yellow-legged gulls alert overhead and moorhens and coots are common. The country gets occasional visits from ospreys and Barbary falcons."

Videos of the breathtaking views often spell viral connected societal media, attracting compliments from a planetary web of tourists. "I was determination and it's adjacent much beauteous successful existent life," 1 idiosyncratic hailed connected TikTok. Another agreed, commenting: "I privation to spell again, it's surreal." A 3rd added: "Wow, emotion it," portion a 4th penned: "I'd emotion to beryllium determination astatine sunset."

What's your favourite Canary Island? Let america cognize successful the comments conception below