Tourism and Nature

La Aldea de San Nicolás is a municipality on the island of Gran Canaria, and is an idyllic spot for visitors, offering wild beaches, millennial woodland, steep coastal cliffs, breathtaking mountains, deep ravines, extensive plains, great valleys, lush wetlands, beautiful sea beds and a mild climate.

A paradise on the western side of Gran Canaria where a large variety of unique animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms live together in harmony, and represent an inseparable part of the island’s history.

Discover every nook and cranny of this magical and unique location at: laaldeanatural.es.

Places of natural interest

Cliffs of Andén Verde

These stunning cliffs rose up at the northern edge of the municipality, the result a gigantic gravitational shift that led to the emergence of Arco del Andén Verde, a line of sharp, rocky teeth on the northwest of the island. There is no doubt that visitors are treated to one of the archipelago’s finest panoramic views from any one of its peaks and gorges

Tabaibal de La Punta

One of the most idyllic settings in Gran Canaria is to be found at Punta de La Aldea. It comprises a lush scrubland, dominated by sweet tabaiba bushes, covering the ancient hillsides in a thick carpet all down the western side of the island, and alongside the small cove of El Puertito shallows and ledges enable visitors to take in a truly stunning setting.

Wetlands of La Marciega

This is one of the most interesting humid areas of its kind in the Canary Islands. It takes up most of the mouth of the ravine of La Aldea and provides all the conditions that make it especially attractive for many different resident and migratory aquatic birds, together with a multitude of small woodland birds who use this spot as a breeding, feeding and resting ground, set within extensive tarajal tree woodland.

Cardonal de Los Hoyetes

This exclusive spot is ideal for savouring possibly the most unique ecosystem on the archipelago, with lush scrubland featuring a peculiar blend of water-retaining plants which have adapted in curious ways and have created a truly exotic landscape. The spectacular beauty of the plants, together with the natural panoramic surroundings that can be enjoyed from La Caldera, make this a magical place indeed.

Palmeral de Pino Gordo

All along the ravine of Pino Gordo, which begins at the farmstead of L’inagua and runs all the way down to Barranco Grande, there are lush palm groves that blend in with pine woodland, lending the ravine bed a green appearance and providing one of the most exotic settings here in the west. Together with the floristic qualities of the woods are the large ravine walls that border some of the sections of the ravine, providing the finest refuge for the many rare endemic rock species growing there.

Almacigal de Artejévez

Hoya de Artejévez, in the folds of Los Cedros mountain, is home to the largest area of almácigos or copperwood trees preserved on the archipelago. This bastion of biodiversity is a fine example of thermophile woodland, and provides and insight into the woody landscape that once dominated the greater part of the gorges and hillsides of the valley prior to the process of deforestation it was subjected to by humans.

Pinar de Inagua

This pine wood is a stunning example of Canary pine, and is possibly the finest representation of dry pine that exists on the archipelago. It is a well preserved area of woodland of considerable botanical importance.

Macizo de Guguy

Abrupt, wild and untamed. This range of mountains, ravines and beaches constitute a unique natural area in which its magnificent geology stands out above everything else. It is an extensive amalgam of rocky formations, providing a volcanic spectacle that only this oceanic island has been able to create.

Cañón de Higuera Prieta

Slicing throught the crenellation of Los Molinos, and its mouth facing the ravine of Tasarte, Higuera Prieta is a stunning canyon which came about thanks to the infinite patience of water flow. It is a breathtaking landscape that displays the scars left by time and erosion at the oldest part of the island.

Azulejos de Cueva Nueva

Standing over the eroded hillsides of the Tirma-Azaenegue massif, specifically at Cueva Nueva, Los Hoyetes or El Sabinal, are glinting azulejos stones that mark out the edge of the legendary basin that was formed following the collapse of the Tejeda Volcano. The intense colours of these materials are the result of hydro-magmatic reactions which altered their appearance as they made their way up to the surface.

Andenes de Tasarte

To the far west of Inagua massif, following millions of years of dismantling, just like a stairway running downwards, the powerful rolls of lava flow thrown up by the ancient Tejeda Volcano appear completely bare in front of our eyes, offering a memorable panoramic view. These ledges are among the most beautiful natural settings to be found anywhere in the Canary Islands.

Contact

If you would like to contact us, please use the contact details below.

La Aldea Visitor Centre and Tourism Office

Calle Paseo El Muelle, 140. 35470 La Aldea de San Nicolás
682.22.58.98
turismo@aytolaaldea.com