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Travelling to Gran Canaria on a budget? We’ll point you in the direction of the best hostels on the island. From capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to the tourist resorts in the south and beyond, we’ve got the world of Gran Canaria hostels covered.
Gran Canaria started off as a tourist destination in the 1960s. New hotels were built on the south of the island to cater for the bucket-and-spade brigade. But with political unrest making certain areas unsafe to visit, Gran Canaria’s attracting a more independent type of traveller.
- Gran Canaria hostels: north
- Gran Canaria hostels: south
- Gran Canaria hostels: east
- Gran Canaria hostels: west
- Gran Canaria hostels: centre
1. Gran Canaria hostels: north
Beginning with the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the first hostel you’ll reach travelling north from Gran Canaria airport is Ecohostel Canarias Bettmar by negotiating the cobbled streets of Vegueta. Prices start at 11€ per person a night if staying in a 8-bed dorm and increase to 15€ if sleeping in a 4-bed dorm (dorms are both mixed and single sex). The friendly staff throw a free breakfast and WiFi connection into the bargain.
On the other side of town, you’ll find Big Fish Las Palmas Hostel. Its rooftop terrace overlooks Las Canteras beach and is a lovely spot to enjoy a convivial dinner with new-found friends. Hungarian owner Marton Palinkas who opened the first Big Fish in Budapest describes the average guests as “open-minded solo travellers, small groups of friends, and families with a very social attitude.”
Nearby, La Ventana Azul Surfhostel is directly located on the promenade. It’s run by avuncular Austrian Thomas Borstner and you can book surfing lessons with La Cicer’s Oceanside here as La Ventana Azul’s reception doubles as this surf’s school reservation centre. Meanwhile, in Alcaravaneras you can ensure yourself a bargain break in the GC capital by booking a stay at Hostal Alcaravaneras.
Over in Guía, San Felipe to be precise, there’s another hostel with a surfing theme in Atlantis Surfhostel. Starting life as Surfguia2 in 2005, it’s five minutes on foot to the Vagabundos beach which is ideal for surfers of all levels. Run by husband and wife Jose and Niki, this is a WiFi-free zone which encourages visitors to surf the ocean rather than the Internet with five hours timetabled into each day of your stay.
Further inland, you’ll encounter the Albergue de Guía and their ethos of offering “good, nice and cheap accommodation”. The very antithesis of the all-inclusive hotels in the south of the island, they argue that if you want to uncover the real Canary Islands; you have to get out of the resorts. Located in the Barranco de Gáldar, this is the perfect base for hikers.
Also in Guía, you’ll come across Beata Baltavari’s Camino Art Hostel in hilly Hoya de Pineda. Foodies will adore her eclectic dinner menu which includes rabbit stew and potatoes and beef in red wine (both 10€), although you pay only 20€ for three courses. As well as art workshops, there are training camps for yoga teachers.
Albergue de Guía
Open hostel at Albergue de Guía
Big Fish Hostel Las Palmas
Three’s company at Big Fish
Camino Art Hostel
The rolling hills of Camino Art Hostel
Volver Beach Hostel
You’ll want to return to Volver Beach Hostel
2. Gran Canaria hostels: south
If you’re a backpacker after a tan, few hostels on the island boast a more ideal location than Michaela Schmidt’s Volver Beach Hotel. Slap on the factor 50 and take advantage of Gran Canaria’s best microclimate in Puerto de Mogán. Stock up for a day on the beach by helping yourself to the hostel’s free airbeds, parasols, and snorkelling equipment.
3. Gran Canaria hostels: east
Pozo Izquierdo is the home of windsurfing on the island. The CIW Hostel offers the chance to brush up on your windsurf skills in combination with providing a roof over your head. The nearest major bus stop is at Vecindario’s Centro Comercial Atlántico.
4. Gran Canaria hostels: west
Blablabla Tasarte Guest House of Sumus – NGO is as difficult to get to as say. Championing eco travel, it’s tourism on go slow. As well as a dorm, there are single and double rooms that are situated 10 minutes above a stony beach which feels a world away from Gran Canaria’s resorts.
5. Gran Canaria hostels: central
Live like a canarii in El Warung Cave Hostel in Artenara. The temperature in the rooms sited within the belly of a mountain maintain a steady temperature all year round, between 18 and 20 degrees centigrade. El Warung boasts one of the island’s most impressive vistas, of Tejeda’s crater.