Playa de La Aldea
Description
La Aldea de San Nicolás is the most remote community on Gran Canaria, isolated by the mountain ranges that give it a character entirely its own. The beach is dark sand, wild and undeveloped — nothing like the tourist beaches of the south. There are no hotels, no umbrellas for hire. The Cactualdea cactus garden lies nearby and is well worth a visit. The Fiesta del Charco on September 11th sees the villagers wade into the local lagoon to catch fish with their bare hands — a remarkably local tradition.
The town is authentic and uncommercialized: eat simply, watch the ocean from a shore where the horizon is open, and take in the scale of the cliffs that ring the valley. The local restaurants serve typical island food, honest and genuine.
La Aldea is the reward waiting at the end of one of the island's most extraordinary roads, the GC-200, whether you arrive along the spectacular coastal cliffs from Agaete or descend from the mountainous interior. The sunset "on the road" heading back toward Las Palmas is one of the most thrilling things for anyone who loves to ride — and not only them.
