Rent a Car in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria is called the continent in miniature — and the name earns its keep. Drive 30 minutes inland from the southern resorts and the desert dunes of Maspalomas give way to pine forests and cloud-capped peaks. Another 20 minutes and you're in the whitewashed mountain village of Tejeda, looking out over a landscape that has nothing in common with the beach you left behind. The north coast is lush and Atlantic-facing; the west has dramatic sea cliffs; the east has the capital, Las Palmas, with a genuine old town and a long city beach.

The island's bus network, Global, is reasonable between the main towns but leaves the interior largely uncovered. With a hire car you can reach the Roque Nublo at sunrise, spend the morning in the pine forest above Maspalomas and be in Puerto de Mogán for lunch — all impossible by public transport. Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) sits just outside Las Palmas, 45 minutes from the south coast resorts by motorway.