Gran Canaria is the island of many faces.
That was a nice touchdown on Gran Canaria, wasn’t it?
The thing here is, that every corner of the island looks different.
Sometimes it feels like the Sahara…
… and at others, like the Bahamas.
There are steep drops into ravines…
… or overgrown jungle paths.
I feel like I'm in the Alps…
… or Venice.
It's like a small world tour, somehow — all in one day, on a single island.
I'm starting out in the desert, at least that's what it looks like here.
In reality I'm strolling across the dunes at the Maspalomas resort.
Here the tradewinds shape and reshape the six kilometres of dunes on the island's southern tip,
again and again.
It's a natural spectacle and the vacationers love it.
Many hotels line the edge of the dunes.
More than four million tourists came here in 2019.
Most were here for sun, shore, sea and mild temperatures year-round.
But I want to see the Gran Canaria that lies beyond the tourist scene,
so I head inland to the Barranco de los Cernícalos, or "The Ravine of the Falcons."
Over here... You can see, you know, it’s a very narrow place.
It’s like a jungle here!
Yeah!
Carlos Romay is showing me what the primeval environment looked like on Gran Canaria.
Back then, most of the island was covered with jungle.
The further we venture into the ravine, the clearer it becomes to me
that the island was created by volcanic eruptions.
The Barranco de los Cernícalos is a popular place to go canyoning.
I'm supposed to try it but I'm an absolute newbie!
Are you serious that I have to go down there?
It's not only more exciting than I thought, it's harder, too.
Thank goodness I'm well secured for the trip down.
Nevertheless my adrenaline level is staying up!
I thought it was all over, when I was lying there.
To be honest, I wasn't the most dangerous descent — and it still was lots of fun.
People have the image of Gran Canaria that we only have sun and beaches and places with a lot of hot.
But also we have like humidity, great ravines with a lot of forests.
I mean a natural place, they call us the miniature continent because of this.
It’s a combination between wild green things and sand sea stuff.
A good place to stop and catch my breath is Puerto de Mogán.
This little port on the island's south side is known for its colorful alleyways.
And, with a bit of imagination, the little salt-water canals could just as easily be somewhere in Venice.
Only 50 kilometers north, everything looks totally different. This side of the island is green and fertile.
Agaete Valley is Europe's biggest coffee-growing area.
I want to head even higher — up to the island's highest point, the Pico de las Nieves.
Manuel Medina takes me to Gran Canaria's mountain reaches.
Indeed, here at nearly two thousand meters altitude, it's noticeably cooler — almost like in the Alps.
And nowhere else is the Alpine glow so close to the desert heat as on Gran Canaria.
That was really an amazing world trip on this island. And there’s much more to discover than just the beach.
But at the beach it’s the most fun, isn’t it?