“Arrive and recharge your batteries – for about 20 years I’ve been travelling to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria again and again. It’s the mix of the city, the Atlantic beach, the paradise landscape and the local people that I once got to know in Germany.“ Sylvie Konzack
My new flatmate had just arrived from Amsterdam in 2003, and before that from Barcelona, when he turned up on my doorstep with his suitcases. In Germany he wanted to add an additional degree to his recently completed MBA – and, above all, explore mainland Europe further. “My home in Gran Canaria is 4,000 kilometres away. When will I have the opportunity to do that if not now?,” he replied winking at me and certainly also his professor. He was right!
We have been visiting each other and our families regularly for 20 years now. He now has a fast-growing company in Las Palmas, which keeps him very busy on site. As a journalist, I can work from anywhere and therefore come to Las Palmas more often than he can to us, even during covid-19. And when I’m there, we each work during the day, while in the evenings and at weekends we go on lots of island tours, have family barbecues and talks.
I always book an apartment with good work and cooking facilities on Playa de Las Canteras, the city beach of Las Palmas. Locals surf here, play paddle tennis and people walk, eat and dance along the 3 kilometre-long promenade. There are also tourists, but not nearly as many as in the south of Gran Canaria, where the hotels and shopping centres are large and noisy. And where the masses of tourists – colourful and regal – seem to have no idea what they are missing from the rest of the island.
“Just as well”, say the locals who, far away from the south, go about their normal island life in the city and in the countryside. Las Palmas and Las Canteras in particular have become much more touristy in recent years. The digital nomads have played their part in this and the number of apartments on offer has recently increased immensely at the expense of housing for residents. But there are also some who settle down here, start families and call out to me during conversations in the playground: “Four weeks of remote work in Gran Canaria? That’s how we started.”
No seeing and being seen
I can understand staying very well. Living and working at Playa de Las Canteras means being able to go for a walk, swim, jog or have a café con leche by the sea in between work. If you walk a little further, you come to the naturally preserved Playa del Confital with wooden walkways, hiking trails and a magnificent view of the sea and Las Palmas. If you head towards the city centre, you can experience the by Columbus influenced old town of Vegueta and the Triana with its historic commercial buildings.
For me, Las Palmas is the perfect mix of city life, business and leisure. Here, normal city life is down-to-earth and dynamic at the same time. Here, the view of the Atlantic and the mountains is energising and the residents become one with their beaches without being addicted to seeing and being seen. On the weekends, there are also many opportunities for excursions past banana plantations, palm valleys and mountain slopes – for example to the imposing Roque Nublo and Pico de la Nieves or to mountain villages such as Tejeda or Teror. Here you mainly meet people from Gran Canaria, who go out to eat with their families, meet friends and are active in clubs. My former flatmate lets me be part of Gran Canaria every time. What a gift! My workation paradise!
Sylvie Konzack …
… is attracted to Las Palmas like a magne. It is quite possible that her workation paradise will one day become a retirement home.
Info Destination
Las Palmas is the capital of Gran Canaria and the largest city on the Canary Islands off the north-west coast of Africa. Whether harbour, university, financial companies or shopping and culture – the city pulsates.
Location and population: directly on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by mountains in the north of the island, approx. 380,000 inhabitants
Currency: Euro
Arrival: Condor, Lufthansa and Eurowings fly directly to Las Palmas from Frankfurt und Munich, among others, also ferries from Cadiz
Bleisure Tips
In Las Palmas lure, the Vegueta with the Columbus House and medieval colonial buildings and the Triana with commercial buildings from around 1900. The Poema del Mar is a great maritime museum at the harbour with huge aquariums. Doramas Park is a botanical paradise on the city hill. There are four beaches in total, the most beautiful being Las Canteras and El Confital on the La Isleta peninsula.
The interior of the island is characterised by a winding mountain landscape around the Roque Nublo and Pico de las Nieves, with charming mountain villages such as Tejeda and Teror in between. Towards the sea there are numerous banana plantations and palm valleys, Agaete or Galdár are authentic seaside towns.
Whether Lanzarote, La Palma or Tenerife – the islands are easily accessible by ferry or the regional airline Binter.
Fotos: © Sylvie Konzack
