Gran Canaria cruise port, Spain
Columbus put in at Las Palmas in 1492 to mend a rudder on his way west, and the house he is said to have stayed in is now a museum about him. The island is called a miniature continent because you can drive from banana plantations to pine forest in an hour.
Worth knowing. The city has a proper swimming beach in the middle of it, Las Canteras, and it is calm because a natural reef lies across the bay like a breakwater nobody had to build.
What to do in Gran Canaria for free
Las Canteras is a quarter of an hour on foot, and it is where the city swims rather than somewhere laid on for visitors. La Isleta, the old fishermen's quarter, is nearer still, straight north of the port and steeply uphill.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way.
Vegueta, the old town. The first Spanish town in the Canaries. The cathedral took four hundred years to finish, so it changes style as you walk round it. It is at the far end of the city from the port, so it is a bus or a taxi.
The Maspalomas dunes. Forty-five minutes down the island to a real dune field running into the sea. It looks nothing like the rest of the island and nothing like the rest of Spain.
Which ship calls at Gran Canaria, and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iona | 3 October 2026, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 7 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 21 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 5 December 2026, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 19 December 2026, 16 nights | Day 9 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 4 January 2027, 35 nights | Day 30 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 27 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 13 March 2027, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 2 October 2027, 14 nights | Day 7 | 07:00 to 16:30 |
| Iona | 30 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 07:00 to 16:30 |
How long you get ashore in Gran Canaria
The published times give you between about 9.5 and 11 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at Gran Canaria.
- AntiguaNelson's Dockyard at English Harbour is a working Georgian naval yard that never fell down: Horatio Nelson was based here from 1784, hated it, and called it a vile hole.
- Arrecife de LanzaroteBetween 1730 and 1736 the ground opened and buried a quarter of the island under lava; the Timanfaya field is still hot enough a metre down to cook on.
- BasseterreSt Kitts was England's first colony in the Caribbean, in 1624, and the French took the other end of the island the same decade.
- BridgetownEnglish from 1627 and never changed hands, which is why the island kept its parliament, its cricket and its place names.
- Cadiz (tours to Seville)Probably the oldest continuously lived-in city in western Europe: the Phoenicians founded Gadir here around 1100 BC.
- CastriesBritain and France exchanged this island fourteen times, which is why the towns are French and the law is English.
- FuerteventuraThe oldest of the Canaries and the flattest, a hundred kilometres off Africa and made mostly of wind, sand and goats.
- GrenadaSt George's sits inside a drowned volcanic crater, which is what makes the harbour that shape.
- La CorunaThe Spanish Armada sailed from this harbour in 1588, and it is still guarded by the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse from about the year 100 which has never stopped working: the oldest one on earth still doing its job.
- LisbonOn All Saints' Day 1755 an earthquake, then a tsunami up the Tagus, then three days of fire destroyed most of the city and shook Europe's confidence in a benign universe.
- MadeiraPortuguese sailors found it uninhabited in 1419 and set the forest alight to clear it; the fire is said to have burned for years, and the island is named for the wood.
- St MaartenThe island has been split between the Dutch and the French since the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which makes it the smallest piece of land in the world shared by two nations, and there is no border to speak of.
- TenerifeMount Teide stands 3,715 metres over the island, the highest point in Spain and, measured from its base on the sea floor, the third largest volcano on earth.
- VigoEurope's biggest fishing port by weight landed, and it smells honestly of it near the market.
Money and language in Spain
Euro (EUR, €). Cards are normal, though a small market stall or a taxi may want coins. The Canary Islands are Spain and use the euro too. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
English is common in the ports and thinner a street back.
| English | Spanish | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Hola | OH-la |
| Goodbye | Adiós | ah-DYOSS |
| How much? | ¿Cuánto cuesta? | KWAN-toh KWESS-ta |
| Thank you | Gracias | GRA-syass, and GRA-thyass on the mainland if you want to blend in |
| Please | Por favor | por fa-VOR |
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.