Best Theme Parks in Gran Canaria

Among the best things to see and do in Gran Canaria are the adventure excursions to the highest points of the island, visiting the paradisiacal beaches in the north and the surfing experiences in Las Canteras, but also visiting some of the theme parks in the Canary Islands.

You can opt for the water parks of Lago del Taurito or Aqualand Maspalomas, or the roller coasters of Holiday World. Also for the tropical animals of Cocodrilo Park or the characters of Angry Birds, especially if you plan to visit Gran Canaria with children. There are theme parks for all ages, so you are sure to find one you like.

If you want to visit a conventional amusement park then you have to visit Holiday World Maspalomas, one of the largest in the Canary Islands, with a wide range of games for children and adults. There you can ride roller coasters, enjoy the panoramic Ferris wheel, get dizzy in the Pirates of the Bay game and have fun in the bumper cars for the whole family.

If you are not afraid of anything, you can also try the free fall rides and the Loop Loop Spin. Holiday World also includes swimming pools, an escape room, karaoke and even a casino for adults. Inside the park there are restaurants and bars and an open terrace with a botanical garden.

Holiday World is one of the best things to do in Gran Canaria. It is located in what is considered the epicenter of fun on the island, where you can also make the most of your visit by visiting the Maspalomas Lighthouse and the Maspalomas Dunes, where you can take a guided tour or a ride on a camel.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets are priced at approximately 16 euros for children from 13 years old and 12 euros for adults, although some options offer discounts if purchased in advance online.
• Hours... Wednesday to Sunday from 16.00 to 23.30 hours. Monday and Tuesday closed.
• Location... Av. Touroperador Tui 18, Maspalomas.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas on route GC-1 or by bus lines 10, 11, 17, 82 and 91 combining with lines 30 or 50 to Holiday World station.

This theme park was built in 1972 as a film set for Wild West movies and since then it has become one of the main attractions of the city, with its typical buildings, its animals, the church, the sheriff's office, the blacksmith shop and the saloons where the wild cowboys challenge each other to death.

Sioux City Park is not a museum, but a real town where you can try a drink in the saloons or visit the Sheriff. You can also witness the bank robbery or train robbery shows, although you must be very careful because you could get caught in the middle of a gunfight between the bandits.

This theme park also houses a zoo with horned cows, giant Jersey chickens, emus, meerkats and crocodiles. Although it may seem hard to explain, it is one of the most faithful reproductions of the American Wild West, and it is located on a volcanic island in the Canary Islands.

Keep in mind that Sioux City Park is frequently used as a film set for movies and advertising events, so I recommend that before booking the excursion you check that it is open during your trip, especially if you plan to visit Gran Canaria in December, which is when most filming usually takes place in the theme park.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets cost approximately 23 euros for adults and 18 euros for children up to 13 years old.
• Hours... Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. Mondays closed.
• Location... Barranco del Águila s/n, Maspalomas.
• How to get there... You can get there by car from Las Palmas by the GC-1 road. There is no direct public transport to the theme park area.

If you are an animal lover, you can not miss Cocodrilo Park, a zoo in Gran Canaria where you will find more than 500 animals, most of them tropical, as well as the largest exhibition of alligators in Europe.

During the tour you will be able to interact with the animals and feed them and also take guided tours with the instructors.

In Crocodile Park you will see turtles, lizards, raccoons, birds, tigers, deer, goats, llamas, monkeys and chimpanzees. You will also be able to visit the gastronomic area of the zoo and have fun in the leisure areas. It can be an ideal experience if you plan to visit Gran Canaria with children, as children's activities are also offered.

Cocodrilo Park is located on the outskirts of Agüimes, one of the most picturesque towns on the island and has a beautiful old town located at the foot of the ravine, so if you want to make the most of your visit you can also tour the city, which is usually included in the full day tours in Gran Canaria

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets are approximately 23 euros for adults and 18 euros for children up to 13 years old.
• Hours... Friday to Sunday from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm. Closed from Monday to Thursday.
• Location... Ctra. General Los Corralillos, Km 5.5, Agüimes.
• How to get there... You can get there by car from Las Palmas by the GC-1 road. There is no direct public transport to the theme park area.

Palmitos Park is one of the most visited attractions in Gran Canaria and its fame is due to the natural valley that is the nucleus of the botanical garden and the zoological park in the south of the island. It is a subtropical oasis that brings together species of fauna from all over the world and also a large number of native plants and plants from other places.

Palmitos Park has an aquarium, an aviary and a reptile sector where alligators and lizards coexist, but one of its main attractions are the dolphins, with which you can swim and interact in one of the main pools of the park.

This park is located in the area of Maspalomas, in the south of the island and is one of the favorite places for children visiting Gran Canaria.

If you are interested in excursions with cetaceans, you can also take a whale and dolphin watching excursion in Gran Canaria from Puerto de Mogán, by catamaran or glass bottom boat.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets are approximately 33 euros for adults and 24 euros for children up to 10 years old.
• Hours.... Every day from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
• Location... Barranco de Los Palmitos s/n, Maspalomas.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas by route GC-1 or by bus lines 1, 11, 17, 17, 82 and 91 combining with lines 30 or 50 to Palmitos Park station.

Lago del Taurito, in the area of Playa de Mogán, is a small water park with slides and pools for all ages. It also has an 18-hole mini golf course, bowling alley, cafeteria and a restaurant area.

Lago del Taurito is also the only water park in Gran Canaria with salt water pools.

This water park also offers an area for sunbeds and umbrellas and is an ideal place to visit if you plan to tour Gran Canaria with children, since its proposals include reduced rates for family groups and for children under 12 years old.

Note that Lago del Taurito is located in the area of Playa de Mogán, in the southwestern part of the island, so you can combine this visit with a boat trip in Gran Canaria.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets cost approximately 17 euros for adults and 5 euros for children up to 12 years old. There are discounts for family groups.
• Hours... Every day from 10.00 to 18.00 hours.
• Location... Calle Alhambra s/n, Mogán.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas on route GC-1 or by bus lines 223, 224 and 317 combining with lines 1, 30 or 91 to Taurito station.

Gran Canaria's theme parks are not only for children, so if you are planning to visit the island in a group or with friends you will surely be interested in visiting Hangar 37. It is a battlefield in Bahía Feliz where you can compete against another team with airsoft guns, a system similar to paintball, but without paint.

Hangar 37 has a scenario recreated in detail in which up to 100 players in total, distributed in two teams, can compete against each other. This theme park also offers a shooting gallery and battles with laser guns, but its main attractions are undoubtedly the missions that each team has to complete.

The interesting thing about Hangar 37 is that by paying the entrance fee you can play as many games as you want during the day of your visit, since the missions are reset every 10 minutes and you can join a team at any time.

In addition, the airsoft balls do not leave bruises on your body like paintball paintballs do, so with the protection provided by the park staff you will not suffer any pain.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets are priced at approximately 25 euros during the week and 30 euros on weekends.
• Hours... Tuesday to Friday from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00 to 20.00 hours. Mondays closed.
• Location... Ctra. Gral. del sur GC-50, Km 45, San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas on route GC-1 or by bus lines 9, 12, 25 and 54 combined with lines 1 and 30 to the Karting Tarajalillo station.

The Angry Birds Theme Park is the ideal plan for a family outing, since the activities it offers are for all ages and include skating, climbing, zip line tours, jumps, race tracks and musical and entertainment shows in the general areas.

In addition, this theme park is located in the Puerto Rico area, near Mogán Beach, making it the ideal place to combine this visit with other attractions such as diving experiences, snorkeling and boat rides or dolphin watching excursions.

The park has daily admission, annual and family passes and offers discounts for advance online reservations, so if you plan to visit this attraction, I recommend that you book in advance to access the discounts.

Note also that the park offers differential rates during low season months, so you could save money if you plan to visit Gran Canaria in October, for example.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets cost approximately 12 euros for adults and 16 euros for children up to 16 years old.
• Hours... Thursday to Monday from 10.00 to 18.00 hours. Tuesday and Wednesday closed.
• Location... Avenida la Cornisa 2, Puerto Rico.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas on route GC-1 or by bus lines 1, 10, 17, 80 and 91 to Puerto Rico station.

Aqualand Maspalomas is not only the largest water park in the Canary Islands, but also one of the most spectacular, with mazes to unleash all your adrenaline, slides for adults and children, heated pools and relaxation attractions such as the Pirate River and whirlpools.

If you want to have fun in a group, you can also opt for the Kamikaze, Boomerang and Anaconda slides and speed boats. For children, Aqualand Maspalomas has Polynesia and Adventure Land, a set of water mazes and slides of varying difficulty and speed.

Aqualand Maspalomas, located at the southern tip of the island, is an ideal visit to combine with the tour of the Maspalomas Lighthouse, a symbol of the Canary Islands, and the dunes, which you can visit on a guided tour to watch the sunset from the desert.

Details of interest

• Price... Tickets cost approximately 33 euros for adults and 24 euros for children up to 10 years old.
• Hours.... Every day from 10.00 to 17.00 hours.
• Location... Carr. Palmitos Park, Km 3, Maspalomas.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas by route GC-1 or by bus lines 10, 11, 17, 17, 82 and 91 combining with lines 1 and 30 to Barranco Maspalomas station.

Cactualdea Park is a theme park consisting mainly of the largest cactus forest in Europe. It stands out as a reserve of succulent plants from different parts of the world, from Mexico to Madagascar, Bolivia, Guatemala and other countries of America.

In this park you can tour the site at your own pace and take some of the best photographs of Gran Canaria, as well as attend audiovisual shows and workshops on conservation of flora as a spectator. At Cactualdea Park you can also have breakfast or lunch at the naturist cafeteria and visit the souvenir and gift store.

Cactualdea Park is located in the eastern sector of the island, a territory little visited by tourists, but which has one of the most beautiful beaches of Gran Canaria, Güigüi, which stands out for its black volcanic sand and for being a nudist beach.

Interesting details

• Price... Tickets are priced at approximately 4 euros for adults and 2 euros for children up to 7 years old.
• Opening hours... Every day from 10.00 to 17.00 hours.
• Location... Camino Tocodoman s/n, El Hoyo.
• How to get there... By car from Las Palmas by the GC-1 road combining with the GC-200 or by bus lines L1 and 1 combining with lines 91 and 38 to the Tocodoman station.