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Gran Canaria’s 10 best places to celebrate New Year’s Eve

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New Years Eve in Gran Canaria

Fiesta de Fin de Año

Matthew Hirtes, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria resident and author of Going Local in Gran Canaria, suggests the best places to see in the new year if you’re visiting the Canary Island for a winter break

New Year’s Eve in England invariably involved a square. Growing up in Nottingham meant a festive trip to the not-at-all-affectionately-named Slab Square. And a chance to take advantage of the city’s legendary three-women-to-every-man ratio.

Older, but not particularly wiser, a move to London meant a new date with destiny on the 31st December. Yes, good old Trafalgar Square, where getting wet was a given. If you weren’t frolicking in the fountains, an inevitable downpour would make sure you’d wish you’d bought a change of clothes. 

Since our relocation to Gran Canaria, my New Year’s Eve experiences have been very different. For a start, Canarians, along with those on the Spanish mainland, are not celebrating the start of the New Year but the end of the old one. That’s why the night is known as La Noche Vieja: the Old Night. And any connected event as Fiesta de Fin de Año, End of the Year Party.

Before midnight it’s very much a family affair and usually, but not exclusively, held at the parental home. An elaborate three-course-dinner, with male family members suited and booted in dinner jackets, formal trousers and shiny shoes and females in the most elegant of gowns and highest of heels, concludes with grapes at midnight. You’re supposed to eat a grape each time the clock chimes.

Only after you’ve then kissed and hugged every dinner guest can you make your excuses and leave. Younger family members head to the clubs to party on until dawn, grateful of the full dinner theyv’e enjoyed, ensuring the perfect stomach lining.

If you want to experience a very different celebrate, check out one (or more) of these top 10 places to party like it’s 1999.


View 10 Places to See the New Year in on Gran Canaria in a larger map

Las Canteras

Head to the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and one of the world’s great urban beaches, Playa de las Canteras. Here crowds congregate to watch a stunning fireworks display, which puts your average Bonfire Night  offering to shame.

La Aquarela

Don your glad rags in the south of the island’s finest gourmet restaurant. Despite being hidden away in Patalavaca’s decidely non-starry Aquamarina complex, this venue is very much for couples who love to sport a black tie and tiara. Guarantee a romantic ending to 2012 by making a dinner reservation here.

La Aquarela; Apartamentos Aquamarina, Barranco dela Verga, Patalavaca. Tel: +34 928 735 891

Holiday World Maspalomas

Enjoy all the fun of the fair at this theme park. Close to the Faro 2 shopping centre, this is the place to go to if you want your kids to have a New Year’s Eve they’ll never forget. And even if you don’t have children, the rides suit the big, eternal kid as much as the small one.

Holiday World Maspalomas; Avda. Touroperador Tui, Maspalomas. Tel: +34 928 730 498

Amadores Beach Club

Chill out at this Mogán venue situated at Playa de Amadores, Lovers’ Beach. Part-owned by star Manchester City and Spain midfielder David Silva, label-sporting partygoers ensure there’s plenty of bling. Make yours a bottle of Cristal.

Amadores Beach Club; Playa de las Amadores, Mogán. Tel: +34 928 560 756

Las Brujas

The bars and clubs of Las Palmas can get rammed at New Year’s Eve. Enjoy a more relaxed affair at the out-of-town Las Brujas. The Witches, a converted 16th-century mansion, is sure to cast a spell on you with its smooth South American beats. The venue even lays on a free minibus from Plaza de Las Ranas, close to the central Triana and Vegueta areas.

Las Brujas; Lugar Barranco Seco 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Tel: +34 639 717474

El Caserón de Cortijo

Gran Canaria’s second city Telde likes to party as hard as capital Las Palmas. Enjoy an old-school dinner and dance with new millennial tunes at the classy Restaurante-Grill El Caserón de Cortijo. A welcome cocktail makes for the perfect starter of parties.

Camino de Golf 1, Telde. Tel: +34 928 059 300

Ingenio

In the south of the island, the temperature doesn’t drop that much at night,making an outdoor event for New Year’s Eve ideal. Away from the resorts, go local at the Plaza de la Candelariain Ingenio which includes DJs, pyrotechnics, and pop-up bars aka chiringuitos.

Pacha

Party with the beautiful people at this classy Playa del Inglés joint. The nightclub, part of an international chain that began in Ibiza, includes an indoor dancefloor, external terrace, and restaurant. And it’s the best place to listen to the latest and greatest international dance music.

Pacha; C/ Sargentos Provisionales, San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Tel: +34 928 771 730

Hotel Rural Mondalon

One of the newer boutique hotels on the island, El Mondalon, offers a Cena Fin de Año, New Year Eve’s dinner. In a menu designed to make your mouth water, a creamed lobster soup, suckling pig, and three-chocolate tart will see you cut down on calories as a New Year’s resolution. The hotel is located between the airport and Las Palmas in picturesque countryside.

Hotel Rural Mondalon; Carretera de Los Hoyos, Marzagan. Tel: +34 928 355 758

Club Inglés

Las Palmas’ exclusive Churchill Restaurant, next door to the British Club which Agatha Christie used to visit on her holidays, turns nightclub for the final evening of the year. Your ticket includes a free bar, go-go girls, and even breakfast. Put on your dancing shoes as there are also live musical performances.

The Churchill Restaurant; C/León y Castillo 274, Las Palmas. Tel: +34 928 291 673


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