Are you looking for a new hiking route? Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria is one of the most beautiful and surprising natural routes on the Canary Island.
Walking through these colourful mountains, you will not only enjoy a medium-low difficulty route in Los Azulejos de Veneguera, but the landscape of this area of Gran Canaria will leave you speechless with its wonderful views.
Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria
The trail through Los Azulejos de Veneguera is not one of the best-known in Gran Canaria, and it does not have the popularity of the Caldera de Bandama or the charming Reservoir Route. However, Fuente de los Azulejos is a true spectacle of nature full of vivid colours that is well worth discovering if you are looking for an alternative plan to enjoy in Gran Canaria.
Located between the municipalities of Mogán and La Aldea de San Nicolás, Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria gets its name from local inhabitants because of the impressive resemblance of its colourful slopes to tiled walls full of azulejos.
A few years ago, Fuente de los Azulejos was declared a Site of Geological Interest by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain. This is mainly due to the immense amount of ignimbrites found inside it, an igneous rock of volcanic origin.
Formation of Fuente de los Azulejos
The panorama of vivid colours at Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria looks as if an artist had given the mountains their finest brushstrokes to fill them with colour, but this natural landscape is not the result of any “virtuoso artist”.
A series of erosions in these mountains has revealed several geological layers in striking colours, whose chemical composition was altered by hydrothermal fluids and the constant eruptions of the Tejeda Volcano. In this way, minerals tinted in bluish, green, ochre and reddish tones were exposed. These are known as ignimbrites, better known as burning stones.
The unique features of Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria are, in more technical terms, pyroclastic deposits, which underwent a process of cooling and subsequent solidification, forming this remarkable variety of tones in the mountain layers.
How to Get to Fuente de los Azulejos
If you are thinking of doing the route through Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria, you need to take the GC-200 road, which links the municipalities of Mogán and La Aldea de San Nicolás. From this road, you can observe the immensity of the colourful slopes from the car. You can take the route by car from the well-known Puerto de Mogán Beach, which will take you around 30 minutes to reach Los Azulejos de Veneguera.
However, you can also take the route from the tourist town of Maspalomas and spend some time beforehand visiting its paradise-like dunes. This car journey from Maspalomas to Fuente de los Azulejos is a little longer and will take approximately 40 minutes.
For those who are not planning to rent a car, there is the option of arriving by public transport. Both bus lines 38 and 86, or guagua, as locals call the bus, departing from Puerto de Mogán, will take you to the colourful mountains of Gran Canaria.
Hiking Through the Colourful Mountains of Gran Canaria
Before setting off on the route through Los Azulejos de Veneguera, you should know that this natural environment can also be explored from other alternative routes such as Artenara, Tejeda and Pinar de Tamadaba. However, in this article we want to recommend the route that begins at the GC-200 junction and reaches Degollada de la Aldea.
This natural point is considered by many to be the ideal starting place for the route through Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria. The climb along this first section is of moderate difficulty, with several fairly demanding stretches that you should walk safely with the help of good footwear.
Once you pass the Degollada de la Aldea section, you will have a direct view towards La Aldea de San Nicolás. As soon as you reach the highest point, you will find the Cruz del Viso. An interesting fact is that, if you take a small detour, you can see some of the island’s most emblematic natural monuments, such as Roque Nublo and Teide.
If you decide not to take that small detour, you should continue your path along Cruz de Viso and enter the pine forest until you reach the Inagua Nature Reserve. During this route, you will have direct access to views of the mysterious Güi-güi Beach and Tasarte Ravine.
Then a somewhat winding descent begins until you reach Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria. At the end of the route, you will see a ravine and the striking colours of the mountains.
The entire route from Degollada de la Aldea to Los Azulejos de Veneguera is 16 km long and will take around 6 hours. Therefore, we suggest bringing supplies and staying well hydrated. Do not let your guard down!
Would you dare to follow this route through Fuente de los Azulejos in Gran Canaria and its surroundings? If the answer is yes, then you will need a place to stay during your time on the Canary Island. At the Lopesan Group, we have some of the best hotels in Gran Canaria, where we will be delighted to make you feel right at home.
