Nowadays there are not many virgin beaches at Gran Canaria. Güigüi is one of the exceptions. This is because of the difficult access. That is why it is a huge paradise where you can enjoy its wide and beautiful beaches practically for yourself. Moreover, Güigüi is one of the most important parts of the Biosphere Reserve of Gran Canaria. Do not worry, we are going to show you how to reach Güigüi beach and some tips in this post.
Güigüi place is also named Güi güi or Guguy and it is located in the west side of Gran Canaria. It belongs to La Aldea de San Nicolás municipality. Here we find the less populated and touristic areas from the island. Moreover, Güigüi has been declared ‘Special Nature Reserve and Area of Ecological Sensitivity’ because of its special characteristics.
How to get to Güigüi beach
In this post, we are going to show you step by step how to get to Güigüi from Tasartico village. We are not going to lie you, the way is quite tough if you are not used to make some sport. Don’t worry, if you are well prepared, you will get there and it’s worth going.
To get to Güigüi, introduce in your navigator or google maps the village Tasartico. From Las Palmas de Gran Canaria it is around 1 hour and a half drive. From Maspalomas it is about 1 hour. Once you are in Tasartico, keep driving on the main road until you arrive to a dirt road. Keep going until you see the sign shown bellow and park over there. As you may see, the path is marked and it is so during the way until you get to Güigüi beach.
You can check that there are only 5 kilometers per way, but don’t claim victory as there is a big hill to walk up. The only way to avoid the high hills is taking a boat. If you have enough time and you fill fit, we will always recommend you to go on foot. We don’t think you’ve seen a landscape like this. As we told you before, the signage on the trails is good, you will not get lost.
It took us 1 hour and a half to go and 1 hour and 45 minutos to return. In total 3 hours and 15 minutes. You have to consider that we started at 9 in the morning from Tasartico to avoid the sun. We were also walking fast and even sometimes jogging. We didn’t make long stops either. Likewise, we recommend that before going you check the weather forecast and prepare your basic hiking kit.
Tips to get to Guigui beach
- At Güigüi beaches you won’t find any place to buy food or drinks. You can’t buy anything at all.
- You have to depart before 9:00 am in the morning from Tasartico and during summer time even before. The sun at 11:00 am is so severe and there is no breeze or shade during the trail.
- You should take enough water to the round trip, at least 2 liters per person. You can even leave a small portable fridge with ice and water in your car in order you can drink water when you finish the round trip. It is true that reaching Güigüi grande beach there is drinking water coming from a black hose. However, we never know if it will always work.
- You should take enough food to spend the day there. Also water… (again)
- In winter you will have daylight until 6:00 pm. This means that you have to leave Güigüi beach about 3:00 pm. Unless you are planing to camp there…
- There is not network at the beach, so you might not be able to make phone calls or use internet.
- Nudism is permitted.
- Take with you only the necessary stuff. We recommend you a lightweight backpack.
- Access with pets. Our dogs enjoyed a lot the trail, but even for them it was too hot. Take water for them too!
Boat to Guigui beach
- Access by boat. There is an excursion by boat to Guigui beach which includes a meal and free time to enjoy the beach.
Güigüi Grande and Güigüi Chico
Güigüi beaches are two: Güigüi grande (big) and Güiguï chico (small). Concerning the first one which you will see after the trail is the big one. The small one is only reachable when the tide is low or if the sea is calm you can go swimming. The sea could be brave sometimes here watch out. We had luck since the tide was super low when we arrived and there was nobody at the beach 🙂
We hope that the information is useful for you. If you have any question about how to get to Güigüi or even other questions, you can leave us a comment! We hope you enjoy this Canarian paradise!
Guide to beaches and natural pools
Finally, if you want to be an expert of the island beaches, you can not miss our beaches and natural pools guide with more than 80 options to get tan and enjoy our coast.
Finally, if you want to discover places like this we have prepared some local guides of Gran Canaria. Do not miss them by clicking on the following picture!
Hi Ruth. Thanks for the post! My girlfriend and I are thinking of doing this on New Year’s Day. Do you know the best website where we can check the tides? Thanks in advance!
Hi Luke! You are welcome! You can check the tides here: https://tablademareas.com/es/islas-canarias/las-palmas-de-gran-canaria
It is in Spanish. You have to have a look at the heading “MAREAS” and then “PLEAMARES Y BAJAMARES”. The low tide is bajamar and the high tide pleamar.
I hope that this will help you and enjoy your day at the paradise! Happy New Year!
Hey guys, great article! Regarding camping, I wanted to go back to that subject: do many people do it? do you mean camping as in pitch a tent or just enough to bring a pad and a sleeping bag?
Is pitching a tent legal?
If we stay overnight in late December is there a chance we’ll be alone?
Hi Lukasz! Thank you for your comment. To be honest it is actually prohibited to camp in Güigüi, although we know that people stay there with their tents (it is difficult to control it). In case you want to do it, you will be needing a tent, as it is by the sea and quite fresh and wet then. It is usually windy also, so you might be cold. If you go during the week you have more options to be alone, but I can not confirm you as we are not there everyday to check it.
Please respect the area and take all the rubbish with you if you decide to camp, as it is a virgin spot which we would like to preserve 🙂
Best regards,
Thank you for your article but I think you should really point out the difficulty of the trail. Perhaps you are in top shape but my family and I did this trail recently and it was physically challenging for us. It took us about 3 hours each way. Constant stops. No place to rest. A long, hard uphill climb. The trail is rocky and you have to constantly be looking at where to step. Although for me there will not be a next time, i wish I had known ahead of time about the boat option.
Hi Caroline! I guess that you haven’t read our article before doing this hike. Do you think that it isn’t clear that the hike is tough and that there is a boat to get there? Moreover, at the end of the post we even leave some tips for beginners. Regards!
Hi All, I have also done the trail and cannot wait to come back again but I dont have a car. If anyone wants to go there and has a car give me a shout pls! I live in Las Palmas and my email is Cech1987@gmail.com
Also a small correction of your text; dont say “shadow” :-)) – it is called “shade” in English when you want to hide away from the sun 😉
Hi Martin!!!! We are glad that you have enjoyed the trail! I hope you find someone to get to this little paradise again 🙂
PS: Thank you for the correction, our English is not that perfect 😛 Cheers!
Note, it is on exactly west part of Gran Canaria, not southeast. We can safely say that this is the westernmost place of the island.
You are absolutely right! We will modify this mistake! Thanks!
Hello. Thank you for a nice description of the beach and getting there. You mentioned camping, and I was wondering if you yourselves camped there overnight, or saw anyone else get ready for camping there? Thanks!
Hi Victoria! Thank you for your comment! It is nice to read that it is helpful for you! We have never camped there, but we have a lot of friends that have done it. What do you need to know? Regards! Ruth