Arucas Tourist Information and MapThe Top Attractions & Places to Visit in Arucas & Nearby
1. San Juan Bautista Church
- Top Arucas Attraction
- Massive Impressive Church
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San Juan Bautista Church
2. Arehucas Rum Distillery
- Tour the Distillery
- Tasting of Rum Varieties
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Arehucas Rum Distillery
3. Marquesa Garden (Jardín de la Marquesa)
The Marquesa Garden was created by the first Marquess of Arucas in around 1880. It is an incredible beautiful garden with exotic plants from 5 continents of the world, with around 400 tropical and subtropical species, and a dragon tree that is around 400 to 500 year old.
The garden is an international botanical beauty having an astounding 2500 species on display and created by the
Enjoy a very pleasant walk amongst the striking faurna, flora, statues, ponds and fountain
Location of Marquesa Garden
The Garden is around 50m far from the town centre, on the road from Arucas to Bañaderos
Carretera de Arucas Bañaderos, km 0,5 Arucas, Gran Canaria
Cultural Centre Arucas (Casa de la Cultura)
The Irregular Shaped Courtyard
The Cultural Centre is a typical 17th century Canary Island house. It became a Public Library in 1973
The inner stone flagged courtyard has very attractive wooded balconies along two sides, because of there wider width they are not canter levered out from the building but has carved supporting pillars. Because the building is on a hill, the courtyard is up 1 floor from the entrance that has stone carved surrounds & the cities crest. The entrance was built in 1973 by local artist Santiago Santa
The stone staircase in the corner of the courtyard connects to a raised stone platform decorated with stone planters for plants. A wooden staircase then continues up to the balcony.Centre piece in the courtyard is a beautiful 150 year old Dragon Tree.
Casa de la Cultura Monday to Friday: 9:00 to 14:00h.
Saint Johns Square (Plaza de San Juan)
This is the top square in Arucas surrounded by one of the town´s oldest and most central venues. Just by looking around the square, you can see how the buildings in the old centre of Arucas have evolved, with buildings dating from the 17th, 18th, 19th y 20th centuries. This architectural treasure of a square has the best view of Arucas jewel in the crown the stunning view of the principal façade of St John The Baptist Church.
Municipal Museum and Park
The Museum & Park was originally the large Mayorazgo House (Casa del Mayorazgo or Casa Gourié ) and estate in central Arucas, 185m walk east of the church. The house was built in 1808. The estate was purchased by Alfonso Gourié Álvarez in 1859.
The Arucas Council acquired the estate in about 1976 and converted it into a Museum & Public Park
Although it is called a museum it is actually an Art Gallery with exhibition halls with permanent exhibits of the work of Santiago Santana, Manolo Ramos, Guillermo Sureda and Abraham Cárdene
The entrance is through large iron gates on the north east corner of Plaza de la Constitución There are additional entrances along the road Ctra. Arucas Banaderos
Plaza de la Constitución, 2 35400 Arucas;
Municipal Park
The Municipal Park deserves a leisurely stroll through. with several paved and tree lined areas. It contains an enormous variety of trees and plants of great ornamental interest. Not in vain Arucas is also known as the “Town of the flowers”. From the avenue at the top of the Park, you can see several large 20th century buildings. If you stand by the water distribution box at the end of the Park, you can contemplate the majestic building housing La Heredad de Aguas de Arucas y Firgas (Arucas and Firgas Water Rights Association), which dates from 1912 houses the right to use water for irrigation.
The terraced section of the near municipal gardens the road has a French style design, with fountains, pavilions, sculptures and tropical trees, including the rare evergreen soap bark tree (Quillaja saponaria) and several magnificent dragon palm trees, as well as some astonishing flowering plants and groves of gentle bamboo. There is an elaborate system of water irrigation channels throughout the park
Drinking Fountain (Fuente del Pilar)
Heredad de Aguas de Arucas y Firgas building
Calle Heredad borders the garden on the southern side of the plaza, dominated by the beautiful neoclassical Heredad de Aguas de Arucas y Firgas building,. They finished building in1908 and now houses the local water board.
Constitution Square (Plaza de la Constitución)
The 2 main buildings in Plaza de la Constitución, are the Town Council (1875) and the Municipal Market (1882) which has closed as a market.See
if you can spot the damage to the Town Hall's front door caused by a mortar explosion, during the Spanish Civil War.
Antonio Padron House Museum
This is an Art Gallery rather than a Museum with fantastic art by the Canaries artist Antonio Padrón, who has a surrealist style.
The gallery contains a collection of paintings, sculptures and ceramics.
Arucas Market (Mercondo Municipal)
Located on the corner of P.º Poeta Pedro Lezcano & Cl. Dr. Fernando Caubín Ponce.
Stonemason Interpretation Centre
I t is one of several local quarries with origins dating from the 16th century. The present owners´ family bought the quarry towards the end of the 50's, continuing a family tradition that can be dated back to more than 250 years. After many years exploiting the magnificent quarry of trachyphonolitic stone, the famous blue stone of Arucas, it was adapted to work with new technologies in 1999. Nowadays, inside the stone quarry, there is a faithful recreation of the characteristic elements of a stone quarry. The way in which stone was handled then contrast with the new advanced techniques currently employed in this quarry.
Museo “La Cantera” (Stone Quarry Museum)
A museum depicting the work of the stonemason, stone artisans, and the Stone Quarry workers called labrantes
Open: Tuesday to Saturday: from 10:00 to 14:00 hours
Location of the Stonemason Interpretation Centre
C. Alcalde Francisco Ferrera Rosales, 35400 Arucas,
Arucas Mountain Viewpoint ( Mirador de Arucas)
There is a road to the top of this round hill/mountain with amazing panoramic views of the old town, inland mountains and in the other direction the coast.
León y Castillo Pedestrian Street
The street starts in Constitution Square and heads towards Paz Park (Parque de la Paz), which is immediately south of the church & next to the very large central car park.
Many of the buildings were erected in the 19th century. The MainPlaces of interest ain this street are the:
Discover Arucas Introduction
The name of Arucas is given to different areas
- The Municipality of Arucas
- The City of Arucas
Municipality of Arucas
A Spanish Municipality is similar to an English County. The small Municipality of Arucas is situated on the north coast of Gran Canaria, covering an area of approximately 33 square kilometres (13 square miles), stretching from the coast up to the foothills at over 1.800 feet above sea level.
The whole area is an expanse of very fertile agricultural land, rich in bananas, corn, potatoes and originally 2 crops that brought in vast wealth to the area:
The Small Municipality of Arucas
Sugar Cane
Sugar cane was produced here to produce rum before Christopher Columbus sailed to the Caribbean and it was not until his second journey that he transported the first Sugar Cane plants & introduced the New World to the cane & Rum production. There mastery of this new industry almost destroyed rum production in Gran Canaria a few centuries later, but it managed to survive and Arehucas was started in 1884, and proved to be a very successful local Rum Distillery producing very high quality rum.
Prickly Pears
Prickly pear are the very juicy & refreshing fruit of the prickly pear cactus which is slightly more expensive than more common fruits. It was not the fruit that brought in the wealth, but a small parasitic insect that live and thrive on the plants pads. The insects are often called a beetles, but they are not, they are scaly insects collected , that thrives on prickly pear cacti pads. They produce a white waxy filament substance hides the insect & helps with moisture loss and protection from the sun They are crushed to produce a vivid red liquid, carminic acid, which is used to produce the dye when , dye for the food & lipstick industries, the name cochineal, is not allowed to be used in the UK by law and the names Carmine or Carminic Acid the main contents of the red liquid or E.120 is use
City of Arucas
Arucas Town is located 12 kilometres from the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the old city centre is 4km inland from the north coast, the suburbs of the town are very spread out and separated by agricultural land
Many of thee magnificent buildings in the City were built in the 19th and the early 20th century.
Many island tours from the South of the Island or from Las Palmas visit Arucas
Arucas Tourist Information Office
Calle León y Castillo, 10, 35400 Arucas, Gran Canaria
Plaza del Doctor Joaquín Blanco
MAPFRE Guanarteme Canary Islands Foundation (Fundación Canaria MAPFRE Guanarteme)
The foundation was rebuilt in 1892, and houses several exhibition halls a cultural program of events
Banana Museum Hacienda la Rekompensa
- At Hacienda La Rekompensa we explain you everything about banana cultivation on a guides tour. You will visit a traditional Canarian house that dates back to 1804 and has been completely restored, faithful to its original architecture. Inside is the interpretation centre and a shop where you can taste a selection of handcrafted products made on our islands and that contain plátano canario, such as different jams, banana quince and even banana wine as well as cosmetic lines, also made with Canarian bananas. Breathe in a totally natural environment and enjoy the different varieties, where you will find from banana plants that can reach 8 meters in height to the unknown red banana You will be able to learn everything related to this exciting crop from its birth, through the process of fruit development and until the death of the plant. The only museum in the 8 Canary Island that has planted 13 different varieties of banana plants Hacienda La Rekompensa is a finca of 56.500 m2 and has more than 7000 banana plants, 150 avocado trees and a wide variety of fruit trees. OPENINGS HOURS Monday to Sunday from 10:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. Always check the schedule on the museum's Google page Hacienda la Rekompensa Camino del Laurel, 7 Trasmontaña (Arucas) (just 10 minutes from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) Telephones: +34 928 917 419 +34 696 277 751 www.haciendalarekompensa.es
