Things to do in Gran Canaria: how to split up your days
There are eight activities here and they run at fixed hours. So the useful question is not what exists in the south of the island. It is what genuinely fits into the days you have got.
Take the Catamaran boat trip at 10:30. Four hours on the water off Mogán takes in El Perchel for the swim stop, lunch on board and the stretch where dolphins tend to appear, and you are back with the afternoon still ahead of you. The 15:30 sailing works as well, though you come into port near sunset and the water is generally livelier later in the day.
If you have two
Split them: one at sea, one on land. Do the sea day first, because a poor forecast is far easier to absorb when a spare day is still sitting behind it. Then choose the 4x4 jeep safari from Maspalomas, half a day inland by way of the Chira reservoir, Tunte and Fataga, or the buggy tour, two hours you drive yourself through the ravines above Mogán. One climbs and one stays low and dusty. They are not interchangeable.
If there are children with you
The Glass bottom boat trip is the gentlest departure in the catalogue: the same four hours and the same swim stop, but the seabed is visible from inside the hull and nobody has to get wet. The child rate on both group catamarans is €35. Ages and what each child pays deserve checking properly before the week is planned around them.
If you are a group
The Boat party is the only 250-capacity departure. It sails mid-afternoon and swallows the rest of the day. Smaller groups get more out of the private catamaran charter: six people maximum, two or three hours, at an hour you choose. Or out of buggies, which head off in convoy, six vehicles at the very most.
What the day itself decides
Two things move on you. The first is the sea: when conditions rule out sailing, you take another date or the whole amount back, that refund being the only guarantee we put in writing. The second is Friday, when the market takes over Puerto de Mogán and the western end of the coast slows right down.
A week, roughly in order
Day one: the 10:30 catamaran, so a bad forecast still leaves room to move it.
Day two: the 4x4 jeep safari, half a day, back for a late lunch.
Day three: the jet ski safari, half an hour or a full one, then the beach.
Day four: Friday if you can arrange it, for the Mogán market and an afternoon sailing.
Day five: the buggy tour, or diving, where a guided snorkel starts from €35.
