Fataga Ravine

Brown, treeless hills rise on both sides, and down in the bed of the ravine a green line of palms runs along the bottom. That strip of green is the reason for its old name, the valley of the thousand palms. The bare slopes look like another planet.

Inside the ravine sits Fataga, a village of stone-paved lanes and old Canarian houses around the church of San José, built in 1880. It keeps a watermill, small craft shops near the church and one of the oldest bakeries on the island.

The ground carries older history too. Many battles in the final stages of the conquest of the Canaries were fought in and around the ravine, and the Arteara necropolis (Necrópolis de Arteara) lies at Arteara, on the way up from Maspalomas.

• There are no toilets and no drinking water close by. Fill your bottles before you set out.
• The hills are bare and treeless, so there is no shade once the sun is high. Bring a hat.
• For food, head to Fataga village, which has restaurants and one of the oldest bakeries on the island.
• The Arteara necropolis lies at Arteara, on the way up from Maspalomas, and pairs well with the ravine on the same day.

The ravine is open country with no single entrance. Two car parks, one tarmac and one gravel, lie about 1.5 km away in a straight line, and the bus stops Mirador and Mirador de las Yeguas sit at a similar distance. A walkers' guidepost stands about 770 m away. The village of Fataga lies within the ravine itself and makes the obvious place to stop and look around.

Best: early morning or late afternoon, when the low sun throws the ridges into relief and the slopes are cooler.

Avoid: the middle of a summer day.

The hills are bare, so there is no shade once the sun is high, and there is no drinking water close by.