Gran Canaria has an extensive public transport system making it possible to explore this beautiful island without needing a car. Visit picturesque towns, beautiful beaches, and stunning ravines all by guagua as buses are locally called. In this guide, I will explain the different buses and how to use them so you can easily explore Gran Canaria by bus without worrying about driving.
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Table of Contents - How to: Getting around Gran Canaria by bus
Buses in Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria has two types of buses: the Global long-distance buses and the urban Guaguas Municipales buses. The Urban buses are yellow and only available in the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The blue Global buses are long-distance buses and serve the entire island.
Amongst the long-distance buses, there are regular buses, express buses, and semi-express buses. If you want to travel a longer distance, it is always worth it to take a (semi-)express bus when available. They are considerably faster than the regular buses which will stop at every bus stop on the way. The semi-express buses don’t only stop less, they will also take the highway where possible.
Buying a bus ticket
There are no bus cards for tourists who only visit the island for a holiday, unlike in Tenerife for example. You can buy your ticket directly from the driver and pay either by card or in cash. Make sure to have coins and/or small bills available if you want to pay in cash. If you’re traveling by urban bus, there is a machine next to the driver for card payments.
A ride with a yellow urban bus costs € 1,40 (at the time of writing). The fee for the long-distance buses depends on the distance of the journey. Just tell the driver where you want to get off and he will tell you the price, which will also show on the machine.
Several bus stops show the fee for getting to the most popular destinations you can travel to from that particular stop and the lines that will get you there.
If you are staying on the island for a longer time, like many digital nomads, remote workers, and pensioners, it might be worth getting a TGC bus card. Prices are the same, but you can get a “bonus” worth up to 40% of the money you add to your card.
Planning your journey
You can easily plan your trips in Gran Canaria by bus with Google Maps. Google Maps usually has accurate routes and scheduled bus times. It’s also very handy to download the Guaguas Global app. You can double check the bus schedules here via “lines and timetables” and you can see how far away the bus is in realtime by clicking on the bus stop in “where am I”.
Buses often get delayed on their way, especially buses like bus 1 which travels a long way with many stops. So the scheduled and actual arrival times often don’t coincide. This is important to keep in mind when getting around Gran Canaria by bus. Especially when your trip includes a change between buses, keep in mind that your bus might get delayed about 50% of the planned travel time.
The app also has its own journey planner in “where I want to go”, which you can also use instead of Google Maps
Key bus routes for visitors
While you can get almost everywhere by bus, there are some routes which are of particular interest to visitors. All information is accurate at the time of writing, but you might want to verify these schedules with Google Maps or the Guaguas Global app as changes may happen at any time.
Las Palmas - Airport
The airport express line 60 travels between Las Palmas and the airport between 05:15 am and 22:15 pm. Between 6 am and 9 pm, line 91 also travels this route. Outside of these hours, you can take bus 5.
Maspalomas - Airport
When traveling between 6 am and 20: 30 am, express buses 66 and 90 are the fastest. Outside of these hours, you can take bus 1 or 5.
Las Palmas - Maspalomas
There are 4 lines that travel between these places. The regular lines 1 and 5, and the express lines 30 and 50. When traveling during the day, avoid lines 1 and 5 as they will take 2+ hours. Line 50 is the fastest (about 40 min. to San Telmo), but has the most limited schedule and stops. So depending on where you’re staying and at what time of day you want to travel, line 30 might be a better option. Line 30 takes about 1 hour to San Telmo and 1h15 to Santa Catalina in Las Palmas.
If you’re traveling at night, bus 5 is the only available line. If you’ve just missed the last bus 30, but the airport express buses are still running, it’s worth taking them and changing at the airport instead of taking bus 1 or 5.
Maspalomas - Roque Nublo
This Gran Canarian icon can now actually only be visited by public transport, with line 18. Do note that this line has a limited schedule, so plan your visit accordingly.
There is an additional circular line 18 which travels via Tejeda and Cruz de Tejeda for those coming from Las Palmas. This circular line 18 goes much more frequently: every half hour between 9.30 am and 6 pm.
Las Palmas - Puerto de Mogán
Express bus 91 travels this route in about 1.5 hours between 6 am and 9 pm. This line also stops at the airport.
Maspalomas - Puerto de Mogán
Lines 1 and 33 both travel this route in about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Las Palmas - Agaete
The semi-express bus 130 travels the route between San Telmo in Gran Canaria and Agaete in about 50 minutes. The schedule is quite limited though. On weekdays the bus goes every hour from 11 am till 4 pm from Las Palmas to Agaete. On weekends, it’s only possible to travel from Las Palmas until 1 pm. Buses from Agaete to Las Palmas only go in the afternoon
The regular bus 103 only takes about 10 minutes longer to travel this route, and has much more frequency, from 6 am to 10 pm.
Las Palmas - the north
Exploring Gran Canarian towns in the north from Las Palmas is easy. Frequent buses are leave every 30 min to 1 hour to most places from morning until evening. Use the Global app or Google maps for further planning.
This was: How to: Getting around Gran Canaria by bus
While you can explore most of Gran Canaria by public bus, for some places you will need a car. And if you’re short on time and want to do several things in one day, traveling by car is also a lot more efficient.
But for those who are not in a rush or don’t want or can’t drive, there are plenty of things to do in Gran Canaria which can easily be visited by public transport.