Playa del Inglés
| San Bartolomé de Tirajana municipality: Playa del Inglés | |||
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| coat of arms | Map of the Canary Islands | ||
 Help on coat of arms |
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| Basic data | |||
| Autonomous Community : | Canary Islands | ||
| Province : | Las Palmas | ||
| Island: | Gran Canaria | ||
| Coordinates | 27 ° 45 ′ N , 15 ° 35 ′ W | ||
| Residents : | 6,100 (2019) INE | ||
| Postal code : | 35100 | ||
| Area code: | 35019002700 | ||
Playa del Inglés is a district of the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana on the south coast of Gran Canaria . The main industry is tourism . Playa del Inglés, together with San Agustín and Meloneras , which also belong to the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, form a tourist center called Maspalomas . Due to their long, wide sandy beach with extensive dunes, the districts are better known than the municipality, whose historic center is 23 kilometers north in the interior of the island. Since the population center of the municipality has shifted to the coast due to the ongoing construction activity since the 1960s, local authorities such as the municipal administration, the local police and the district court have also been here for some years. In 2019 the population was 6100.
Site and development plan
At first glance, the cityscape is characterized by tourist accommodation establishments such as hotels and bungalow complexes, most of which arose in the 1960s and 1970s when the south of Gran Canaria was opened up for mass tourism.
In Playa del Inglés, despite various later changes to the development plan, the differentiated design of individual streets and parts of the settlement can still be recognized. Some streets (for example Avenida de Tirajana ) were specifically planned as shopping streets with many shops and multi-storey hotel developments. In between, and especially on the western and southeastern outskirts, there are several quarters in which a loose, heavily green building with gardens and free-standing bungalows in the Spanish style predominates. The quality of the overall impression was reduced in later years by the fact that the number of floors was significantly increased in the north of Playa del Inglés in the case of new hotels.
Commercial infrastructure
Playa del Inglés does not have a city center in the classical sense; Shops and shopping malls are relatively scattered. However, quite a large number of shops can be found on Avenida de Tirajana , Avenida de Alfereces Provisionales and Avenida de Italia . There are also shopping centers scattered across the town, such as “Cita”, “Kasbah”, “Yumbo” and “Metro”. The range of goods in the areas mentioned is largely aimed at normal tourist needs, that is, supermarkets offer typical Central European or British food, as well as the usual beach items and souvenirs. Spanish or Canarian foods are more likely to be found in San Fernando. In addition, numerous bars and pubs can be found in the aforementioned shopping centers, where lovers of local German beer brands get their money's worth. So there are z. B. Kölsch and Altbier bars.
Playa del Inglés has been a popular holiday destination for the European gay and lesbian scene since the 1970s. Nowadays the scene is concentrated in the evenings in the Yumbo shopping center, which opened in October 1982 and is a shopping center with bars and clubs. The local hotel and tourism association has been addressing the target group consciously since around 2000. Most of the time you travel with a standard package tour, but many special tour operators have also established themselves in the meantime. Some hotels advertise that they are gay-friendly . Also popular are the nudist beach and, among other things as a cruising area , the dunes next door. Since 2001 the "Maspalomas Pride " has taken place annually.
religion
The religious center of Playa del Inglés are the Templo Ecuménico and the Centro Ecuménico (Ecumenical Center), which were built in 1970 and primarily serve the Catholic and Protestant tourist pastoral care. There is both a Catholic and a Protestant pastoral office in the village, which specialize in German-speaking pastoral care.
Photo gallery
Plaza de Maspalomas
Yumbo Center
Kasbah Shopping Center
Sandy beach between Playa del Inglés and Maspalomas
Dune view
at night
Web links
- Playa del Ingles in the Gran Canaria Lexicon
- TirajanaDigital.com article on the 50th anniversary of tourism development (span.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population figures see INE
- ↑ Peter Fuchs: Pink Money. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on April 12, 2020 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) .
- ↑ Gay tourism now brings Gran Canaria 500 million euros a year. In: comprendes-grancanaria.de. May 11, 2010; Archived from the original on May 12, 2010 ; accessed on April 14, 2020 .
- ↑ Gran Canaria: every fifth euro from gays , ondamaris.de, May 11, 2010