Las Palmas' taxis are among the cheapest in Spain and are the easiest way to get around the city.

The Poem of the Sea building site by the port in Las Palmas is a hive of activity and the foundations are almost finished. The first walls start to go up in ten days and the vast main observation window is under construction.

Every week we share a Mondays are Better in Gran Canaria photo on our Facebook page and it's always one of the week's most popular posts. So, here's the Top 10 reasons why Gran Canaria rocks the first day of the week. 

The 2016 Maspalomas International Carnival now has its official theme: Hollywood.

The Maspalomas International Trumpet Festival takes place between July 26 and 31 in south Gran Canaria and features some of the world's best trumpeters. 

After 20 years of delays, the Tauro artificial beach project is on; Grupo Anfi now has final approval from Spain's Costas department to make the beach and a 50-year concession to exploit it commercially. It expects to spend 6 million euros on the project and to be finished by the end of 2015. 

The new Tauro beach (which Grupo Anfi are imaginatively trying to brand as Anfi Tauro) will be twice the size of the existing pebble beach at 300 metres long and 50 metres wide. It's expected to be made from white sand imported from the Caribbean (like Anfi beach) rather than the coarser sand at Amadores beach (which was dredged from off Pasito Blanco). The initial project also seems to include a seafront promenade linking Tauro beach to Amadores.

Local footballer David Silva (a former sponsor of Anfi and investor in the Amadores Beach Club) has already christened the new beach by adding the first spadeful of sand at a press conference at Tauro beach this morning.

Anfi also plans to build a 400 berth marina at Tauro beach, along with 7,500 hotel beds and an 18.500 square metre recreational area (shops).

La Atalaya de Santa Brigida village celebrates its long history of pottery with an epic mudfest in early July.

The Gran Canaria Porretta Soul Festival will be held on San Agustín beach, according to the San Bartolomé de Tirajana mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez Sánchez and local promoter Dania Dévora.

Las Canteras beach, with its 3.5km of golden sand sweeping down one side of the city, is the jewel of Las Palmas. However, it is just one of five beaches in the capital city. Here's everything you need to know about them all.

Gran Canaria is not part of the EU Customs Union so allowances are stingy by European standards. On the plus side, prices are low in the Canary Islands thank to low VAT and taxes.