Meloneras

Meloneras is the stretch of coast in San Bartolomé de Tirajana between the Faro de Maspalomas and Playa de Meloneras, at the western end of the resort coast tha…Meloneras is the stretch of coast in San Bartolomé de Tirajana between the Faro de Maspalomas and Playa de Meloneras, at the western end of the resort coast that begins at Bahía Feliz. Pasito Blanco, with its port, marks the end of that coast beyond it, and the GC-1 has an exit for both, number 50.

The lighthouse is the landmark. Juan de León y Castillo was commissioned to design it in 1884, the works ran until 1889, and it was first lit on 1 February 1890. The tower is 54.7 metres high, the whole reaching 60 metres above sea level with the lantern; it was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 2005, and it is fully automated and still working.

From the lighthouse a seafront promenade runs west to Playa de Meloneras, and the Maspalomas dunes begin on its other side, so the reserve and its beach are on foot from here. The lighthouse is also where line 18, the bus to Roque Nublo, starts and finishes, three times a day there and back, which takes care of the problem of parking in the mountains; the trail itself still has to be booked.

Meloneras sits a little closer to the west than the rest of the Maspalomas coast: from here Puerto Rico is 19 minutes by the routed drive and Puerto de Mogán 25. Maspalomas is five minutes the other way, Playa del Inglés ten, and the airport about half an hour.