Teror

Teror is a town in the hills of northern Gran Canaria, its centre at 543 metres and just over 20 kilometres from the capital. It matters to the whole island: it…Teror is a town in the hills of northern Gran Canaria, its centre at 543 metres and just over 20 kilometres from the capital. It matters to the whole island: its basilica, which dates from the eighteenth century and is a Bien de Interés Cultural, is the home of the Virgen del Pino, patron of Gran Canaria, and the tourism board calls the town a place of great symbolic value to every islander.

The old centre is compact and easy on foot. The main street runs up to the basilica between painted houses with wooden balconies, with green hills rising behind the rooftops.

Teror is a stop rather than a base. It sits inland, with none of the coast's beaches, and it fits into a morning or an afternoon as part of a day through the north. From Las Palmas it is just over half an hour and from Agaete about three quarters of an hour, and Roque Nublo is under an hour on from Teror, so it pairs as easily with the mountains as with the coast.

From the south it is a longer trip than the map suggests. It takes about three quarters of an hour from the airport and just over an hour from Maspalomas, with the last part on hill roads that are slow for the distance.