Fataga and the Arteara aboriginal necropolis, in the Valley of a Thousand Palms

Fataga is a village of white houses at the bottom of the ravine of the same name, surrounded by palm trees, half an hour from Maspalomas along the GC-60. A little before it, beside the hamlet of Arteara, is the island's largest aboriginal cemetery.

The Arteara necropolis

According to the Cabildo, the necropolis holds 809 funerary structures, individual and collective tumuli of the ancient Canarians, over 137,570 square metres. It lies on a phonolite badland, the chaos of rocks left by an avalanche, beneath the Amurga cliffs, which rise above a thousand metres. A dry-stone wall surrounds the whole of it. The tomb they call the King's Tumulus occupies a central place and is the first to be touched by the sun at dawn on the spring and autumn equinoxes. It has a visitor centre; general admission costs €4 and is valid for a year, and reduced €2. Under-10s do not pay.

Note: in November 2026 the Cabildo lists it as temporarily closed. Before going, ask on 638 810 591 or at [email protected].

Fataga

Continue along the road to the village. The best thing is to park and stroll unhurriedly through its streets, among white houses and palm trees, with the ravine slopes above you. The Town Council counts the Camino de Fataga among its best-known routes: it links palm groves and crags up to the Valley of a Thousand Palms, and it is also one of the three paths that the Camino de Santiago of Gran Canaria proposes from Maspalomas to Tunte.

Getting there

By car, the GC-60 from Maspalomas, passing the Degollada de las Yeguas. Global bus 18 stops at Arteara and Fataga; on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays it leaves the Maspalomas Lighthouse at 8:00, 9:00, 11:00, 12:30, 13:30, 15:00, 17:00 and 18:00, and comes down from Tejeda at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 13:00, 14:00, 15:30, 16:30 and 17:30.