MASPALOMAS GRAN CANARIA

Although the twin resorts of Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles have virtually merged into a single tourist conurbation, Maspalomas still has a more up market image, no doubt due to its magnificent dunes and the early building of luxury hotels around the oasis. The lighthouse and the bus and taxi terminus mark the western boundary of the resort From here a promenade runs past small shops, bars and restaurants and ends at the Barranco de Maspalomas, which, at this seaward point, is occupied by a fenced off lagoon - charcoal with reed beds, pampas grass and resident and migratory birds. These include kestrels, grey herons and the Kentish plover.

The Sardinian warbler nests in the tamarisk groves between February and June. Environmentalists are making themselves heard in the debate between developers and conservationists, particularly in relation to the dunes and the lagoon, and there is an Information and Interpretation Centre behind the Hotel Riu Palace. Beach and dunes stretch east from here to join the sands at Playa del Ingles.

To the west of the lighthouse the neighboring luxury resort of Las Meloneras has a sheltered bay, shopping mall, marina and a traditional Canarian village North of the lagoon, the barranco turns into a dry river course with the prestigious 18-hole Maspalomas Campo de Golf to one side. Estates of select apartments give way to denser holiday accommodation, skirted by wide, avenues named after tour operators like Tui, Thomson and Neckermann. The Faro centro commercial is a circular complex of shops, bars and restaurants. Amusement parks mark the resort's northern edge.