With some time off around Christmas I decided to travel to Lanzarote for 4 days for a last minute, spontaneous getaway trip due to cheap return tickets selling for £35! Lanzarote is a Spanish island just off the west coast of Africa and is a well-known place for a relaxing holiday! Prior to our trip, we decided to rent a car to drive around the island as we found out it was a commodity for travellers to rent cars as taxis were limited and all the destinations we wanted to visit were all quite far away from each other. Luckily, we found a cheap deal of £99 for 5 days including insurance!
Here’s what I got up to during my 4 days in Lanzarote:
Day 1: Arrecife and Costa Teguise
Having got the morning flight from Manchester airport, we landed in Lanzarote at lunchtime and went to collect our car rental at the airport. With this being my first drive in Europe, it took a bit of time to adapt to driving on the other side of the road but thankfully, the roads were quite empty compared to London so it was safer to drive! Having checked into our hotel in Puerto del Carmen, we decided to explore Arrecife and Costa Teguise for the afternoon!
We drove to Arrecife and parked our car in a free car park (there are lots of these!) and decided to wander around the small town. We quickly realised that the town was quite barren and very quiet so we decided to stay for only a short time and drove to Costa Teguise. Looking back, I would not advise visiting Arrecife if you are short for time! In Costa Teguise, there were lots of tourists wandering around and was a lot busier compared to Arrecife. We went to Restaurante Villa Toledo and ordered the mixed paella and a litre of Sangria. Thankfully, there was a lot of seafood and meat in the paella so it was very filling and you get a nice view of the sea if you manage to sit outside!
Day 2: Jameos del Agua, Cueva de los Verdes, Mirador del Rio and Famara Beach
We decided to spend the day exploring the northern half of the island, starting off at Jameos del Agua before heading to Mirador del Rio via Cueva de los Verdes and heading back south to Famara on the west coast before heading back to the hotel. You are required to pay to enter Jameos del Agua, Cueva de los Verdes and Mirador del Rio so we decided to buy our tickets in advance as the tickets at the door is more expensive! Our first destination of the day was Jameos del Agua, which is a lava cave and there is a subterranean salt lake outside which was extremely pretty. Definitiely worth a visit! After that we drove to Cueva de los Verdes and had a tour of the underground lava caves. There is a lot of draught wind inside so make sure you have another layer to avoid getting cold! Once that finished, we went to Mirador del Rio and grabbed a coffee and some food. There’s a beautiful view from high up so definitely worth a visit!
After visiting these three sites, we drove south to the west coast to visit Famara Beach. With a sandy beach and gusty winds, it’s ideal for surfers! But with the weather being lukewarm and gloomy it probably wasn’t the best idea to surf. If visiting in summertime, any keen surfers can easily rent a surfboard from nearby and head to the beach! We headed to Restaurante Costa Famara for dinner and grabbed grilled octopus and mussels. The grilled octopus was SO GOOD and the mussels were really good and was worth every euro.
Day 3: Timanfaya National Park, Playa Blanca and Playa de Papagayo
On Day 3, we decided to head to the other parts of the island. We started off with a drive to Timanfaya National Park, which is a volcanic area and you are surrounded by dried up lava. It is best to buy tickets online to enter the site. Once you park the car, you get an amazing view of the National Park from the top and there is a cafe and restaurant inside if you want to grab any coffee or lunch! After the National Park, we decided to stop by at a place where you can ride on a camel. The camel has 2 seats so ideally it would be sensible to go in pairs otherwise the camel will be uneven! They do stink and the camels behind may start sniffing around you so beware! After riding the camels, we decided to head to Playa Blanca and visit the salt lake. While we were there, we tried the famous limpets by the sea at Restaurante Mar Azul. The limpets were not as good as we expected but as you would never find it anywhere else, it’s worth a try!
After this, we drove to Papagayo Beach to watch sunset. The sand is very clean and there is also a rocky bit you can walk up to get to the top of the cliff next to the sea. Although it’s a bit windy, the view up top is amazing and breath of fresh air.
Day 4: Puerto del Carmen
We left late on day 4 and drove to Puerto del Carmen where we decided to grab lunch at Restaurante El Cangrejo Rojo and got the seafood platter and mixed tapas starter, as well as a litre of Sangria to share!
After lunch, we went on the dolphin tour we had pre-booked in advance. Unfortunately, the weather was not that warm and although we got unlimited drinks and food at the bar, including mojitos, we did not get to see any dolphins and I would not recommend this activity for any travellers deciding to travel in the winter!
After the tour, in the evening, we went to get some italian food at Restaurante Cash Parmigiano. Surprisingly, there are a lot of people who book in advance so if you go at peak hours, make sure you book a seat so you don’t have to wait! We got the carbonara and the Iberian pork and it tasted very good and would definitely recommend it!
