Our summer holidays in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
For many years now, I have been organizing my vacation on my own without involving any travel intermediaries. Our last year's vacation on about. My daughter and I liked Fuerteventura so much that already on the way back home, flying in an airplane, we enthusiastically planned our next vacation / vacation in the Canary Islands again, but with a visit to another island - Lanzarote, which is only 25 minutes away . ferry ride from Fuerteventura.
Therefore, in advance, or rather, from January 2015, I began to closely engage in preparation. In January, tickets were purchased for Vueling on the route Kyiv-Barcelona-Lanzarote (Arrecife), Fuerteventura-Barcelona-Kyiv. The tickets were redeemed very on time. in February, the euro began to skyrocket and my ticket by March would already cost UAH. 70% higher than I paid at the beginning of January. Then I began to decide on hotels - I approached the search in great detail, and we were absolutely satisfied with the hotels in which we ended up staying. They were: Father Lanzarote –
“Melia Salines 5*”, Costa Tequise; Fuerteventura - “Riu Jandia Palace 4 *”, Morro Jable. In the long list of hotels, I booked 6 pieces (3 per island), but because I monitored special offers and promotions, then as soon as I received them, I canceled bookings for all other hotels. Details about hotels are a little lower.
Then it was the turn to decide on a car rental on each island. A little more about the cars, so as not to dwell on them later.
I also ordered a car in advance and, accordingly, by early booking in Cicar (in Lanzarote, the office is called somehow differently, it seems Carera Medina is the largest of the car rental offices on the islands, most likely). I ordered a Seat Ibiza automatic on both islands, but in fact both Lanzarote and Fuerteventura drove cars of other brands, but with automatic transmission. Both in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura I rented a car for 6 days (12 days in total), which cost me 320 euros!
In Lanzarote, they gave me a car of a much higher class - a black Volvo sedan with a leather interior and full stuffing (there was even a parking sensor) for the same money for which I ordered a simple Ibiza! In addition, Volvo was on diesel (also saving)! Volvo is a beautiful car with a very smooth ride. The only thing that did not work in the car was the cigarette lighter, which I use as a charger for the navigator, but there was a USB port, which I used.
There were some difficulties with the car in Fuerteventura, because when landing in the car, I found that it was on the mechanics. I have experience in driving a car with a manual gearbox, more precisely, it was 6 years ago, but the idea of u200bu200bremembering again how to drive a car with a manual gearbox in an emergency order during the holidays did not smile at me at all, especially since I paid something for a car with a gun, which costs a little more. There was no car with an automatic transmission nearby (in the port and Corralejo, where the ferry from Lanzarote arrived), I was asked to come and get the car only at the airport (about 40-50 km from the seaport). After a short explanation with the employees of the office (everything within the bounds of decency, no quarrels), very soon (within a couple of minutes) an employee was found who delivered me and my daughter to the airport in the same car, where they were already waiting for us with the keys to another car with automatic transmission .
And it was again not a Seat Ibiza, but a Ford Fiesta, which is also not bad. Of course, after the Volvo, Ford seemed rather weak, especially in terms of the engine, with a volume of no more than 1.2 liters (on the rises along winding roads, the traction sometimes fell sharply), but nevertheless, everything in it worked fine (air conditioning, radio, cigarette lighter, etc. . ).
We traveled a lot, but due to the fact that the islands are small, I refueled on each island 2 times for 20 euros.
So, we flew from Kyiv on Vueling on August 12.2015 with an hour delay at 7 am and after 3 hours 15 minutes we were in Barcelona, where we spent about 3 hours and then flew to Lanzarote. The flight to Lanzarote was exhilarating. the sound of the plane's engines made us very nervous at the very beginning of the journey. When we took off over the Mediterranean Sea (as usual), the engines, which had previously roared, suddenly died down abruptly, and then roared again....I understand that the take-off regime apparently changed so much... but it was very exciting. Lera was very frightened, but then there were no more such sharp audible changes... through thick clouds and medium turbofly, we flew to Lanzarote in 2 hours and 45 minutes and were at the airport at about 4 in the afternoon.
Because I didn’t have to go through passport control (we went through it back in Bars), then we got our suitcases (quickly), took a taxi (as usual, taxis are waiting for arrivals in an organized way at the exit from the terminal) and after 15 minutes we were at the hotel. Taxi cost us 15.5 euros.
A little about the hotel. As usual, I chose my place of residence very carefully. I studied a lot of reviews about hotels, cities of residence in Lanzarote and, as a result, settled on 3 hotels in different cities (payment on arrival). In Costa Teguise, where we settled, I booked another hotel as well (4 stars - Barcelo Tequise Adults Only only after renovation), but I really wanted to settle in a 5-star Melia Salines, which is also located in Costa Teguise, but at the other end of the town, but at a cost it was more expensive than all other options. But it was in this hotel that I really wanted to spend my vacation in Lanzarote, so I subscribed to the newsletter on the official website of the hotel, and when I saw a short-term promotion for accommodation (-20%) and calculated the cost of staying in it, it turned out that it was only 20 euro more expensive than all the other options I have booked. I gladly booked a good category room (Premier See View) in it and canceled my bookings for all other hotels closer to vacation.
In Fuerteventura, back in the winter of 2015, I booked a hotel Riu Jandia Palace 4* is a German hotel chain , which I also found on the reviews on the Internet. I also booked through the official website of the hotel, because. it is not presented in the big search engines Booking and Agoda. I really liked this hotel right away. it is located on the first line (you only need to cross the promenade), and besides, I was simply amazed by the rooms that this hotel offers. Leroy and I visited Morro Jable last year when we traveled around the island, and we liked the sea and the width of the beach there, so this time we booked a room in a hotel in Morro Jable. Just in case, I made 2 more bookings in Costa Calma, but then canceled them shortly before the vacation.
My opinion about the hotels is that both are amazing in their own way. Hotel Melia Salinas is a rather old building (according to the guidebook, it was from it that the tourism business on the island of Lanzarote began. ) The hotel was designed with the participation of Cesar Manrique and this is felt in its interior - white paths that alternate with dark volcanic stones, a lot of greenery - just a tropical park in the atrium. Huge beautiful and deep pool. Because the hotel is more focused on adults (very few children were seen, nothing is provided for them in the hotel - no animation, no playgrounds), then peace and quiet. When I made the reservation, in the "special preferences / wishes" section, I "wished" a room higher and away from noisy places (restaurant, bar, pool). And my wishes were fully fulfilled. We were settled in the part of the hotel that goes to the Level part. This part represents the “Hotel in the Hotel” (this is how Melia positions the Level) in general, only for adults. We had the last, 4th floor, with a good view of the sea (oh, sorry, the ocean) (very deserted, but also very quiet at the same time). It was very nice to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean. 50% of the guests are Spaniards, 50% are other nationalities (many English, Americans), we did not meet anyone from the “Russian speakers” during our entire stay! During our stay, the tides were low in the morning, so it was impossible to swim in the ocean until 12:00 because of the stones, but after 12 the ocean approached the shore with cool waves. You can read my review in detail about this hotel at this link:
http://www.turpravda.com/es/lansarote/Melia_Salinas-h13979-r155738 .html
Riu Jandia Palaca Hotel is a famous German hotel chain. The hotel in Morro Jable was family-oriented, so there are a lot of children, but because the hotel is large, then vacationers are distributed in such a way that those who come together (couples, a family with adult children) are accommodated away from the noisy crowd of children. There was peace and quiet in our "C" wing. Of the vacationers, 90% are Germans / Austrians and 10% are other European nationalities (English, Americans, Spaniards and we - 2 people from UkraineJ). Of the "Russian speakers" there were several adult couples, and even then they were Russian Germans, i. e. people who left Russia 20 years ago and have been living in Germany for a long time.
As usual, in both hotels I bought accommodation + half board (breakfast-dinner), which were traditionally very good both in Melia and in Rio. Both hotels also offer all inclusive, but we have not been attached to dinners for a long time.
So, oh. Lanzarote is the first part of our trip (August 12-20.2015).
I really liked the tourist town of Costa Teguise. It is quite small (in Lanzarote, perhaps Arrecife, the capital, is a fairly large city, all others are cozy resort towns and villages). Traditionally, the village is very clean, with excellent sidewalks and road markings. You can always find parking spaces. Many small shopping centers nearby (famous brands are not sold there, more and more what is needed for a beach holiday). Lots of HyperDino grocery supermarkets. There were 2 of them near our hotel (immediately opposite and around the corner where the Shopping Center was located). It is very convenient when you need to buy drinking water, because. Since Lanzarote has desalinated water, it is not recommended to use it for drinking. In the supermarket, a 2-liter bottle of water cost 1 euro. And other products were at normal prices.
Why I like to vacation in Europe (after all, the Canary Islands are the territory of Spain), because no one is trying to shamelessly cheat on you, as was the case in Thailand, in March of this year. If you get into a taxi, then everything is metered, price tags are everywhere, clean and safe. Neither Lanzarote nor Fuertoventura have a criminal danger.
And, of course, a paradise for lovers of perfumes and cosmetics: the prices are just flying, in the Canary Islands there are special trading conditions for perfumers, so their products are 30-40 percent cheaper than even in the average Duty Free.
We spent 8 days in Lanzarote and 5 of them we had a rented car.
We visited many different interesting places in Lanzarote, but not all. Therefore, there is a reason to return and watch!!!
We left almost every day, even if not for the whole day, then at least for half a day (the island is small). Visited: Timanfaya Volcanic Park, camel rides, Rancho Texas Park Zoo (2 times), Cesare Manrique's house-museum, the town of Teguise during the fair, climbed the mountain to the Santa Barbara fortress, visited the Cactus Park, Papagayo beaches. Each place was loved in its own way. The Rancho Texas Zoo is remembered for white tigers, owls at the entrance and many other exotic crawling creatures. The Cesar Manrique House Museum is something. Built almost on a lava field, the house has 2 levels, and the second one was built (carved) just in the lava on the -1 floor. Again, there is a combination of black lava, white walls and paths in the house. I liked it very much! In the Cactus Garden, many different species of cacti are collected, from tiny to whole cactus trees from all over the world.
Timanfaya Park is a must see! I must admit that we arrived there at the peak of visits, so after riding camels, we stood in line for another hour to enter the territory. You can't walk on the territory of the reserve! When we stopped at the park, we made another 40-minute excursion on the park bus through the reserved lava places. How did you visit Mars!! ! In some places it was so scary that I closed my eyes when the bus was driving along a mountain serpentine - an unforgettable experience! And everywhere everything is for quite reasonable money: camel rides - 12 euros per person, a visit to the park - 9 euros. The most expensive was, of course, the zoo (22 euros per person), but because we first arrived 2 hours before closing, then we were offered 2 options: a ticket at a discount or a ticket for the full price, but with the possibility of visiting the park three times. That's why we visited the park twice with a one-day ticket! On the territory of Rancho Texas, in addition to the absolutely well-groomed zone of the zoo, there is also a recreation area with pools, slides, beach chairs, i. e. you can spend the whole day at the zoo, see the animals, have lunch in a cool restaurant stylized as an American pub, and even sunbathe and swim... everything is so thought out !!
We didn’t plan to go to the beaches of Papagayo on purpose, but because anyway, we went to Playa Blanca for ferry tickets to Fuerteventura, then for one we popped into the beaches for a couple of hours. These beaches reminded me a lot of May Beach in Thailand. Yes, it’s beautiful, the water is clear and deep emerald in color, but the heat is unbearable and there is no shade (we got there around 15:30). You need to get to the beach along a dirt road (15 minutes), paying 3 euros per car for entry. Then you put the car on the parking lot and go down to one of the beaches. We didn’t choose for a long time (in the heat we didn’t want to go to the far beach at all) and went to the beach on the left, stayed there for 2.5 hours (it was very hot, because the beach is surrounded by rocks on all sides (there was no shade) , bought in clear water (you can’t sit in it for a long time - the temperature was clearly lower than on our beach in Costa Teguise). In general, you can go once.
In the evenings, after dinner, we walked along the Costa Teguise with its many different shops and restaurants and enjoyed the rest. The daily routine was observed perfectly: at the latest, they fell asleep at 12 at night, woke up at 8 in the morning for breakfast.
Thus, 8 amazing days in Lanzarote flew by unnoticed. And I want to go back there again!
Our next stop was Fr. Fuerteventura, where we got on the Fred Olsen high-speed ferry, which runs to Fuertoventura in 25 minutes. Tickets for two cost 58 euros. We checked out of the hotel at 12:00 (on this day we also went to sunbathe to the pool and to the beach). When booking (through the official website of the Melia Hotel) there was a nice bonus - a voucher for 15 euros per room per day, which could be spent on buying various drinks in the restaurants and bars of the hotel. Thanks to this nice check-out bonus, I paid only 5 something extra euros, although every evening we always ordered something in the restaurant, and we also drank soft drinks and ate ice cream in the beach bar every day.
We got into our beautiful rental car and drove to the port. To go to the port about 35 km, the island is not big. Upon arrival, I parked the car, threw the keys into a special box in the rental office and we went to wait for our Fred Olsen ferry to Fuertoventura.
The ferry departed on schedule and after 25 minutes we were already on Fuerta in the port of Corralejo. The ferry is fast, and I almost all the time stood on the open deck, looking at the receding Lance and the approaching Fuerta. Somewhere in the middle of the way, the weather began to change, the sky was overcast and we arrived in Corralejo in cloudy weather.
I also ordered a car at the port, but, as I wrote above, there were some inconsistencies with it, so Leroy and I already received our car with automatic transmission at the Fuerta airport. We drove to the airport for about 40 minutes, yet Fuerta is 2.5 times more than Lance. We passed the famous dunes of Corralejo. After receiving the car, already driving myself, I drove to Morro Jable in about an hour (a little over 70 km). It was nice to see already familiar places - we passed the Elba Carlota in Calet de Fusto hotel, where we rested last year, Oasis Park and other familiar places, and around 17:00 we reached the Riu Jandia Palace hotel.
We settled in the hotel quite quickly, it took a long time to reach the room, but the room, of course, impressed us with its size! It was located close to the promenade on the first, but very high floor, surrounded by various tropical vegetation. The hotel is built in such an interesting way that even from the first floor the promenade path is not visible, and the floor itself, due to the rocky terrain in this part of Morro Jable, is very high and only a climber in full equipment can reach it)). The reception and the hotel pool are located much higher, at the level of the 3rd or 4th floor. In general, the construction of the hotel is very interesting and multi-level. The hotel, again, satisfied all my wishes regarding peace and tranquility.
The purpose of our 5-day stay in Fuerta (August 20-25) was purely beach. And the beach in Morre Jable is wonderful, the wind is not strong, the ocean is clean, turquoise and warm! ! However, we still visited the places we liked earlier: the Oasis Park Zoo, where we spent half a day, the wild ocean beach of Cofete and the Rotunda shopping center in Puerto de Rosario.
About Kofete: last year it was the road that I remember the most - an unfenced mountain serpartin with a narrow dirt road. When I first drove a car on it last year, after I had already left on a more or less flat part of the road, I needed a stop in order to just catch my breath (my knees were really shaking), so this year, I I postponed our trip there again for longer, but my daughter really wanted to jump on the waves again, which still persuaded me to make this terrible route again. And, of course, the second time the road seemed much easier to me. The weather, however, let us down a little on Kofete. Nevertheless, this is the leeward western part of the island, and as a cloud hung on the mountain, it did not move anywhere else, but brought with it only a strong cold wind and sand. And the ocean this time was cold here. In general, we only had enough for an hour, we formed up and returned to Morro Jable, where it was hot, sunny and almost windless!
The town of Morro Jable itself is quite crowded and touristy, and you could always find something to do in the evenings: a lot of restaurants, cafes, discos, shops....Very crowded in the evening.
On the day of departure, we spent time on the beach until check-out, checked out, got into the car and went to the airport. Everything else was according to the usual scheme: airport - plane to Barcelona (with a delay in departure from Fuerta by 1.5 hours) - a couple of hours at Barcelona airport (various shopping) - plane to Kyiv and we are at home! The weather was good, the planes were new (the sound of the engine did not frighten us).
My opinion about Lanzarote and Fuertoventura: the sights are Lanzarote's palm (only Cesar Manrique and his architecture are worth something! ), and the beaches are definitely Fuertevenura! Our beach in Morro Jable was simply amazing: wide, long with a beautiful entry into the sea, with clear emerald water and no low tide felt at all (maybe we were so lucky, because we were only there for 5 days from August 20 to 25). Compared to last year's Caleta de Fusto holiday, this year's beach holiday was much better. I would return to Fuerteventura more than once, and in Morro Jable.
