Fuerteventura Holiday Travel Guides Beaches Weather Fuerteventura Holidays

With Fuerteventura's extensive dunes and volcanic areas and just the general scenery there is no problem to take lots of photos whilst on holiday on Fuerteventura. The weather in the Canary Islands are ideal for a late Autumn holidays - we especially like October and early November for that bit of pre-winter sunshine (Usually). We normally stay in Fuerteventura's Caleta de Fuste, which, being located halfway down the island is in an ideal position for driving/getting to various parts of the island for our walks and sightseeing. Nothing too much has changed that we could see except perhaps the increased building around Caleta, Costa Calma and Morro Jable - a lot of this building seems to for either Timeshare or for people to buy as retirement homes rather than hotel accommodation. Fuerteventura's fantastic Morro del Jable to Costa Calma 16 km beach has been left alone (we have walked this both ways in the nude without any problem) and new buildings behind the beach have been generally kept low and have been designed to fit in discretely with the landscape.

If you like walking and finding your own private beaches etc the island is unbeatable, with generally very little sign of life apart from the occasional jeep safari or other walkers.
As mentioned Fuerteventura is an excellent holiday destination for nudists and there are some really good beach walks possible - you can find quite isolated beaches if you prefer to be alone or go onto the often quite busy beaches around the dunes north of Caleta. We have two pages with walks instructions/ideas on the island as well as other bits of interest - our Fuerteventura Walks and Photos page contains pictures including Costa Calma and Morro Jable.

Caleta de Fuste is located on Fuerteventura's east coast - and being only a few kms south of the airport Caleta is quite well situated for easy access to most of the island (we never had a problem with aircraft noise by the way). Caleta is actually a fairly quiet place despite the considerable amount of holiday accommodation, with a large sandy bay

very suitable for children, a small fishing port to wander around and a good selection of restaurants - including for some reason around 5 or 6 Chinese, as well as Greek, Indian and of course Spanish outlets. Nightlife seemed non-existent with apparently most people heading home by around 1030 pm..
There were two walks we took from Caleta de Fuste, the shortest one ( which many people with children undertake because of the squirrels) is to walk up the clearly visible hill which lies behind the town. To reach this simply head to towards it and go UP and then UP some more - it is a nice walk though. There are Barbary squirrels on the hill and so people often take nuts with them - actually the squirrels seem to eat just about anything on offer.

Another Caleta walk takes you south along the coast mostly along a track and along to the salt pans at Las Salinas, passing some restored fortifications on the way.

Las Salinas has a small sandy beach and a restaurant which is located along the beach front.
If you feel like walking on a little further, go on through the village and once you climb the crest of the hill you seem to be looking at no-mans land with the view in front of you apparently totally devoid of life. You can continue down into the Barranco de la Torre (which has palm trees) and the unusual black sandy beach at Puerto de la Torre. If you continue from here you climb out of the Barranco and follow the cliff top and will eventually arrive at Bimboy beach.

The tiny island of Lobos is located at the north of Fuerteventura quite near to Corralejo and the island is reached by a short boat trip from the harbour. When we went there in October 2001 there were two types of boat available - a glass bottomed type and an ex fishing boat.

They left the harbour at 1000hrs and 1015hrs respectively and took about 35 minutes to get to the island. If you intend walking around Lobos then walking boots are favourite, also you should take some bottled water with you since there are not too many supermarkets - none in fact - but there is a cafe/restaurant near the jetty.
A walk around Lobos takes about 3 hours (meandering) and you would have great trouble in getting lost - simply leave the jetty and bear half-right (passing the Cafe after a few minutes.) Keep to the coastal path which takes you through the tidal lagoons, after which we ignored the "main" track by turning sharp right towards the sea and picked up the small coastal path which wandered up and down along the coast for a while - eventually arriving back on the main track quite near to the Lighthouse.

From the Lighthouse you take the main track but bear right on it's fork towards Montana Lobos, however just before reaching it you can take a track off to the right which takes you down to the beach inside the crater. When you return if you look carefully on the steep screes to your right its possible to spot a path which links up with the main crater path. Troll up the nicely steep crater path to the top where you can wander along the ridge for a while, getting good views including a view of the beach hidden inside the crater, the sand dunes of Corralejo and of Lanzarote. Return to the main track, head right and in around 15 minutes you arrive at the turn-off to Playa de la Calera (the beach). Remember your return ferry time - it takes about 7 or 8 minutes to get to the jetty from the beach - and the ferries don't wait.

Back on Fuerteventura - El Cotillo is located on the West Coast and has one of our most favourite beaches, the only caution is regarding the undercurrents which can make it quite dangerous for swimming.

The waves can be really awesome - which is why you often see surfers around waiting (eternally?) for the right wave. There is a really good cliff top walk - with excellent views - park by the watchtower and just head south along the beach and when it eventually ends climb up to the cliff top above and just keep going as long as you care too. When you are about 90 minutes into the walk you will be at the top of the steps which lead down to a sandy beach (beware of the tide) - these are very steep and sometimes fragmented steps and also there are Barbary squirrels darting around which can distract you.

On the route from El Cotillo and heading towards La Olivia the road passes alongside a large lava field which has quite a green look to it - with notably the colourful Montana Arena crater looking really weird when the sun-light on it is from a particular angle.

Antigua is windmill territory on Fuerteventura - both old and new varieties can be seen around here. Antigua's main square is dominated by a huge church, is tree-lined and has many cactus and other plants and shrubs - making it a very cool and pleasant place to stop. Don't miss the 200 year old El Molino windmill just outside of Antigua on the Puerto del Rosario road - part of the Antigua windmill craft centre.

There is an enjoyable walk you may care to try leaving from Antigua which heads up into the hills and ends up giving you splendid views for miles around as well as offering a birds eye view of Betancuria. With the square on your left and church belfry behind you head along the street and turn first right, follow the road until it turns sharp right, carry on straight ahead on a track. You can clearly see your intended route going across the valley and up into the hills on a rocky zig-zag path. We finished our walk at the crest (Dogollada de la Villa) with Betancuria in view and then walked back to Antgua however you can alternatively continue along to Betancuria and take get taxi back.

Heading north out of Antigua you come to Tefia which also has it's share of windmills. Take the road towards Puertito de los Molinos and after a short distance you will see a restored windmill on your right which is reachable by a track.

There are good views of the surrounding hills - if the light is correct you can see many different colours in the hillsides. From here return to the road and turn right towards Los Molinos - passing Barranco de Los Molinos on the way - this barranco has a permanently flowing stream which empties into the sea, providing duck-pond facilities for some extremely hungry ducks. For hungry or thirsty humans there is a restaurant where you can also find more hungry ducks as well as hungry cats.

Return back to the main road and head south for

Betancuria which used to be the old capital of Fuerteventura. Once you have crossed the valley you wind your way through the hills; there are two view points, the Mirador Morro Velosa on a road to your left and another at the top of the pass. Just before reaching Betancuria the ruins of the 15th century Franciscan Covent of San Buenaventura are on the left. Betancuria has a number of old houses, a cathedral and a Museo de Arte Sacro. The place is also inundated with coach parties.

The countryside is quite green as you continue south towards Pajara. When you reach Vega de Rio Palmas turn right on a narrow road which takes you to the reservoir. There is a lovely walk near here which will take you through a beautiful valley to the reservoir and eventually the delightful church called Ermita de Nuestra Senora de la Pena.

Park as near as possible to the streambed which is about 1km from where you joined the reservoir road. Simply walk along the streambed until you reach clumps of tamarisk at which point continue along the narrow path to the far edge of the reservoir. Make your way carefully along the right hand side of the reservoir and pick up a stone path which leads to the steps down to the little church. You can continue on the path beyond the church for a while and will find several good picnic spots with excellent views.

Corralejo has a small beach, numerous shops and holiday accommodation and an interesting harbour semi surrounded by tavernas and bars - the local wildlife seems

very well - trained at scrounging food from the restaurants customers - wildlife being the various seabirds and of course the cats. Many visitors head for the miles of sand dunes just along the coast - a paradise for nudists. Ferries leave here for Lanzarote and for Lobos - when we visited Corralejo we originally planned to have a day out (possibly with our car) to re-visit Lanzarote but the ferry prices were in our personal opinion outrageous ((not just our view)) with apparently two tariffs i.e. a local and a much higher tourist rate.

The Jandia Peninsula is well worth a visit, with all guidebooks etc saying you should only use a 4wd vehicle for your trip. The dirt road surfaces are very rutted and in places very rutted however on our trip we did see a few people using ordinary hire-cars (several stuck in sand or lodged on unfriendly rocks).

Just driving in our jeep was hard going at times with the ribble surface shaking us badly even at low speed - goodness knows what damage and so on was occurring with the hire-cars. Our hire-car company let us exchange our car for a jeep for the day so the cost was only a few pounds - surely worth while. There are several restaurants at Puerto de la Cruz and also one at Cofete (where we sat outside looking at the hills and had an excellent salad and omelette).

We started off just before Morro Jable Port on a signposted gravel road (clearly marked on the right) and bumped our way up and along what was often a quite narrow and hair-pinned experience, however after a few kilometres the

track improved a little to become only awful. After around 12kms there is a turn-off to the right to Cofete but we kept straight ahead towards Puerto de la Cruz and the lighthouse at Punta de Jandia - this being the southernmost tip of the island. There are tracks off to the left at various places but we decided to check these out on our return trip. You will find the only bit of tarmac surface on the Peninsula which heads from Puerto de la Cruz to Punta Pesebre on the most western tip. The coast line is really worth exploring right along this area and the sea crashing in on the rocks is quite impressive.

Eventually we retraced our route back to the Cofete junction and turned left - this track to Cofete is very very steep and heavily rutted in places as you zig-zag up and over the pass. At the very top of the pass there is a small parking area and you have a really good view of the golden beaches of Cofete and the Barlovento de Jandia. From here we zig-zagged steeply down to Cofete, diverted to the Villa of Senor Winter (a German who once owned the Peninsula) and then backtracked a little and turned right down a track to the beach. This sandy beach with it's superb waves is enormous and stretches well out of view both ways.

However as with most western beaches their are very strong currents and the sea is really only safe for a paddle. When we eventually left the beach we returned over the pass and at the junction turned left towards Morro Jable, however we diverted down several of the tracks to look at the beaches and coves we had spotted previously - well worth doing. We really enjoyed this trip and will certainly do it all over again when we get the opportunity. However next time if we use an open jeep we will put our belongings into plastic bags or we will get a jeep with a roof - we were unbelievably covered in dust by the time we got back to Morro Jable - as we drove back through we were being stared at because of the state we were in and the guys at the Hire Company laughed loudly!!!

Pozo Negro is a very small fishing village with a stoney beach, cafe and seems to be quite unaffected by tourism -

very pleasant place for a stroll and some sea air. Las Playitas is situated in the mouth of a barranco and has a largish black sandy beach - it's considerably larger than Pozo Negro but still very quiet. On leaving Las Playitas you find a road leading off to your right which goes to El Faro de Entallada (a lighthouse very very high up on the rocky coast). The road is always quite narrow but once you start climbing it narrows to about car-width, climbs very steeply with numerous switchbacks and has more than it's share of potholes - however the views on the way up and from the lighthouse car-park make this well worth the drive.

Gran Tarajal is very much a working town, pretty good to have a wander around but always seems terribly busy. It can

be a nightmare just getting there let along trying to park; the best time we found was on a Sunday morning since most other times we went it was swamped with cars, farmer's pickups and lorries.
Probably the best scenic drive on the island is round the Cardon. The drive can be started from the FV2 and taking the FV511 heading inland and after only 200 metres turn left onto the FV56 - a short way along this road you will find the turn-off to Cardon (marked as a scenic route).

This winds up through the mountains with some wonderful views and eventually ends up on the FV605 coast road.
If you turn left and head south take the junction marked Huertas de Chilejia (on the left) and this takes you back across the mountains to complete the original loop.
(The drive is actually worth doing in both directions since the scenery appears completely different).

Pajara, one of our favourite places to visit. As you come into Pajara there is a good car park on the left which is surrounded by beautiful trees and shrubs - running alongside the car park is a (usually dry) stream bed lined on both sides with flowering shrubs, and crossed by a small bridge.

Pajara is really a lovely place to wander around, with it's trees and shrubs full of birds and insects, it's numerous small gardens and squares, and of course the church with it's Aztec stone-carved decorations above the main entrance. If you are lugging children around it may be of interest to know that Pajara also has a swimming pool.

Ajuy is a small fishing village with a black sandy and pebble beach and gets quite busy since coach excursions include it on their circuit due to the Mirador Caleta Negra. The walk to the Mirador leaves the beach on the right and goes up and around the rocks - it's all clearly marked You arrive at one viewing platform and get excellent views along the cliffs and of the caves. Then you can also take the narrow somewhat vertigous walk down the steps to a lower view point and you can in fact go right on down to the sea.

Fuerteventura External Links

Fuerteventura Apartments Choose from our huge selection of holiday apartments in Fuerteventura and rent your holiday home direct from the owner
Fuerteventura Villas Luxury Fuerteventura Holiday Villas - An outstanding selection of high quality vacation homes and holiday villas throughout Fuerteventura.

Fuerteventura Holiday and Travel Guides.

There are Great Beaches to use whilst on holiday on Fuerteventura and the lovely climate helps as well.

Fuerteventura is a large, often windy Canary Island only a few hours flight from the UK and quite well known for it's surfing- however we like going on holiday to Fuerteventura for it's fantastic beaches (especially the nudist beaches), excellent track walking and rugged scenery.