Am using ciao more for consumer purposes only now. I still sign in and read ops and may occasionally...
Am using ciao more for consumer purposes only now. I still sign in and read ops and may occasionally write one for the database, but no longer consider myself part of the community. Timmy/Mike.
Member since:28.04.2001
Reviews:55
Members who trust:124
A short bus/taxi ride from Lanzarote’s airport, Arrecife, Puerto del Carmen is the island’s main tourist centre. With no rain from May to September and with temperatures at a pleasant but not scorching (especially in a pleasant breeze) 23-29oC sun-seekers cannot go far wrong. However Puerto del Carmen outlived even my high expectations.
Puerto del Carmen consists of two glorious sandy beaches, Playa Blanca and Playa de los Pocillos, a long front filled with restaurants, cafes, bars, souvenir shops and mini-supermarkets and then hotels, apartments and villas, never more than 1km from the sea. Of course good accommodation is very important to an enjoyable holiday and there is a huge range from the very basic (and quite frankly ugly) to the more luxurious (but not unreasonably expensive) with facilities such as tenniscourts, larger swimming pools, mini-golf,
adventure playgrounds etc.
Indeed the key advantage of Puerto del Carmen is that there is something for everybody. In the town centre behind the Playa Blanca are the cheaper apartments for those who are seeking good value for money and this whole area has a more British feel to it, with cafes serving fish and chips, bars serving bitter and Guinness and restaurants serving roast dinners. The front even houses a MacDonald’s and a Burger King. This end of the town is in a certain way like good old Blackpool, or Brighton, Great Yarmouth or Bognor Regis, but with endless sunshine and the happy feel of being a long way from home and all the troubles of everyday life.
Towards the Playa de los Pocillos the accommodation is slightly more expensive and the front changes to reflect a different type of tourist. Now the MacDonald’s is replaced by a Tex-Mex diner and Murphy’s Irish Bar is replaced by an expensive looking ice cream parlour. The food and drink has a more Spanish feel, ideal for those who come on holiday to experience the different tastes, sights and sounds of a foreign culture. The tourist souvenir shops also become more Spanish somehow, with more traditional Spanish dresses instead of ripped jeans and bright T-shirts. So if you want an entirely different experience from that which can be found at home, this is the place to be.
Of course not every holidaymaker is purely sun-seeking, and Lanzarote caters for those who wish to explore the island and its culture more deeply. A good bus service links Puerto del Carmen to Arrecife and other towns, so you are free to explore if you so wish. However there are also numerous coach trips organised by the travel companies to such destinations as the Timanfaya National Park with its bleak volcanic landscape (used as a “lunar landscape” in films set on the moon) and Lanzarote’s ingenious potato pits that enable a dark, slightly damp atmosphere for growing the root vegetables.
If you wish to really appreciate the local culture then speaking Spanish is fairly fundamental, but you can have a fantastically enjoyable holiday without speaking a word of Spanish (although this can lead to a slight feeling of ignorance and embarrassment); I myself cannot speak Spanish and only picked up hola (hello) and adios (goodbye) when I visited Puerto del Carmen a couple of months ago. The Spanish currency is Pesetas and there are about 250 of them to the pound.
Lanzarote is a popular tourist destination all year round; but the peak season is in July/August, although December is also very popular. If you want to avoid the crowds then the times to go are May and October. A week-long self-catering holiday in late August in a three-star apartment will cost about £350 per person (for the latest cheap details see www.holidays-in-lanzarote.com) while a stay in a detached villa with private pool at the same time will cost approximately £400-£450 per person. This Easter I stayed with my family (5 people) in a 3-bedroomed villa with private pool and it was even better than anticipated. We went with Ocean Club Holidays (www.oceanclub.co.uk) and villa was spacious and tastefully decorated, and the patio area around the pool was quite large, allowing plenty of room sunbathing.
However there is a disadvantage to just about everything and a holiday in Puerto del Carmen is no exception. The disadvantage is of course the flight. Although charter flights go to Arrecife from most British International Airports (including Bristol, Ashford, Cardiff etc.), a four hour flight packed like sardines is not an ideal start to any holiday. This is particularly the case if you have a fear of flying or have young children as persuading them to sit still for the journey can be quite difficult and there is little to entertain them with. Obviously the holiday is a no go for non-flyers; it would take a week to get there by ferry.
The sun greeting you at Arrecife though is enough to make you forget the horrors of the last 6 or 7 hours of airports and aeroplanes and a nice cold lager from one of the many off-licenses/mini supermarkets along the front of Puerto del Carmen puts you firmly in the holiday mood. I would recommend Puerto del Carmen to anyone who doesn’t have a severe dislike of flying, although make sure you choose the part of the town that is right for you. Of course this varies a little depending whom you are with; a quite family is best enjoyed in the accommodation behind the Playa de los Pocillos but a wild week with your mates is probably best spent further downtown behind the Playa Blanca.
I suggest you go and I hope you enjoy you holiday as much as I did mine!
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A good op timmy.
Not sure that the peak season is in July/August. This is the quietest time for the Canary Islands as the holidaymakers are trying out the Costas etc. mainly Busy October to April.
DP
Cazz 21.04.2002 23:43
Thanks for this, just booked up for a 2 week hol in July so doing my homework! Cazz xx
LeilaR 02.07.2001 11:48
What a great review! I go every year, I didn't realise there was so much to it! One frustrating thing for me though is that I do speak a little Spanish, but every time I did the waiters would reply in English - so embarrassing.
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LukeyBoy 16.08.2006 (18.09.2006)
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