Lanzarote: A True Paradise Island
- isla la Graciosa – Lanzarote
photo by Dani Plana Trenchs | Creative Commons 3.0
Are you looking for an affordable get-away? A place with white sand beaches and crystal clear water? A place with affordable hotels, friendly people and great restaurants? Then look no further than Lanzarote! The easternmost island of the Canary Island chain, Lanzarote has long been a playground vacation spot for Europeans, and now everyone can enjoy this unique slice of paradise.
The most expensive single part of the trip will be the flight. A round trip flight from the West Coast will cost about $1,000. From New York City, about $600. The island is just off the tip of Northern Africa, so the flight time is long. From the West Coast, you’ll be traveling for about 24 hours. From New York, about 14 hours.
Once you are there, you may be surprised at how inexpensive everything is. You can get a great hotel, right on the beach, for about $100. With a little research and luck, you might get the same accommodations for around $50 a night! With so many English and Irish tourists, the hotel staff will probably all speak some English. If you speak Spanish, you’ll be just fine. Of course they have their own accent and perhaps some words you wouldn’t have heard before, but you will get along just fine.
You’ll probably want to rent a car. The bus service is not great. Taking a taxi could be a good alternative, depending on how much exploring you want to do. There are several great rental places. You’ll probably spend $250 to rent a vehicle for a 1-week holiday. It only takes about 40 minutes to cross the entire island from North to South by car, and about 25 minutes across. The great restaurant selection throughout the island could be the only incentive you need to decide to rent a car. The island has tons of great places to eat. Three that are known for their traditional fare are: La Era, in the city of Yaiza, Casa Monumento al Campesino, in San Bartolomé, and Restaurante Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo, in the capital city of Arrecife. (Obviously, you’ll find that one inside the museum.)
When it comes to sitting down in restaurants, most of them have menus printed in English. Many servers speak some English, but just be patient with them and they’ll be patient with you! With so many English tourists, a lot of the resorts have food that’s more “English” than Canarian. Whatever your taste and desire, you won’t go hungry — especially in the larger towns, they offer Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican foods.
Many of the apartment-style lodgings have kitchenettes. So you can save a bit of money by buying some food and having a few meals in. Most of the supermarkets open at 8am, have siesta between 1pm and 4pm and then close at 9pm. As a side note: the tap water is treated sea water! You could drink it, by bottled water is easy to find and affordable.
This is just a tiny taste of what Lanzarote has to offer. We’ll explore more of this fabulous island in later posts. In the meantime, go ahead and start thinking about booking your trip. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
