Lanzarote in summer, Playa de Papagayo

Beautiful water. Playa Mujeres

This year’s summer holidays were a bit scrambled for us, due to this and that. To punctuate the month of August we decided to go to Lanzarote, just for three days. We’ve already been to Lanzarote a few times of course. This time, the aim was to check out Playa de Papagayo, Parrot’s Beach, a small cove beach not far from Playa Blanca, and La Graciosa, the smallest inhabited Canary Island, “the eighth one”.

Somewhat closer

But first, we had to get there. Timur prefers sea to air, so we decided to try a relatively new route of Fred.Olsen, Las Palmas – Arrecife. It normally takes under four hours. Unfortunately, we traveled on a bad day. The sea was rough, the boat was full of people being sick and we were one and a half hours late to arrive. The captain announced at the very beginning that we would be late, because of the state of the sea. He even had to take a route to the east of Fuerteventura, while the normal route goes to the west. While we were traveling there were quite a few announcements like “could the owners of such and such two vehicles please come to the hold”. All of them came after we hit an especially big wave, so I imagine the two vehicles in question had just collided.

And you know what? Even after the experience, Timur still claims he prefers sea travel to flying. I must add that the travel back was right on schedule, no delays, no car collisions.

Another thing to note — in summer months, there are (almost) no cruise ships visiting the Canaries, so (almost) nobody expects tourists in the port. The car rental office of Cicar is closed and you have to take a taxi to Arrecife to pick up your rental car. The only office of Cicar (or, rather, Cabrera Medina, Cicar’s mother company) in Arrecife has relatively short hours and a long break for siesta. Be warned. There were a few (very few) taxis in the port, but there were possibly even fewer vehicle-less passengers, so when we emerged, a small verbal fight and some pushing and shoving ensued between two taxi drivers — something I’ve never seen in the Canaries before.

You can still find a place to spread your blanket, but... I dunno. I am not a big fun of crowded beaches.

Next day we didn’t want to think about sea travel, so we went to see the Papagayo beach. The main, most picturesque beach is relatively small and quite sheltered. You can access it by car, except I chickened to drive a small rental Fiat 500 on a dirt track. It was very clear from the map that the white sandy beaches are not far from the southernmost barrio of Playa Blanca — Las Coloradas, so we parked there and went on foot. I’d say, if you have no problems walking — walk.The first white sand beach, called, according to Google Maps, “Playa Mujeres”*, is located slightly more than a kilometer away from where we parked — and we didn’t even park the closest possible. If you are able bodied and don’t have to drag kids (or unwilling adults) with you, driving might be a bit frustrating. And it’s not because there is a charge, nor because the road is bad. It is because the “main” cove is packed, as you can see above. So you end up in a big hot shadeless carpark, faced with a prospect of either being on a sandy beach full of people, or (having just paid for driving) walking back, towards Playa Blanca, to get to the less crowded places. And Playa Mujeres is, ironically, somewhat closer to Las Coloradas than to the cove.

Playa Mujeres also has its own parking space, even two parking spaces. I am not sure at which point they charge you, so don’t know if these are free or not. If you can’t walk, this might be a good alternative to driving all the way to Papagayo.

Playa del Pozo, between Playa de Papagayo and Playa Mujeres

Having said all that, all the beaches are undeniably beautiful. Just don’t believe the publicity pics that were taken, oh, I dunno — 40 years back, possibly. I can’t say about winter months, they might be considerably emptier then, but on a hot summer day be prepared for crowds, everybody looking for the same thing as you — seaside idyll. Idyllic emptiness is not a happening thing.

You might have a better chance for it if you carry on to the south from the parking of Papagayo — there are some south-east facing beaches that look promising. We didn’t get there, the day was way too hot for it.

Practical detail: just above the Papagayo cove there are two bars/beach restaurants. When we were there, only one was opened, maybe because it was still too early in the day for the second one. Prices are predictably exaggerated but you won’t stay hungry and thirsty at least.

View towards Playa Blanca

I timed our walk back from Papagayo beach to where we parked the car in Las Coloradas — it took us 40 minutes, with getting lost in the small streets belonging to various hotel developments.

After that, there was still plenty of time for us to go for lunch in La Geria and visit the volcanic park Timanfaya :)

Check out the lay of the land between Playa Blanca and Papagayo on the map below. Have a look at the relative size of the parking and the cove.

Pics related to Lanzarote on Shutterstock — here

* Playa Mujeres sounds a bit odd to me, but that’s what you see on Google Maps. The most likely name is “Playa de las Mujeres”, Women’s Beach.