A MUCH NEEDED BREAK Back in the late spring I felt I needed a holiday. After a depressing few months my husband and I decided to treat ourselves, one of our sons and his fiancée to a week's holiday. We have three other grown up offspring but they had other plans so my husband and I decided we would help towards any holiday they planned later in the year. Deciding where to go was a little complicated. My son and his fiancée are school teachers and this meant that this holiday had to take place outside of the English school term time if they were to join us. And as at this time I had mobility problems we wanted somewhere to stay with easy ...  Read the complete review

The approach to Arrecife Airport on Lanzarote gives you just a glimpse of the island but it's enough to tell you that life here must have been a challenge for the first settlers and before modern technology lent a hand, most especially with the provision of water. The coach from the airport to our resort in Playa Blanca, on the south coast of the island, confirmed that that challenge has not been entirely met. The landscape is one of almost total desolation; small scrubby plants are just about all that seem to survive in the black, volcanic gravel, alternating with areas of similar but red, iron-rich "soil". The eastern side of the island is dotted ...  Read the complete review

I recently spent a week in Matagorda, an area within the wider resort of Puerto del Carmen on the edge of Arrecife airport in Lanzarote. Matagorda has a couple of commercial centres consisting primarily of restaurants, pubs, shops and games arcades, numerous hotels and apartment complexes and a superbly well maintained beach. Matagorda is beautifully set between the coast with its sea views, a backdrop of volcanic mountains and... the airport! Being on holiday with my 2 year old, the airport (or in fact more accurately the aeroplanes constantly in view at close range) was in actual fact a great success in terms of easily accessible diversionary ...  Read the complete review

Lanzarote is one of the canary islands, it is a spanish speaking island which is why a lot of people assume it is in spain or just off spain when infact it is actually just off the coast of africa so is a lot hotter than spain. It takes around 4 hours to get there by plane from the uk. It is hot all year round in lanzarote so is a perfect place to top up your tan no matter what time of year you are traveling. Lanzarote is basically a volcano the whole island is the result of a volcanic eruption so a lot of the land is very steep hills so it may not be the most ideal place for the very old or disabled. The majority of the ...  Read the complete review

I love Lanzarote, we have been twice this year so far and also hoping to return in October. We went with Thomson both times and stayed at the same hotel (cinco plazas). We stayed in the main touristy resort of Puerto del carmen. If you want somewhere quieter its best to visit other parts of the island as this is the clubbing capital where most of the tourists go! We always hire a car so we can see some of the beautiful places on the island. Our top favourite places are as follows: 1. The papagayo beaches: These beaches are pure golden white sands and perfectly clear waters. There are a number of different ...  Read the complete review