What to do in South Lanzarote (Club Aquarius)

Member Name: macluke

Product:	Club Aquarius
Date:	05/02/02 (1628 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of eateries, scenery, Playa Blanca/Papagayo

Disadvantages: can't think of any

Fortunately it is a relatively short ride from the airport to Puerto Del Carmen, and equally we had found where we were going to stay on our last trip to Lanzarote and also had a detailed map of the area for further use. We were staying at the Apartments Aquarius (Aquamar), which is situated away from the throng of the main centre in what is called the New Harbour area. This complex contains some 140+ apartments (1 bedroomed) and if you want to make your own reservations you can (tel. 958/514940), it costs about £120 a week, but that is for the apartment which can sleep 4. The apartments have a twin bedded room with a pullout sofa bed in the lounge. All have a kitchen with oven, two hobs and fridge. The apartments also have T.V.’s and a hairdryer! There is a good size pool (with kiddies separated from main pool), restaurant, bar, games room, laundry etc. on site. I must admit we did not use the restaurant except for snacks as there are some lovely restaurants around the harbour area – this is were the Canarians come to eat.

What I like about Lanzarote is there is plenty to do on the island without necessarily being part of a horde of other tourists. As I have already described some of the things to do on the Northern part of the island I am going to talk about some of the things you can do in the southern end, between Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca.

Firstly, of course there is Puerto del Carmen. This is a bit like Blackpool with sun and no lights. It is a very busy resort and there is a lot of tat around, but there is plenty of choice as far as restaurants are concerned, ranging from the Indian restaurant (where to get to it you have to walk through the Chinese restaurant!), to Tex-Mex, McDonald’s and even a few Canarian restaurants. Most of these are of a good standard but I preferred the ones around the harbour where we were staying. One thing you have got to give Puerto is it has a magnificent beach. The new har
bour area where we were staying is 1 to 2 kilometres from the main resort but has some excellent restaurants; in fact I am still waiting to get into one as it always had a queue. Most have a great view from them as they are either along the cliffside or on the second floor and have open balconies (this can be chilly at the wrong time of year). Besides the obvious fish dishes they do some excellent steak dishes, but my favourite is the garlic mushrooms as starters. These are not done like this anywhere else I have been to in the Canaries or Spain. They cook these in a dish filled with olive oil and red hot peppers as well as the garlic and everything is served together piping hot and you eat the lot including the oil and peppers and if they are good you feel mighty good!

From here it is worth doing a little trip to Puerto Calero along the coast, it is not far but worth it. It is a small harbour where some of the wealthy people moor their boats, and has some restaurants and shops to look at as well as the harbour itself. We also went on to Playa Quemada, but this is nothing special and could be given a miss (depends if you want to see what the locals do). After this make your way towards Playa Blanca. I love this end of the island and suggest you go on more than one trip to it.

If you go along the main road to Playa Blanca you miss all the fun, turn off at Uga and go to Yaiza, this is a beautiful valley area with wonderful looking houses and farms and when you get to the other end there are stunning views of the coastline set out in front of you. We in fact got out here to take some pictures only to find the car wanted to go on by itself DOWNHILL!! Fortunately we caught it before it got to far and made our way to Playa Blanca. You can park in the port area and make your way on foot to the town, that way you will see most of the beachfront. This is an excellent place to chill out in, as there is a lovely beach here and again some good resta
urants. From the port you can take a ferry to Fuerteventura and visit the sand dunes around Corralejo as well as the town itself. Having been to this island I can recommend the sand dunes – they are great fun especially if you have something to go down on them, with you. This is an all day trip and can be taken from most parts of the island, but remember it takes about an hour to get here and the boats go around 8:30a.m. the cost is around £25 for adults and half price for kids.

Another part of the island well worth a visit down here is Papagayo Beach. To get here you need to come back out of Playa Blanca and take the back road towards the east, you will soon run out of proper road and eventually you will come to a hut where you will have to pay to go to the beaches (there are several). We went to one of the smaller ones, a beautiful little arch of a beach with a restaurant on the top of the cliff, the water was nearly warm but I do not recommend what some gentleman did and go into it naked, you could plainly see why cold water was not good for him on his return from the water!

Whilst on this side of the island I would venture over to El Golfo and visit the green lagoon (Lago Verde). You have to walk along the cliffside (sometimes not for the faint hearted) to get to see the view, but it is worth it. On your way back if you fancy being a bit adventurous then again miss the main road and this time take the detour via Las Brenas to Femes and take in the beautiful views from here and then travel down the exciting road back to the main road.

I hope this has given some ideas on what to do on this part of the island, it is not an exhaustive list afterall you will be on holiday and want some time to relax, but most of this can be done in two days and you can even take in Timanfaya as well if you are prepared to get up a little earlier than normal after the night before!

For more information on what to do in Lanzarote see my
other article under Lanzarote Beach Club (this tells you some of what to do in the North).

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