With year round sunshine and beautiful sandy beaches, Fuerteventura is the perfect destination for holidaying in the Canary Islands. The island offers quieter resorts than the larger islands with the exception of Corralejo which offers a very lively scene. For families there is the resort of Caleta de Fuste and for couples there is the laid-back Costa Calma on the south coast with its peaceful natural beaches. Other Fuerteventura resorts include Playa Barca and Playa Jandia.

Fuerteventura beach

Fuerteventura has more than 150 beaches which are regarded by many as the best beaches in the Canary Islands. All of the resorts have a main beach which is well equipped with sun beds and family facilities. Due to the size of Fuerteventura beaches, visitors can always find a quiet spot, especially on the beaches that continue into long stretches of undeveloped areas of pale sandy beach. All of the beaches shelve safely to the calm clear waters surrounding the island. The liveliest beaches are found in Corralejo, however you only need to take a short walk and you will find stretches of unspoilt beaches which many regard as similar to those of the Caribbean. Corralejo offers excellent conditions for water sports like windsurfing and kite boarding. Costa Caleta is a purpose built resort with restaurants, cafes and shops which attracts mainly families. Just south of Corralejo is a national park of protected sand dunes known as El Jable. This protected area of sand dunes is particularly popular with naturists looking for a secluded area to relax in! The most beautiful beaches are found on the southern Jandia peninsula. If you are looking for a romantic ‘get away’ then the beaches of Jandia and Costa Calma are the perfect choice with many secluded coves. With long stretches of beach that soon become semi-deserted you will always be able to find a secluded spot for a touch of romance. Both Jandia and Costa Calma also have very nice promenades to stroll along when you want a break from the beach. For total dessert island seclusion you can hire a car and drive to one of the many naturist havens like Cofete Beach which is located in the Jandia Natural Park. Read more »

Costa Calma (Calm Coast) on the southeast coast of Fuerteventura was built around the small village of Canada Del Rio with the built up areas of the resort separated from each other by a green belt of land running for the whole length of the resort. This green area is a wildlife haven and great for a leisurely stroll during the day.

Costa Calma Beach

Fuerteventura’s Costa Calma is ideal for a quiet relaxing beach holiday in the Canary Islands. The main attraction here is the amazing sandy beaches which stretch for miles along the coastline and are regarded as some of the best in the islands. Running from Costa Calma to Morro Jable, these sandy beaches stretch for about 12 miles. Although nightlife is very low-key, the resort does have some discos but if you are looking for livelier nightlife you will need to visit Corralejo or Jandia. There is a range of hotels along the beachfront and even the hotels that are further inland are not very far from the coastline and offer great views of Costa Calma and the surrounding area. Read more »

Separated from the rest of the island, The Jandia peninsula is located in the south of Fuerteventura and is easily reached via a major motorway. The peninsula is a nature reserve and is renowned for having the best beaches on the island. The nature reserve is home to protected wildlife and plants and is surrounded by white rolling sand dunes and stunning lagoons. This beautiful area of Fuerteventura is a firm favourite with honeymooners, couples and families looking for quiet and relaxing holidays amidst stunning scenery.

Jandia coastline

The island of Fuerteventura has over 125 miles of golden sandy beaches. Jandia offers over 12 miles of coastline with beautiful white sandy beaches which in some places are over half a mile wide. There are smaller less accessible secluded beaches along the coastline but these can only be reached by jeep or 4 wheel drive vehicles.

Home to the resorts of Costa Calma and Morra Jable, Jandia has developed into a popular tourist destination with large hotels catering for all types of visitor. Spread along the coast on the Playa de Sotavento, Costa Calma is very popular with German tourists and has a beautiful beach where the sand gently shelves into the Atlantic. Swimming conditions here are perfect. Just south of Costa Calma is the resort of Morro Jable. Once a small fishing village the resort is becoming increasingly popular with holidaymakers looking for last minute holiday deals to Fuerteventura. With all types of accommodation from luxury hotels to welcoming lodges, Morro Jable has a promenade lined with restaurants, cafes, bars and shops. The Playa del Matorral beach here is along expanse of beautiful white sand with a lighthouse which signifies

Morro Jable promenade

the start of the nudist section of the beach.

A perfect windsurfing spot, Jandia hosts the World Windsurfing Championships every year. Other water sports on offer include scuba diving, water-skiing and kite-surfing.

Away from the beach a great way to explore the island is by jeep, visiting the many traditional villages on your way around the island. Jandia National Park, with over 6000 acres of beautiful beaches, is an amazing place to visit on your late deals to Fuerteventura. For the more energetic a walk to the highest point on the island, Pico de Zarza, will give you amazing views across the island and out to sea. The walk takes around 5 hours and is quite strenuous but the journey back down is much easier and quicker as it is mostly downhill! Visitors can enjoy a round or two of golf at the golf course which is nestled in the hills of Morro Jable. For a great family day out catch the ferry that the runs from the port in Morro Jable to the island of Gran Canaria.

Nightlife tends to be low key and mainly centred around the hotels or at the restaurants, cafes and bars along the beach front. There is plenty of choice when it comes to dining out in Jandia with a good selection of restaurants serving a variety of cuisine including traditional tapas, Italian and German food, and good old British roasts.

Jandia enjoys an all year round stable climate with hot dry summers and warm winters. With the sun shining all year round temperatures in July and August often reach 30C and even the colder winter months still see temperatures around 20C with very little rainfall. From May until October the temperature rarely falls below 25C and together with around 7 hours of sunshine a day and perfect sea temperature this is the perfect time for a beach holiday in Jandia.

Situated on the beautiful island of Fuerteventura, Costa Caleta is the perfect resort in which to spend your family holidays in the Canary Islands.

Costa Caleta

The purpose-built resort of Costa Caleta is located on the east coast of Fuerteventura, just 8 miles from the island’s capital Puerto Del Rosario and 5 miles from the airport. Known locally as Caleta de Fuste (cove of the fishing boat) or El Castillo de Fuste (which refers to the watchtower which looks down on the harbour), Costa Caleta is great for families and couples alike who are looking for rest and relaxation in a friendly atmosphere.

The horseshoe shaped cove here is man made from fine golden imported sand and provides a safe, sheltered place for all the family to enjoy the shallow, clear, warm waters. There is a safety barrier in place to prevent children from swimming out too far. At low tide rock pools teaming with fascinating marine life form, making this a great place to explore for the whole family. The temperature of the waters here very rarely fall below 19C (even in the winter) and average around 29C in August. It is always sunny here with the temperature rarely dropping below 21C.

Apart from it’s beautiful beach, Costa Caleta has a harbour, marina,

Costa Caleta marina

 restaurants, bars and a shopping village to keep the whole family happy. There is a great Oceanarium in the harbour which is home to some very unusual sea life. For the more energetic there are watersports on offer from the harbour, including scuba diving, snorkelling, jet skiing, windsurfing and parascending. There are also two 18 hole golf courses in the area.

To take in the beautiful scenery there are lovely coastal paths where you will be greeted by the friendly local chipmunks who will welcome you feeding

Costa Caleta chipmunk

them by hand. A walk along the coast is particularly inviting after a hectic day of laying on the sun soaked beach!

To explore more of the island it is a good idea to hire a jeep and enjoy a great family exploration day out.

If you are looking to spend your family holidays on a beautiful, ‘sunny all year’ island then look no further than the wonderful Canary Island of Fuerteventura.

There are always great late deals to this warm, friendly island available for you to book all year round.

Thinking of visiting the Canary Islands for your holidays?
Have you considered staying on Fuerteventura, the largest of the Canary Islands?
If you are considering this island destination then why not take a look at a really informative travel article for Fuerteventura that i have just come across.

Fuerteventura is the place for the best beach holiday.

Corralejo beach

Because Fuerteventura’s economy is purely built around tourism,  it is the perfect place for any holiday maker to get exactly what they want from their holiday. There are two towns on the island, Corralejo and Caleta de fuste, each offering a different experience.
Corralejo is located on the most northern tip of the island and is based around the small fishing town which has been adapted to tend to the tourists needs.
Purpose built Caleta de fuste is much more up beat and lively than that of the sleepy town of Corralejo.

Fuerteventura is also a top choice for golfing enthusiasts. With two golf courses, one is the championship golf course of the Spanish open and the

Caleta de fuste beach

 other is situated right next to it, there is plenty of opportunity to play.

Trevor Butler set up his first ‘travel’ related business in 2004 and has written many other destination articles with tips and information. I have found these articles both interesting and helpful, hope you do too.

Ryanair axed all of its Fuerteventura routes from 31st January this year, however, from March 2010 it will resume services to Bournemouth, Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Düsseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt Hahn, Glasgow Prestwick, Liverpool, Madrid, Milan Bergamo and Pisa.

The ten routes will deliver 300,000 additional passengers and create 300 new jobs at Fuerteventura.

Ryanair also announced the extension of its Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife routes to its summer 2010 schedule after the local government confirmed that its airport discount scheme would continue until at least March 2012.

The airline will operate 300 weekly flights on 53 Canary Island routes next summer, carrying over 2.3m passengers.

Ryanair have also announced that it would base a second Boeing 737-800 at Bournemouth from next March and open four new routes to Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Malta and Valencia, taking its total network to 16.

The new routes, together with increased frequencies to Alicante, Malaga and Palma, will increase the airline’s Bournemouth traffic to 650,000 passengers a year.

Ryanair will also base a sixth aircraft at Glasgow Prestwick from next March, which will focus on routes formerly operated by the collapsed flyglobespan to Alicante, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma and Tenerife.

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura’s coastline is a paradise for sun worshippers, watersports enthusiasts and naturists. There are a total of 152 beaches offering something for everyone. Some are wild and lonely, like something out of Robinson Crusoe, while others bustle with tourist activity.

There are child-friendly beaches, surfing beaches and remote spots favoured by nudists, nature lovers and birdwatchers.

With 50 kilometres of fine white sand and 25 kilometres of black volcanic sand, Fuerteventura has the biggest selection of beaches of all the Canary Islands.

Corralejo Beach

Corralejo in the north of the island is the most popular tourist spot where you’ll find several white sandy beaches, most with tourist facilities such as sun beds and shades for hire and various watersports. The beaches around the town are ideal for families, with such things as toilets, rubbish bins, bars and restaurants etc. Some of the beaches in this area are frequently used for fashion shoots and TV commercials.

From Corralejo you can take a glass-bottomed boat ride to the Island of Los Lobos (island of the wolves) which is virtually uninhabited except for a few local fishermen.

Windsurfing at Caleta de Fuste

The horseshoe-shaped beach at Caleta de Fuste, on the east coast, is also good for families with its gently shelving beach and many activities. Sports and leisure facilities here include diving, sailing and boat excursions.

In contrast, the wild beaches of El Cotillo on the west coast will appeal to those wanting to get away from it all. This section of the coastline is perfect for fishing, surfing and windsurfing and the village has some excellent seafood restaurants.

Jandia beach

Some of the island’s best and most unspoilt beaches are to be found at Jandia and Sotavento in the south where you’ll find 20 kilometres of white sand, lagoons and dunes.

The Trade Winds blow all year round making this part of the coastline a windsurfers’ paradise. World championship speed and slalom windsurfing events are held here every August attracting the cream of the windsurfing fraternity.

Windsurfing

These beaches are also popular with naturists as there are always quiet spots to be found, some of which can only be accessed by jeep or on foot. There are no official nudist beaches but topless sunbathing is accepted more or less everywhere and naturists can do their own thing, as long as they do it away from the main tourist centres.

The wonderful climate, volcanic sea beds and rich marine life of the waters surrounding the island attract scuba divers, big game fishermen and sailors from all over the world.

Visitors can take a boat ride to see the whales, dolphins and turtles or take a dive and explore the magical underwater world of dramatic rock formations, wrecks and reefs inhabited by rays, moray eels, sharks, barracuda and a myriad of other marine life.

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands, located just 100 kilometres off the coast of north Africa. It’s the second biggest of the islands, after Tenerife, and has the longest beaches in the archipelago. The island is a paradise for sun, beach and watersports enthusiasts and is perfect for families and couples alike.

It is believed that Fuerteventura is the oldest of the Canary Islands, created out of a series of volcanic eruptions many thousands of years ago.

The first tourist hotel was built here in 1965 followed by the construction of the airport at El Mattoral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island. Fuerteventura, with its 3,000 sunshine hours a year, was placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination.

The island is on the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures here rarely fall below 18C or rise above 24C. There are no less than 152 beaches along its coastline, 50 kilometres of fine, white sand and 25 kilometres of black volcanic shingle.

Angel Shark - Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura is a year-round surfers’ paradise and the clear blue Atlantic waters also attract sailors, scuba divers and big game fishermen. Whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights. Fuerteventura offers the modern day visitor plenty of adventure, including shark fishing and kitesurfing, or total relaxation on some of the best beaches in Europe.

Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas which can be best be explored in a 4×4 or with a cross-country motorbike.

The island’s colourful past can be traced in a variety of ancient buildings, monuments, archaeological sites and museums. The first settlers are believed to have arrived here from North Africa – the word Mahorero or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and comes from the ancient word ‘mahos’ meaning a type of goatskin shoe worn by the original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, a few of which have been discovered and excavated revealing relics of early tools and pottery.

John de Bethencourt

In 1405 the French conqueror John de Bethencourt took the island and gave his name to the capital, Betancuria on the west coast (Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835). The name of the island itself is believed to have come from Bethencourt’s exclamation “Que forte aventure!” (What a grand adventure). A less romantic explanation is that the name simply means “strong wind”.