9 reasons savvy visitors head to north Fuerteventura
I've been visiting the Canary Islands* for 20 years but, too influenced by others, I long dismissed Fuerteventura as 'just a desert' or 'one big beach'. When I eventually made it to the second largest Canary Island, I instantly realised my mistake.
Yes, Fuerteventura* is indeed one big beach and a giant desert, but it's also a world-class playground for hikers and watersports enthusiasts, has increasingly superb food and drink (even wine, surreally in the desert), and a flurry of welcoming resorts, towns and villages.
And the finest of its charms are handily concentrated in its deeply scenic north. Here are just some of the reasons you should skip the south and head north in Fuerteventura.
Getting to Fuerteventura: find great value holidays to resorts across Fuerteventura year round with TUI*.
El Cotillo: more fishing village than resort
This oasis out west is a joy. Life still revolves around the local fishing fleet, who dish up a rich bounty of fresh seafood. Vaca Azul never disappoints and the slick, revamped El Roque de los Pescadores is sublime too.
The bobbing boats are not just for show as you'll find out when a flurry of top-notch seafood restaurants burst open for lunch and dinner. The rest of the time El Cotillo slips into slumber even as it grows as a resort.
There are superb sheltered beaches to swim at on the northern fringes; to the south, the big Atlantic rollers serve as nectar for those with a surfboard and as a spectacular backdrop to a gorgeous beach that is best viewed from the waymarked hiking trail in the sweeping dunes, rather than taking to the tumultuous waters.
Corralejo: for people who don't like resorts
This is the Canarian resort for people who don't like resorts. A laidback, low-rise community with real heart, character and charm.
This old fishing village attracts everyone from British package holidaymakers and a large Italian ex-pat community to mainland Spanish visitors and passionate surfers enjoying the towering local breaks.
Corralejo* is a welcoming town where anything and everyone goes. Last time I was here an Italian gelataria owner told me, "Corralejo is not a resort, but an island for the world." And I know exactly what she meant. In short, Corralejo is a hard place not to like and the ideal base for exploring the rest of north Fuerteventura.
Lajares: a cake lover's paradise
Say what you like about surfing, but without it, you wouldn't be enjoying delicious coffee and some of the best cakes you've ever tasted in Lajares.
When Central European surfers started flocking to the big breaks of the remote northern littoral in the 1970s, they found decent coffee and sweet treats scarce.
So they conjured up their own and today there are over half a dozen surf cafés and bakers in this hinterland village. It's surreal enjoying a spot-on Sacher Torte and Viennese coffee as surfers cruise by in neoprene carrying their boards, with the ocean nowhere in sight.
The many rural towns & villages
It doesn't end with the triumphant trio above. Not when you still have the arty inland town of La Oliva with its remarkable grain museum. You'll find out how to grow grain in a desert with no modern techniques.
Then there is seriously sleepy Molinos, a dramatic hamlet on the coast once famous for its eponymous windmills.
Further south there are big volcanoes and a brace of unforgettable historic boltholes. Betancuria is the former capital while Antigua has a cheese museum that tells the story of the island's award-winning EU-protected goat's cheese, Majorero.
Endless beaches
Fuerteventura easily has the best beaches of the eight Canary Islands; indeed, some of the best beaches in Spain. And my picks are in the north. Corralejo has decent stretches of sand right in town, but El Cotillo trumps it with a rich necklace of white sand coves protected from the Atlantic by lava-forged reefs.
The pick of the bunch is La Concha, where a beach shack has recently sprung up offering beers and brews. A sublime spot.
South of Corralejo, 'Las Dunas, officially the Parque Natural de Corralejo, tempts with mile upon mile of cotton-white sands. If you've ever wanted to know what it is like to walk in the Sahara this is the place but with the bonus of the cobalt ocean to swim in afterwards.
Quieter hiking
Fuerteventura may not have the soaring peaks of Tenerife* and Gran Canaria*, but it still offers remarkable hiking.
And you get to enjoy the walks here without hordes of other people. My favourite epic is the 22 km coastal yomp between Corralejo and El Cotillo along the coast. It's a binary world of white sand and black lava, with the hills of Lanzarote* blinking back across the ocean. Bliss.
Go early as TikTok has hoarded swathes of people to 'Popcorn Beach' (real name El Hierro Beach) along the route. It's worth stopping here to find the hard popcorn doppelgangers (actually calcified white algae) on their way to becoming sand.
If you like volcanoes head to Lajares and do the circuit around the volcanic hills, with an optional extra of a track that peers right down inside a crater.
Wild watersports
With its big ocean surf and reliable wind, the north of Fuerteventura is a honey pot for all sorts of watersports enthusiasts. Corralejo boasts world-class kiteboards on its southern fringes as well as windsurfing and hydrofoil.
The breaks along the rugged north coast are testing and for experienced surfers only. There are surf schools in both Corralejo and El Cotillo. Stand-up paddleboarding is also increasingly popular around north Fuerteventura.
Local food & drink
The local seafood is just wonderful, whether you are tucking in at the swathe of seafood restaurants in El Cotillo, or picking up fresh fishy delights in the well-stocked supermarkets of Corralejo.
Cherne is a popular local fish, but rarer bocinegro is even better. The most famous culinary export is the sublime earthy goat's cheese, which has won special recognition by the EU. In recent years, a handful of bodegas have sprung up after seeing the success of Lanzarote's wineries.
Now, you can savour wines cultivated on Fuerteventura in near desert conditions. They are not quite at the same level yet as Lanzarote's finest, but they go well with the local food and are ultra-local.
Tiny Isla de Lobos
I've lost count of the number of Majereros (people from Fuerteventura) who have told me that when they want to just chill out they catch a boat to the island of Lobos.
Just fifteen minutes from Corralejo, you're dropped off on this uninhabited real-life Treasure Island. You can hike right around, but it's a deceptively long route and there are no facilities.
A better plan is to hike the volcano for epic views of north Fuerteventura and then enjoy a swim in the sheltered lagoon below, now being marketed by the tour boats as the 'Blue Lagoon'.
It is blue and it is a lagoon, but it is more than that; it's a brilliant place to swim and while away a few hours. Get there on the first boats to nab one of the horseshoe-shaped volcanic beach shelters.
Climate in Fuerteventura
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
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| Sea temperature °C |
The above guide shows the climate in Corralejo. Find out more about conditions across the country in our complete guide to the climate in Fuerteventura.
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