Since going to Tenerife in May, we really got the traveling bug.  After an early summer vacation and a busy period at work, we couldn’t wait to travel again to somewhere new.

The Netherlands had a very late summer this year so we were in the search for some heat.  After hours of searching we had to decide between Portugal or Lanzarote, after a lot of googling we decided on the volcanic island Lanzarote!

We stayed in a lovely, quiet and peaceful town in the south of Lanzarote – Playa Blanca.

I used to be the type of person that would lay at the poolside from sunrise to sunset but now I am the get up early and go exploring type of vacationer.

On our first morning we woke up early and got ready so we could go explore.  The good thing about being up so early was we got to walk around Playa Blanca in peace.

 

We stayed at the HL Paradise Island hotel.  It is situated at the top of a large hill and it is actually quite a walk away from the main restaurants and bars.  It is a nice family hotel.

Although our hotel was lovely, it was extremely busy and surprisingly full of families. On our walk the first morning we arrived, we came across a pool that was open to the public, so we took advantage of this and spent a few days there.  The pool was located at the far end of Playa Blanca which was a lovely one hour stroll from our hotel but it was totally worth the walk to have a pool to yourself.

Everyday when we walking along the coast, we started to notice something rather peculiar. Each day there seemed to be more and more rocks being stacked up on each other.  This only left me with questions…Who was doing this?  Are the rocks alive?

Finally one day walking back to the hotel my question got answered, we saw the man that was stacking all the rocks.

This vacation we wanted to make sure we actually did some touristy things, so we decided to take a short boat trip over to Corralejo, Fuerteventura.

Corralejo is similar to Playa Blanca but bigger and only a short boat trip away.  We enjoy exploring the town in the perfect weather but we had to be mindful of time, or we would be stranded in Fuerteventura for the night.

My favourite part of our trip to Corralejo was going rock climbing on the beach.  As a child I enjoyed trips to the beach, and climbing rocks and looking in rock pools for crabs and fish.  So this really brought me back to my childhood.

 

The second boat tour, we visited the Papagayo beaches.  The Papagayo beaches are a cluster of 4 beaches, one being a nudist beach.  That was interesting stumbling across my first ever nudist beach.  We have never ran so fast off a beach before.  This was my favourite part of the holiday and a must see for anyone that travels to Lanzarote.  The best way to get to these beaches is by car or by boat.  We did look up if we could walk there, as if we hadn’t walked enough this holiday but we decided it was best to take a boat.  Apart from two small restaurants at the top of one of the cliffs, the beaches are completely untouched and beautiful.  It almost feels like you are cut off from civilisation

 

On our last day we decided we hadn’t walked enough so headed to the other side of Playa Blanca, and we were not disappointed.  The views here were just as beautiful and even more peaceful.  As we were enjoying cocktails, we got to watch a group of divers coming back from their dive in one of the bays.

Looking back at the holiday it doesn’t feel like much to write about, but it was a fantastic holiday where we went exploring, ate well, consumed plenty cocktails and had the occasional days at the poolside.  It was just what we needed.

So you can get an idea of how much we actually walked here was my final step counter for the days we were away.

Playa Blanca is a truly peaceful place, and I would recommend this location if you are looking for a more relaxed holiday. If I had to pick between Tenerife or Lanzarote… It would be Tenerife.  The main reason would be that personally I felt there were more nightlife for our age in Tenerife.

Not sure what the next travel plans are, as we are currently looking for a house.  But hopefully after we find our perfect home,  we can squeeze in a short holiday somewhere.

 

N x