Additional information and tips about Fuerteventura

Tips for a pleasant Holiday in Fuerteventura

Travel Time in the Summer

Those who fly to Fuerteventura during the summer months will be spoilt with almost permanent sunshine and cero rainy days. During the day, the temperatures almost remain below 30°C, a thing that is very pleasant, but at nights, the temperatures do not fall below 22°C. As the hotel rooms and the appartments heat up a lot during the day, specially in the summer months, one should not miss to have an accommodation that is air-conditioned, as with a room temperature of 25°C and a high air humidity, it is very hard to fall asleep even though one is very tired.

Travel Time in the Winter

Fuerteventura is a popular holiday destination for germans who are annoyed by the coldness in the winter time. Most of the times the temperatures are pleasant in the winter months with a little more than 20°C. But in the winter there are numerous banks of clowds over the island; as the sun is covered by the clouds, it gets cold soon. In the winter time, there are also rainy days, it can even rain during a week with no break. Many hotel rooms and appartments have indeed an air conditioner but no heating. The temperatures in a room in the winter time can easily get under 20°C. This is why one should definetely take warm clothes with him, even if one of course hopes not to have to make use of them.

When it is raining or the sky is covered with clouds...

While a rainy day is something pleasant for a local person, the bathing vacationers are soon bored and frustrated. But this does not have to be! There is one thing I have learned in the Canarian Islands: if it is raining at the place where I actually am, it does not mean at all that it is raining in the whole island. Many times, it rains in one side of a mountain and at the other side the sun shines (very extremely in La Palma and Tenerife).

Thus, if it is raining or the sky is clouded in the place where one is actually on vacation, one should simply take his rented car and trudge round the island. Of course, it is easier to ask at the reception for the Weather in the island. The employees themselves live spread over the island so that they can give the best weather reports.

Claims, grievances

If the fish in the restaurant cost more than announced in the menue card, if the hotel room has no hair dryer as promised or if the tank of the rented car is not full, then one should never accept this but write down his frustration; Each restaurant, hotel and car rental has to have a complaints book that is to be given to the customer if required; As a guest or a client one simply asks for the Libro de reclamacionces and/or the pages of complaint Hojas de reclamaciones and writes down his problem in his mother tongue.

Each sheet of complaint has a reference number and has to be forwarded from the respective company to the tourism authorities where each complaint has to be handled. If certain indicents happen repeatedely, the respective company can loose its license. For a gastronome or a car renter, the worst thing is that can happen is when a client asks for the complaint book. Most of the times, only by requiring the Libro de reclamaciones is enough and the problem will be solved to the client's favour without burocracy.

No Flight to Fuerteventura available?

If you want to spend your holiday in Tenerife but there is no flight available, don't bury immediately your head in the sand. There are also some alternatives to a straight flight to Fuerteventura. For example, there are oftenly flights available to the neighboured island Lanzarote if Fuerteventura is not available anymore. Of course, one has to take a taxi to the south of Lanzarote, but from there, up to 11 ferries leave every day to Fuerteventura. Of course, by this way the travel time is extended, but the south of Lanzarote is fascinating and beautiful and the transfer to Fuerteventura is anyway a highly recommendable spectacle, passing the island Lobos and with a permanent view to the huge sandbeaches of Fuerteventura.

The right place in the plane

If one pays a lot of money for a flight to Fuerteventura, why not making a highlight of the flight and turn the end phase and/or the starting phase of the flight into a panorama flight? The planes from Europe always approach the airport of Fuerteventura from the eastern side. By sitting during the outbound flight at the window of the right side, one gets a panorama flight over the island Lanzarote and the northern half of Fuerteventura for free. The same applies for the return flight for a window at the left side. This highlight should really not be missed if one has a choice during the check-in.

Doctors and Chemistries

The medical attention is very good in Fuerteventura, not at least because numerous German or English doctors made their dream of working in a sunny island come true. The doctors work in a hard competition to each other. Also, many national doctors compete to get the preference of the tourists by speaking German or English themselves or by employing medical secretaries who speak several languages.

But a visit to a doctor is very costly in Fuerteventura; here, the doctors realy pitch in. And it is always paid cash. After a visit to the doctor, one should without fail get a bill that can be passed over to the health fund in Germany after the holidays. In the big tourist centers there are one or several chemistries that sell many medicines also without prescription. Many times it is enough to talk to a chemist in order to get the right medicine, a costly visit to the doctor is not always necessary.

Decorative Arts and Souvenirs

The native decorative art that in reality was mostly extinct is experiencing a new flourishing since the mass tourism. Numerous tourists buy a lot of souvenirs in the island before going back home. The traditional handcrafts are mainly basede on embroidery, but also basketry and pottery.

There are hundreds of souvenir shops in the island. In each tourist city and at each sightseeing there are offered in souvenir shops everything from a postcard up to ceramic pots. But be careful: the traders have already noticed that it is less costly to sell cheap imitations from Far East than the national staff. Original native products are available in the little villages in the interior of the island, where the craft is really practised.

Cross-Country or Cyling

The desert areas of Fuerteventura to take a jeep or a mountain bike and to make a cross-country tour and visit those places one could not get to with a normal car; Numerous pistes and traffic lanes attract one to the open country. But be careful! There where a trace is visible must not be an accessible road for the public. Many of such pistes are located in natural protected areas and national parks; they are only accessible for foresters and parking attendants. But those who still dare to get to the prohibited areas have to count with really high penalties. Thus, the best is to get previously informed where it is allowed to drive and to pay attention to the signs of the national park.

Be careful with the customs!

The Canarian Islands belong to Spain and Spain belongs to the European Community. Anyhow, the Canarian Islands from a free trade zone, so that as a vacationer one can not, as in the case of the other states of the EU, buy anything wanted and take it home. Many vacationers do not know this until they get into the customs cotrol and are completely surprised. There are the same rules of import applied like the ones for non EU countries, thus for example a maximum of 200 cigarettes or 1 litre high proof alcohol.

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Copyright: Patrick Wagner, www.tourist-guide.biz