Lanzarote Islands - Additional information

On this page, we have arranged further information for a holiday on the Canarian Island Lanzarote. Moreover, there are also some interesting link recommendations.

Tips for a pleasant holiday in Lanzarote

Travel time in the summer

Those who fly to Lanzarote during the summer months is nearly permanently pampered with sunshine and cero rainy days. During the day, the temperatures mostly stay at a pleasant level under 30°C, but at nights they don't fall under 22°C. As during the day time, the hotel room and the appartments heat up strongly, one should pay attention, specially in the summer months, to the availability of air-conditioning, as by a room temperature of 25°C and a high air humidity it is very difficult to fall asleep even if one is very tired.

Travel time in the winter

Lanzarote is one of the most popular holiday destinations for germans that are afflicted by the cold in the Winter Mostly, the temperatures are pleasant in the winter months with a little more than 20°C. But in the winter, numerous banks of clowds float over the island; if the sun is covered by thick clowds it will get fresh immediately. In the winter there are also rain days, it can even rain for a full week. Many hotel rooms have indeed air-conditioning but not a heating system. The temperatures can fall during the winter easily under 20°C. This is why in any case, one should travel with some warm clothes in the luggage, even if, of course, one hopes not to have to use them.

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

While for a Lanzaroteño, a rainy day is something pleasant, in many bathing tourists it rapidly leads to boredom and frustration. But this does not have to be this way! One thing I learned in Lanzarote and the other Canarian Islands: if it is raining where I actually am, it does not mean at all that it does rain in the whole island. Many times, it is raining on one side of a mountain and at the other side, the sun is shining (very extremely in La Palma and Tenerife). I also had the situation in Lanzarote that in Playa Blanca the sun was shining, while 10 km at the north in Yaiza it was raining cats and dogs, lightning and thundering.

Thus, if it is raining somewhere in Lanzarote or the sky is clowded, one should simply take the rented car and pound the island a little. Of course, it is easier simply asking the reception in the hotel for the weather in the island. The staff members themselves, they partly live spread over the island and can give the best weather forecasts; And if it really should rain in the whole island, then it is time to visit the cave Cueva de los Verdes; in the big cave, there is a nice temperature of approximately 20°C during the whole year.

Complaints, grievances

If the fish in the restaurant is more expensive than stated on the menue card, if the hotel room does not have a hair dryer as promised or if the tank of the rented car is not full, then, in any case, one should not let it be like that but write down the own frustration; Each restaurant, hotel and each car rental must keep a complaints book that has to be handled to the guest if required. As a guest or a client one simply asks for the Libro de reclamacionces and/or the sheets of complaints Hojas de reclamaciones and writes down the problem in the mother tongue.

Each sheet of complaints has a file number and has to be presented by the respective company to the tourism authority, where each complaint has to be revised. If certain indicent occurs several times, the respective company is jeopardized to loose the license. For a gastronome or a car rental it is the worst thing that can happen, if a client asks for the complaints book. Many times, the requirement of the Libro de reclamaciones is enough to make the problem to be solved in an unbureaucratical way in favour to the client.

No flight to Lanzarote available?

Do not burry your head in the sand immediately, if you want to have a holiday in Lanzarote but you do not have a flight. There are some alternatives to a flight to Arrecife. For example, many times there are flights available to the neighbour island Fuerteventura when the airport of Lanzarote is booked up. Then, of course, one has to drive with the rented car or a taxi to the north of Fuerteventura, but from there, up to 11 ferries depart during the whole day to Lanzarote. Of course, the travel is then long extended, but the north of Fuerteventura is fascinating and beautiful and the ferry trip to Lanzarote that passes the island Lobos is in any case a recomemndable spectacle.

Doctors and Chemistries

The medical attention is very good in Lanzarote, 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 nationals 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 Tenerife; here, the doctors really pitch in. And it is always payed 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 neccessary.

Picturesque agricultural cultivation

Those who cross the island by car or bus, will repeatedly pass some beautiful little fields where the farmers practice the agriculture as an art. Then, one often wonders: is this operating expense really worth? Many tims, the answer is no, as whereever one is in Lanzarote, one should always keep in mind that the Lanzaroteños do anything to make the island appear to be beautiful and cultivated. This also includes that numerous fields that initially were not useful for the agriculture or were already given up long ago, are continued to be well-kepr in order to delight the tourist's eyes by passing this fields.

Craftmanship Souvenirs

The craftmanship of Lanzarote that in fact is nearly extinct, is currently experiencing a new flourishing since the mass tourism; Numerous tourists buy lots of souvenirs in the island before leaving home. The basket making belongs to the national craftmanship, the rosette embroidery and of course the pottery. A popular souvenir is also a timples (smal guitar-like music instrument) or a trinket of olivin.

There are hundreds of souvernir shops in the island. In each tourist city and at each sightseeing, everything is offered in souvernir hops, from a postcard up to a trinket of olivin. But be careful: long ago, the commerciants have discovered that it is more profitable to sell some cheap imitations made in ar east than the national stuff. Also in the big sunday market in Teguise, where thousands of people inflow, much imitated and cheaply copie dstuff is sold.

Trinkets of peridot and olivin

Trinkets of emerald-green olivin are a popular souvenir of numerous vacationers in Lanzarote. Olivin is a mineral that is contained in the volcanic rocks, thus it comes from the deep earth. In a long process, the sea flushes the little olivin particles from the lava rock and flushes it to the land. This is the reason why on the beaches of the eastern coast one can see numerous tourists that walk ducked along the beach and collect the little stones.

If olivin is grinded, the precious stone peridot is originated. Normally, the little olivin mineral stones are much too small to be grinded. This is why most of the trinkets made of peridot are not made of the rocks of Lanzarote but imported from South America or are even made artificially.

Bus tour in the National Park of Timanfaya

The bus tour in the Timanfaya Nationalpark is part of the obligatory program of any visitor of Lanzarote. Sensational views to the fire mountains are offered on a dangerous round street. The bus drives through many loops and curves and in principle, a very large left turn and it repeatedely stops so that pictures can be made; there is a lot to see, but mostly at the right side. This is the reason why it is very important to get a seat at the right side in direction of travel!

Attention, customs!

The Canarian Islands belong to Spain, and Spain belongs to the EU. But the Canarian Islands form together a free trade zone, so that as a vacationer one cannot, as usual in the other states of the European Union, buy any quantity of stuff and take it to the home country. Many vacationers do not know this until they - completely surprised - get into a customs control. For the import, the same rules are applied as the ones for the non-EU countries, thus for example a maximum of 200 cigarettes or 1 liter high percentaged alcohol-drinks.

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