Tourists can enjoy sunshine breaks on the popular holiday island of Lanzarote all year round. As the sun simply never stops shining on this small Spanish outpost. Which is located just off the coast of West Africa.
Lanzarote is one of the seven Canary Islands, which have belonged to the Spanish crown since the 1400´s despite the fact that they are situated much closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula. The Canaries provided a vital springboard for the expansion of the nascent Spanish empire – whilst also attracting the attentions of pirates and privateers throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. As galleons laden with Inca silver and gold docked here en route to the Old World.
Today most visitors arrive by plane instead – with the island welcoming well over one million holidaymakers during the course of 2009. With around 50% of these visitors arriving from the UK. Lanzarote is also a popular destination with Spanish tourists too, as well as attracting plenty of tourists from Germany and Scandinavia.
There are three main tourist resorts on the island and this is where visitors will find most of the best places to stay. With literally thousands of god quality Lanzarote villas and apartments to choose from. Along with a wide selection of hotel accommodation.
During the winter months villas in Playa Blanca are very popular – as this resort at the southern end of the island enjoys the best weather at that time of the year. And can often be basking in sunshine whilst other parts of the island are covered in cloud. Little wonder then that Playa Blanca is growing and expanding rapidly and is now well established as the second most popular holiday destination on the island.
The largest of the resorts though is Puerto del Carmen – and this is where the first visitors from abroad stayed during the 1960´s. Helping to create the boom in interest in Lanzarote that ushered in the package holiday years of the 1970´s.
In those days there were few villas in Puerto del Carmen available for rent. With visitors instead billeted in the Los Fariones Hotel, the only hotel at that time on the entire island. That has of course all changed today and tourists can now take their pick of a wealth of estabishments catering to all budgets.
Whilst it is possible to enjoy a holiday here at any time of the year visitors who want the best of the weather should visit during the autumn months especially.
