You won’t see much wild countryside on this six-mile walk, but you will see half a dozen beaches, two castles, a shipwreck and a royal palace; and you’ll learn how much the island relies on its goods port, its power station and its water plant.
You can start the walk at either end, but we’ll begin at Playa Reducto in Arrecife, near the bus interchange which takes you all over the island. This broad sweep of sand is one of the best town beaches on the Canaries, overlooked by the Gran Hotel. You might want to have a look the recently-opened Islote de la Fermina behind the hotel – it’s well worth it – then carry on along the seafront to the Charco de San Gines.
Cross the bridge over the Charco and carry straight on over a couple of roundabouts and into the port area. Puerto Naos is Arrecife’s oldest port, the historical home of the island’s fishing fleet and the site of raids by Sir Walter Raleigh, among others. However, it’s not very pretty until the footpath leads you up past old saltworks and towards the Castillo de San José, which offers spectacular views of the port area.
Carry on until you see a winding path leading down to a beach. This is Playa de las Arenas, popular with Arrecife locals, and the lava spit you can see is the only place where the eruptions on 350 years ago reached the south coast.
Passing more old saltworks on your left you’ll enter the Puerto de los Mármoles area, where gigantic cruisers moor and thousands of tonnes of goods arrive to supply the island’s shops and businesses. Here you’ll have to look out for the signs and make your way past the warehouses and buildings to the main road leading to the port, turning left and heading inland towards the roundabout.
Pick up the seafront path just before the roundabout and you’ll soon see the Telamon shipwreck on your left, and the huge wind turbines directly ahead. Now you can choose to carry on along the roadside or skirt round the seaward side of the power station. If the tide isn’t too high we’d recommend the latter – you’ll get a close-up view of some of the most important industrial facilities on the island, impressive in their size.
Now carry on into the small fishing village of Las Caletas, whose pretty seafront is rarely visited.
Carry on, looping up past the famous Casa Tomás restaurant to the road again and continue. You’ll pass the pretty turquoise lagoon of Playa El Ancla on your right, a lovely place to swim despite the rocky shore. Soon you’ll reach the King’s House, where royalty and Presidents have stayed, but you’ll have to skirt round it inland before finding yourself on Costa Teguise’s broad seafront promenade.
From here it’s a breezy stroll past blue sea, white surf and black volcanic rocks until you reach Playa Bastián, with its deep golden sand. A little further on you’ll reach the picturesque Playa Jablillo and the Jablillo headland.
There are plenty of places to eat and drink here – even more if you head round the headland, past the pier to Playa Cucharas. From here it’s easy to catch a bus on the Avenida de Islas Canarias just behind the first line of beachfront buildings.
WALK INFORMATION
This is a linear 9km walk which should take you 3-4 hours to complete. The terrain is easy and mostly paved paths.
You can take the number 60 bus to the Intercambiador de Guaguas on the Arrecife seafront and then walk to the starting point if you don’t want to use your car.
For regular updates, pictures and videos of Lanzarote be sure to like and follow our Facebook page “Gazette Life Lanzarote”.
