We flew from Bristol airport to Arrecife with Jet2Holidays.
We stayed at The Plaza Azul hotel in Puerto del Carmen and we were self catering. We would definiately return to this hotel:
- plenty of sunbeds
- heated pool
- fantastic location, close to the beach & shops but quiet at night
- walkable distance to Rancho Texas
- parking right outside for a hire car
- our room had a front and back patio
- it was all old style, basic and reliable with real keys for the front door and security deposit box
Our room was B21 and was right beside the pool. This was handy as I had arranged with to work from the hotel every morning.
Puerto del Carmen
Our hotel was a short walk down the hill, past the HyperDino supermarket and the bike hire shop (which we’re sure was run by Andy McGraths twin!) to the Dos Mil cafe.
One day we hired bicycles and all cycled to Matagorda. Our first job was to locate the lock heart that Abi attached last year but sadly it was not there. It seems that either the quality of the locks isn’t good enough to survive just one year which is disappointing, or, the locks are removed at the end of the season which is also disappointing.
We continued past the airport, stopping to watch some planes take off and land.
Arrecife
We had a quick lunch in a seaside cafe in Playa Honda before continuing our ride to Arrecife.
Once here we visited the Cattle Egrets which have been residents on the island since the 1990s.
We had a coffee in the old town by the harbour and after soaking up the atmosphere we did the 8 mile ride back to Puerto Del Carmen.
Rancho Texas
This is two theme parks in one. There is a reasonable sized zoo with educational shows on parrots, dolphins, sea lions and birds of prey, and then there is a small waterpark with several flumes and heated pools.
Go Karting
One afternoon after work, we hired bikes and cycled to the kart track by the airport. The same one Andy had tried out on our first visit to Lanzxarote back in 2003.
This was Abi’s first ever ride in a go kart. They have twin seat karts which I’ve never seen before.
Cueva de los Verdes
The last day was a bit miserable so we decided to hire a car and visit the Cueva de los Verdes (the green caves) in the north of the island.
After stopping in Arrecife to buy some more panniers for my bike and having lunch in McDonalds we headed to the caves.
We stopped in Arrecife again on the way home to see the avenue of trees and had a quick wander around some of the shops. We found the biggest and best fancy dress/clothes shop that we’d ever seen, it just kept going on into more rooms.
