Lanzarote is known as the Hawaii of Europe. Here are a few tips to help you when booking a holiday in Lanzarote. We visited in Feb 2004.

There are plenty of breaks on Lanzarote, the majority are reef breaks and thus not suitable for beginners. For beginners you will need to surf at the beach breaks ie sand based beaches. Namely Famara and Ozola (both beaches are on the North Coast.)

Famara has 2 parts to the beach. One part is right in front of you as you arrive at the beach. The other you will have to drive past the urbanisation to the far side and drive along the track.

The beach at Ozola is a little more difficult to find. Go to Ozola, as you arrive in the village at a T junction, turn left and look for a small turning to the right, this will take you across a rough track to the beach.

If you are arranging your own trip and think you will be staying at a resort there are 3 main resorts on the island. Playa Blanca, Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise. We recommend staying at Costa Teguise simply because it is the best located. To get to Famara from Costa Teguise will take 20 mins by car. From the South of the island you will find the journey to be 40-50 mins.

There are surf schools in Famara, as well as surfhire and loads of local info. When you hire your surf gear be sure to get all the local info, so you get to the right beach for the right conditions. The local cafes serve good lunches too!

You will need a car to get around the island to all the surf spots, remember to order a roof rack.

In Feb we found that summer wetsuits or shorties were fine, other people braved no suits but they didn't seem to stay in the water or that long. Don't forget your factor 25 sunscreen too.