Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the North Africa region, politically part of Spain. At 1,660 square kilometres (641 square miles), it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife.
Fuerteventura the least populous with 113,275 inhabitants.It was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in May 2009. Its capital is Puerto del Rosario.
The first settlers of Fuerteventura are believed to have come from North Africa. The word Mahorero (Majorero) or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and is derived from the ancient word mahos, a type of goatskin shoe worn by these original inhabitants.
They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, some of which have been excavated, revealing remnants of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known as Planaria, in reference to the flatness of most of its terrain.
The island's proximity, 100 km to the West African coast and the fact that it is part of the Schengen territory make it a prime target destination for undocumented immigrants. However, many have perished while attempting the crossing.
The elongated island has an area of 1,660 km2 (641 sq mi). The island is 100 kilometres (62 miles) long and 31 kilometres (19 miles) wide. It is part of the province of Las Palmas. It is divided into six municipalities:
- Antigua
- Betancuria
- La Oliva
- Pajara
- Puerto del Rosario
- Tuineje
100 individual settlements are distributed through these municipalities. A nearby islet, Islote de Lobos, is part of the municipality of La Oliva.
Located just 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of north Africa, it is the second biggest of the islands, after Tenerife, and has the longest white sand beaches in the archipelago. The island is a destination for sun, beach and watersports enthusiasts.
It lies at the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures rarely fall below 18 °C (64 °F) or rise above 32 °C (90 °F). It counts 152 separate beaches along its seaboard — 50 km (31 mi) of white sand and 25 km (16 mi) of black volcanic shingle.
The highest point in Fuerteventura is Pico de la Zarza (807 m) in the southwestern part of the island. Geographical features include Istmo de la Pared which is 5 km (3 mi) wide and is the narrowest part of Fuerteventura.
The island is divided into two parts, the northern portion which is Maxorata and the southwestern part called the Jandia peninsula.
Fuerteventura is divided into six municipalities: Antigua, Betancuria, La Oliva, Pájara, Puerto del Rosario, and Tuineje.
Cities in Fuerteventura
- Corralejo
- Puerto del Rosario
- Betancuria
- Caleta de Fuste
Lobos is another destination.
Fuerteventura is a volcanic island, in some places untouched but in others heavily developed for tourism. Fuerteventura roughly translates to "strong winds" or Fuerte (Strong) Ventura (Venture) depending on your level of Spanish, and the island is known for its wind surfing and kite surfing.
Spanish is the national language in Fuerteventura, although English and German are widely spoken in many tourist areas.
Several ferries run from Tenerife, Grand Canaria, Puerto del Rosario, and Lanzarote. The two major lines are:
- Fred Olsen
- Navier Armas
Flights from Spain, Europe, as well as from the other islands land daily.
The airport on Fuerteventura is on the coast close to Puerto del Rosario. It plays host to a mix of scheduled flights from national operators such as:
- Iberia
- British Airways
Being a tourist destination there are also numerous charter operators flying into the airport. These include:
- Condor
- ThomasCook
The airport has only one runway and 5 boarding bridges but is still undergoing expansion. It handles around 45,000 flights and 5 million passengers per year.
A hire car is the best option for discovering the remote wilderness regions, and numerous car rental companies are available.
The bus lines from Puerto del Rosalio via airport to Correlejo, Caleta de Fuste, Morro del Jable and Cotillo are easy to handle, cheap and very reliable. It is extremely easy to get from Correlejo to the sand dune beaches south of town.
Fuerteventura was chosen among 500 European destinations by the Quality Coast International Certification Program of the European Coastal and Marine Union as one of the most attractive tourist destinations for visitors interested in cultural heritage, environment and sustainability.
The climate on Fuerteventura is pleasant throughout the year. The island is hence referred to as the island of eternal spring. The sea regulates air temperature, diverting hot Sahara winds away from the island.
The island's name in English translates as strong fortune or strong wind, the Spanish word for wind being viento.
During the winter months, temperatures average a high of 22 °C (72 °F) and a low of around 15 °C (59 °F), whereas during the summer a mean high of 28 °C (82 °F) and a low of 20 °C (68 °F) can be expected.
Precipitation is about 147 mm (6 in) per year, most of which falls in autumn and winter. December is the month with highest rainfall.
A sandstorm known as the Calima similar to the Sirocco wind, which blows to the North of the Sahara, to Europe may blow from the Sahara Desert to the Northwest, and can cause high temperatures, low visibility and drying air.
Temperatures during this phenomenon rise temporarily by approximately 10 degrees Celsius. The wind brings in fine red dust, The fine white sand is not blown in from Sahara, it is made up of dead coral reef and local seabed upheaval.
Visibility can drop to between 100 to 200 m (328.08 to 656.17 ft) or even lower and can even bring African locusts to the island.
The island is home to one of the two surviving populations of the threatened Canarian Egyptian vulture. It is also inhabited by many wild dogs and cats. On the barren, rocky land there are Barbary ground squirrels and geckos.
Fuerteventura also hosts several migratory and nesting birds. The island has significant populations of the collared dove, common swifts and several finch species especially in the vicinity of holiday developments.
Despite its arid climate, the island is also home to a surprisingly large insect fauna. Butterflies which commonly occur on the island include the clouded yellow (Colias hyale) and the bath white (Pontia daplidice) which feeds on xerophytic cruciferae.
The island is also home to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and its close African relative Danaus chrysippus. Around holiday developments such as Caleta de Fuste, water is relatively abundant, and dragonfly species including the blue emperor (Anax imperator) and the scarlet darter (Crocothemis erythraea) can be found.
The island's sand dunes and shoreline are home to a number of bee and wasp species including the large eumenid caterpillar hunting wasp, Delta dimidiatipenne and the blue banded bee, (Amegilla canifrons).
Hawkmoths also occur on the island. One of the more notable species is Hyles tithymali which feeds on endemic spurges such as Euphorbia regis-jubae.
Acherontia atropos, the deaths-head hawkmoth also occurs on the island presumably feeding on members of the Solanaceae, for example, Datura innoxia and Nicotiana glauca which are common weeds in the vicinity of human habitation.
The island has a population of 113,275. Throughout its long history, Fuerteventura has suffered from a population decline due to the economic situation and the climate, which have made it into a desert island.
However, the development of tourism during the 1980s has caused the population to grow year on year since then, doubling it in a little less than a decade.
In 2005, with 86,642 registered inhabitants, the Fuerteventura population was formed by the following:
- Born on the island: 30,364
- Born on another Canary Island: 13,175
- Born elsewhere in Spain: 20,938
- Born in other countries: 22,165
Comparing this data with the 2001 census shows that the number of permanent residents born on the island has increased by just 3,000. The number who have moved in from abroad has increased by 22,910, making this the biggest contributor to population growth in recent years.
The economy of Fuerteventura is mainly based on tourism. Primary tourist areas are located around the existing towns of Corralejo in the north and Morro Jable in Jandia, plus the purely tourist development of Caleta de Fuste, south of Puerto del Rosario.
Other main industries are fishing and agriculture such as cereals and vegetables. The famous Majorero cheese is locally made from the milk of the indigenous majorera goat.
In 2009, Fuerteventura recorded the highest EU regional unemployment rate at a NUTS3 level, at 29.2 percent.
The first tourist hotel was built in 1965 followed by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island.
Fuerteventura, with its 3,000 sunshine hours a year, was placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination. While having fully developed tourist facilities, the island has not experienced the over development found on some other islands and consequently caters for visitors attracted by its rugged natural beauty.
Nonetheless, it remains a popular destination for predominantly but not exclusively German, British, French and Italian tourists.
The summer Trade Winds and winter swells of the Atlantic make this a year-round surfers' paradise, with more exposed areas on the north and west shores such as Corralejo and El Cotillo proving most popular.
Wind surfing takes places at locations around the island. Sailors, scuba divers and big-game fishermen are all drawn to these clear blue Atlantic waters where whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights.
With many hills present throughout the Island, hikers are also attracted to this Island.
Excellent sandy beaches are found in many locations. Western beaches, such as those around El Cotillo, can experience strong surf.
The beaches adjoining the extensive sand dunes east of Corralejo are popular, as are the more protected extensive sandy shores of the Playa de Sotavento de Jandia on the southeastern coast between Costa Calma and the Morro Jable.
Naked sun bathing and swimming are the norm almost on all beaches.
Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas, although there are organised tours and vehicular access across them.
Like the rest of the Canaries, Carnival is traditionally one of the biggest festivals celebrated on the island. It is celebrated in different ways in all the towns during February and March.
These festivities have a different theme each year. They include activities such as parades and galas to choose the carnival king.
There are many concerts and festivals held in the auditoriums, such as the Festival of Canarian Music. They are also held in smaller venues across the island, featuring bands such as Estopa, Van Gogh's Ear, and King Afrhica.
Lebrancho Rock: in 2004, the Town Hall of Puerto del Rosario started this initiative for the growing number of local bands who had been performing in the area for years but had not had the chance to play at the same event.
Fuertemusica, like Lebrancho Rock, this festival aims to encourage the local or emerging groups. It started in the same year. This festival is mainly for groups that are already known in the music world. It takes place in El Cotillo.
In the municipality of Betancuria more specifically in the village of Vega de Rio Palmas held every year the festivities in honor of the Virgen de la Peña, patron saint of the island of Fuerteventura, the most representative is the pilgrimage in which are involved people from all corners of the island. The holiday is celebrated on the third Saturday of September.
Festival Internacional de Cometas/International Kite Festival is held on the second week of November each year centering on the Corralejo Beaches.
It attracts kitefliers and kite surfers from all over Europe. It is popular because the winds are warm and constant and the beaches become filled with hundreds of colourful kites of all shapes and sizes.
Fuerteventura has three auditoriums. These are used for all types of performing art. They are also used for non-artistic purposes, such as conferences, charity galas and political meetings.
- The Isle of Fuerteventura Auditorium
- Gran Tarajal Auditorium
- Corralejo Auditorium
The island has several museums with different themes and plenty of exhibition spaces, both public and private. These include:
- The Antigua Windmill Craft Centre
- The Salt Museum
- The Atalayita Archeological Interpretation Centre
The capital Puerto del Rosario has an open-air sculpture park consisting of around 100 sculptures by different artists scattered across the city.
Most of them were created for the International Symposium of Sculpture celebrated annually since 2001. During the festival, artists come from all over the world to erect their sculptures in the open air, in full view of passers by.
Sites of interest include Corralejo and El Jable to the north which are made up of fine sand dunes whilst the south is filled with long beaches and remote bays.
The constant winds blowing onto the beaches provide a paradise for windsurfing. Surfing is common on the west and north coasts where there are large waves.
Windsurfing is common around Corralejo and Playas de Sotavento and wave sailing (windsurfing on the waves) on the coast along the northern half of the island.
El Cotillo is a small fishing village in the north-west of the Island famous for a very long beach to the south of the village and few very calm beaches to the north. The northern beaches frequented by snorkeling enthusiasts and sun worshippers alike are referred to as lakes by the locals.
At Cofete on the western side of Jandía a remote and imposing house - Villa Winter - looks out to sea across wide beaches. It was reputedly built by a Mr Winter on land given by Generalisimo Franco.
For a time, the beaches were home to a popular accidental attraction. On 18 January 1994 the United States Lines ocean liner SS American Star - former America, USS West Point, Australis was beached in Playa de Garcey during a severe storm.
Within a year, she broke in two and later lost her stern. By 2007 the rest of the severely deteriorated ship had collapsed onto her port side, gradually keeling over further and almost completely submerged. By 2008-2012, most of the remains finally slipped below the surface.
The cuisine is fairly basic due to the customs and climate conditions. They share this simplicity with the other Canary islands, and similarly to them, they use a large quantity of fish. They also use whatever they can grow in the near-barren land.
This includes papas arrugadas, a dish of wrinkled potatoes usually served with mojo, which is a hot pepper sauce or with puchero canario, a meat stew.
Seafood is prepared in many ways traditionally, such as pejines (salted fish), jareas, or sancocho (a type of stew) made from fish, generally the grouper, corvina or sama, boiled after salting, and served with mojo, potatoes, or gofio (a type of grain).
People are also very keen on the mussels and limpets collected on the island's coasts.
They also use meat such as beef and pork to make different dishes or simply to for braising, but their main meat is goat, both from the kids and from the older animals.
They eat the goat roasted or stewed. Goats are not only useful for their meat, the Fuerteventurans also use the milk to make the cheese majorero, which has won many prizes.
The majorero is mostly made of goats milk, and occasionally it is up to 15% ewes milk. It is cured in pimento oil or gofio meal. Majorero and palmero cheese are the only two Canarian cheeses with protected denomination of origin.
There are many swimming pools on the island but the most obvious place to swim is in the open sea. There is an annual swim from Lobos Island to Fuerteventura, held every year since 1999.
The event attracts amateur swimmers from all over the Canaries and Spain, and also swimming professionals such as David Meca and Maarten van der Weijden, the paralympist Jesus Collado Alarcon who won gold medals for 100m backstroke and butterfly in Athens 2004, and Xavi Torres Ramis, the paralympic champion in Barcelona '92, Sydney and Atlanta.
Many types of surfing are popular on the island, including traditional surfing, windsurfing where the board is propelled by a sail and most recently kitesurfing. The island has many schools and courses dedicated to teaching these sports.
The sports where Fuerteventura has the most impact internationally are windsurfing and kitesurfing, mainly due to the International Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Championship.
This has run since 1985 and is held at Playas de Sotavento in Pajara municipality. Many important wind and kitesurfing figures compete in this championship, such as the several-times world windsurfing champion Björn Dunkerbeck and Gisela Pulido, the very young kiteboarding champion from Tarifa.
Many Canarian windsurfers are on the Canarian Waveriders circuit, which has been based in Corralejo since 2005.
The island holds competitions involving different types of boat, such as the lateen and the Optimist. An interesting event is the Tour of Fuerteventura by Kayak, which is organised as a series of stages rather than a competition, and is an easy way to explore the island.
Canarian wrestling takes place in a ring of sand called the terrero. Inside it, the two contestants try to knock each other over. Fuerteventura has 14 terreros distributed through all the towns except Betancuria.
- Antigua, Terrero de Antigua.
- La Oliva, Terrero Venancio Guerra and Terrero de Villaverde.
- Pajara: Terrero Miguel Díaz La Lajita, Terrero de Morro Jable a Terrero de Pájara.
- Puerto del Rosario, Terrero de Casillas del Angel, Terrero Manuel Nieves, Terrero de Puerto Cabras, Terrero de Tefía a Terrero de Tetir.
- Tuineje, Terrero de Gran Tarajal, Terrero de Tamasite, and Terrero Pedro Sánchez in Tarajalejo.
The island also has a school wrestling league organized by the council and a programme to promote this sport in clubs.
Twelve wrestling schools participate in this, based in Antigua, Costa Calma, El Matorral, La Lajita, Lajares, Las Playitas, Morro Jable, Puerto del Rosario, Tefía, Tetir, Unión Sur and Villaverde.
Apparently you could sleep from €25,- per night and up, The official web of the Canary Islands has a nice system for locating hotels and offers in Fuerteventura.
Hotel Costa Caleta, Avenida Alcalde Juan Ramon Soto Morales, s/n 35610 Castillo Caleta de Fuste Fuerteventura.
Atalaya de la Rosa del Taro. Is in a quiet inland area 13 km from the capital It's a small, traditional, restored house for two or three people, sun-wind energy and recycled water, reused for the plants.
It has a bedroom, a kitchen-living room with fridge and CD-radio-cassette, a bathroom and a terrace with panoramic views. The house is situated , far away from the tourist resorts, but very well linked. The nearest beach is ten minutes drive away
Casa Bonita Luxury Villa, Mirador de las Dunas, Corralejo, Fuerteventura. This is a luxury villa with private pool and putting green in Corralejo. It is a 3 bedroom villa which sleeps 6 people. varies.
Casa de la Burra. Isolated of the urban centers, this small but welcoming house for two persons are a green retreat with solar energy for the sanitary hot water and biological purification of residual waters used for watering. A quiet retreat far away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday resorts.
Fraggle Roca, 53 Castillo Mar Opposite the San Jorge hotel. Sea view from upstairs bedroom balcony. One bedroomed duplex. Situated in the town centre of Caleta de Fuste. Close to everything, the beaches, the restaurants, the bars.
Just a quick 10 min taxi approx €10 from the Airport. Caleta is popular with families and couples, quieter than other resorts. sleeps 3 Adults or 2 adults and 2 children. Includes, twin beds, sofa bed, washingmachine, microwave, british TV, Aircon in the bedroom. Communal pool.
Hesperia Bristol Playa, Urbanizacion Lago de Bristol, 1. 35660 Fuerteventura. This beautiful resort is on a white-sandy beach. It is a short distance from the Dunas National Park, and offers 185 apartments, swimming pools and tennis courts. Rooms from €30.
Oasis Jandia Golf, Barranco de Vinamar, La Mancha, Jandia. Right on a 18 hole golf course, and good views views of Barranco de Vinamar.
Villa La Isla Bonita, Fuerteventura Golf Club. Private villas on Fuerteventura Golf Club near the town of Caleta de Fustes. Each villa offers luxurious spacious 3 bedroom accommodation with private heated swimming pools.
Club Hotel Drago Park, C/ Punta Pesebres, 5, 35627 Costa Calma, Pájara. All rooms have sofa bed, air conditioning, safe, pool view, satellite TV, music system, balcony/terrace, private toilet and bath.
Some of its facilities and services are freshwater pool for adults/kids, Sun terrace with deck chairs and parasols, restaurant, pool bar, lounge bar, Discothèque Marilyn, gymnasium, free bus service to and from the beach, private parking without surveillance and car rental.
Take the air conditioned buses which run regularly up and down the island, or hire a car to really see this quiet and beautiful island. Famous for its long white sandy beaches in the north and south of the island.
Go into the mountains to see how the locals survived on this arid island over the centuries. And discover the strong connections with the countries of South America. Learn a few words like GuaGua (wah wah) means bus. Worth the effort to leave the resorts.
Tourism Observer
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