The arid, treeless landscape of Fuerteventura is not everyone’s cup of tea but many visitors to this island in the Canaries are charmed by its “rough, salty magic”, said Paul Richardson in Condé Nast Traveller magazine.
Its “long-exhausted” volcanoes are “speckled and stained” in “painterly” tones, from ochre and orange to sandy brown. Its climate is “year-round balmy” and “practically rain-free” and, as a beach destination, it beats all its neighbours, with 90 miles of “wave-lapped, dune-backed coastline, much of it still as nature intended”.
The second-biggest island in the archipelago after Tenerife, it has been popular with wind- and kitesurfers since the 1980s, and has recently seen “a new wave of creative incomers” – a “bright-eyed, bohemian” lot, including designers and makers who have launched “a plethora of homegrown brands”. Among the new shops and showrooms is Lapa Studio, an “arts-and-crafts collective” founded by four women in the “agreeably weather-beaten” seaside town of El Cotillo. In Corralejo, the Swedish designer Cia Asp has a “lovely” concept shop, Atruá; in Lajares, Miladeco offers “one-off” pieces of wooden furniture with a “rustic yet contemporary” look.
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There are also excellent new restaurants (try Oúm, a “new-wave” Lebanese place in Lajares). “Classy accommodation” is still in relatively short supply but Alma Calma in the village of Tindaya is a “fine new country hotelito”, and there are two “drop-dead gorgeous” serviced flats at Casa Montelongo, a 19th century house in La Oliva with a “Zen-like” garden and pool.
As for the beaches, everyone has a favourite. Some swear by Lobos Island, a ferry ride from Corralejo. Others prefer Sotavento, on the main island, with its “arcs” of soft white sand. But I favour Cofete, a remote nine-mile strand on the Jandía peninsula. The dusty road to it over the mountains feels endless – but the view of the beach from the final pass is staggering.
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