Lanzarote in a van!

[Tomo3090]

Due to family/real life interfering with our vanning we are having to put off our trip this autumn until January. We are seriously thinking of taking the van to Lanzarote for a couple of months before travelling to Italy and beyond.

 

Has anyone been to Lanzarote with a van? We have a friend who has a farm there and she is letting us hook up there for most of the time. We have been to the island before but flew there, so we know the layout etc.

 

The ferry will be expensive, about 3 grand return, but we would be spending that on sites and fuel on the mainland for 2-3 months anyway.

 

We have been told that there are people wild camping at Famara and Papagayo beaches, but can anyone confirm this please.

[colin]

Only flown there like yourselves and that was many years ago, at time people where wild camping near papagayo, but I believe it's a lot more built up since then. Not sure about crime against motorhomes,but the robbery rate goes up at and after chrismas as it goes into holiday low time, we've had villa's broken into on Lanzarote and Fuertreventura, you could tour other islands once there, Fred Olsen Lines go to most islands, I now go to El Hierro and La Gommera, not quite so touristy but some of the roads might be a bit hairy in your coachbuilt.

[Don Madge]

Hi Stephen,

 

We took the van to the Canaries in 2000 and toured five of the seven islands the only two we did not visit was Lanzarote and Fuertreventura.

 

The ferry cost us £1600 and there was no problems free camping on any of the islands. Camp sites were few and far between and not of a particularly high standard.

 

The weekly ferry gets booked up months in advance so I understand.

 

Regards

 

Don

[Tomo3090]

Thanks Don, but £1600 would only be one way! I have just priced it up and for the two of us in a 2 berth inside cabin and the van return Cadiz to Arricife would be 3,024 Euros, about £2,700 ish. We would have to ring up about a price for Holly the wonderdog, so it would be even dearer I suppose.

 

So we are starting saving up! Anyone wishing to donate used 20's please post them to me ASAP! :-D

[LordThornber]

Stephen, for what it's worth, I regularly visit Fuerteventura and only once have I seen what remotely looked like a campsite. If I remember rightly it wasn't a million miles away from the airport, possibly around the Antigua area.

 

By far and away the vans I see most of there are dotted around the coastline.

 

Hope this helps

 

Martyn

[Peter Highe]

I have visited most of the Canary Islands (by air) and I have seen a fair number of people wild camping without any problems, usually away from habitation centres. It has made me wonder how they obtain water supplies and even more, what they do with their waste. I suppose with all that uncultivated/unoccupied land around, a spade would take care of the latter - but how long will that last. In particular the pace of development in the South of Lanzarote is quite frantic and the idyllic rockpools and wild beaches will soon be a thing of the past.

 

I would steer clear of the smaller Islands like La Gomera and La Palma, simply because whatever flat ground there is has been cultivated or built on - it would be quite difficult to find somewhere unobtrusive to stay and the roads are steep and narrow, some all but impassable but for a small van conversion.

 

Peter