The most important and famous tourist resort of Lanzarote – Puerto del Carmen – located on the southeast coast of the island, stretching along a strip of ocean to more than seven miles, a considerable part of which is occupied by the natural and spacious sandy beaches. In the east, the resort almost came close to the airport.
History of Puerto del Carmen is similar to the fate of many Canarian resorts: the once small fishing village, thanks to the “correct” location and the happy coincidence for two decades has grown into a city that can simultaneously accommodate thirty thousand tourists.
More than a hundred restaurants, shopping malls, bars and discos (in fact, is the only place in Lanzarote, where there is what to do after midnight), casino… However, Puerto del Carmen, built in the traditional style of the island without tall buildings, and despite its size, does not seem “travel monster.”
The legacy of past fishing Puerto del Carmen went to the old harbor at the western end of the resort: a picturesque town, which is nice to sit a glass of beer and gaze at the fishing boats. There are a few good fish restaurants. The port offers a boat ride or try your luck at fishing.
“Old Town”, located around the harbor, it seems, still retains the atmosphere of barely perceptible sunk into oblivion village. It also has many restaurants, but sometimes find them in the maze of streets is not easy.
Along with the capital, Puerto del Carmen has an impressive number of various shops. You can stroll along the resort’s main thoroughfare Avenida de las Playas and see the offer of the surrounding shops. Here, among the inflatable mattress and unpretentious shop, eat and boutiques Lacoste, Diesel, etc. you can visit the new four-story shopping center Biosfera Plaza – the largest on the island.
We will not recommend to buy consumer electronics in the resort, no matter how attractive the price may seem.
As mentioned above, Puerto del Carmen – the only place on the island, where you can find the heat of the nightlife. Of course, as the phrase is appropriate at all for a quiet and respectable Lanzarote. Surplus money you can spend in a casino, discos in season are fun, there are and dubious institutions. Many bars have in the evenings entertaining show-programs, but we advise you to visit an eccentric cabaret Music Hall Tavern (www.musichalltavern.com): banal, but funny. True, all these activities are designed mainly for the taste of Albion public.
At the end of July Puerto del Carmen celebrates Fiesta de Carmen – a holiday in honor of the patroness of the city. Folklore, songs and dancing continues until dawn. At the end of the fiesta, praying for a good catch in the next year, go to the sea painted fishing boats.
In the second half of May on the avenue Avenida de las Playas in the start there are athletes who have arrived from all over Europe face off in swimming, cycling and cross country: an annual pass to Lanzarote international competition in a triathlon Ironman Lanzarote (www.ironmanlanzarote.com). This is an important event in the sporting life of the Canary Islands have traditionally attracted many spectators and covered in all local media.
Despite the extensive area and better tourist infrastructure in the vast resort not so many hotels. Basically, here are offered accommodation in externally indistinguishable from one another apartment complex, which in Puerto del Carmen there are officially more than two hundred.
Regular bus service connects the Puerto del Carmen with the island’s capital, Costa Teguise and resorts Playa Blanca, some of the other settlements of Lanzarote.
If you want to take a bus from Puerto del Carmen airport, you first need to get to Arrecife and there transfer to another bus: these are the characteristics of the organization of local routes.
A taxi ride to the airport from the resort center will cost near 15-18 €.