It’s true, Fuerteventura has much more to offer than just beaches. Just like the other islands of The Canaries that have flourishing tourism markets, Fuerteventura faces stiff competition for tourists from Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. But there is more to the story that just having better hotels and beaches because this small island has several surprise attractions to tempt visitors to select it over others. Of course sunshine and sandy beaches are key to its offering but there are many other elements that attract more than just sun seekers to spend a week or so on the island.

Fuerteventura is a long island stretching over 100 kilometers from top to bottom and at the point where the island contracts towards the southern end, is the modern holiday area of Costa Calma. When the holiday business first became popular on Fuerteventura resorts like Corralejo and Morro Jable in the south were the main attractions and travel operators focussed their offerings on these places. German tourists are predominant in Morra Jable still, whereas Caleta de Fuste, with its small port and beach to the south, is a resort mainly visited by British tourists. Caleta which now use the name Costa Caleta (primarily to make it more attractive for people who may not have been there previously) is a perfect resort for families with children, with its pleasant sandy beach (created using imported sand, not the island’s typical dark volcanic variety), attractive marina, golf course and generally quieter feel.

Costa Calma is fairly unique on the island being a relative newcomer to the tourism scene and not seeing any holiday-specific building additions take place until about twenty years ago. The town was really just a fishing village prior to that, without a town centre to speak of and very little to lure in visitors other than its wonderful situation right by the sea. Costa Calma marks what many think is the best stretch of coastline in the entire Canaries, with a string of stunning beaches lining the sea front for over 20 kilometres to the south. The resort itself is a community of small hotels and villas, with tidy streets flanked by palm trees and just a few commercial developments providing small supermarkets, restaurants and cafes. For those who enjoy sports or just keeping fit there are activities like surfing and kite flying to partake in or you can just enjoy the landscape go for a run along the sand. German visitors also enjoy Coast Calma, so you will find some common German cuisine on the restaurant menus but that’s not a bad thing as German food is usually quite tasty.

The Corralejo beaches to the north are one of Fuerteventura’s most spectacular. Here you will find miles of beach and sand dunes stretching inland in an area that provides both stunning scenery and a place to get away from it if needs be.

For those who enjoy the outdoors Fuerteventura has a choice of national parks, one of which is the dunes area at Corralejo also known locally as El Jable. The others are the Jandia National Park in the southern end of the island and the small island of Los Lobos which lies across the El Rio strait and is one of Europe’s last unspoiled natural areas. A short boat ride from Corralejo gets you there and many people take an excursion which allows them to spend a day in this wonderful place.

So Fuerteventura has lots to offer those looking for a variety of resorts, something to do in terms of activity or a choice of areas of natural beauty.

Fuerteventura is the second largest of the Canary Islands. It offers sunshine all year round and is also known as the island of eternal spring. Fuerteventura sits beside the sea just a short journey from Caleta de Fuste.

In 2008 almost four and a half million passengers used the airport. Irish and British tourists make up a large amount of the islands visitors while Germans are also very fond of a holiday in Fuerteventura. The airport is known as Flughafen Airport by Germans.

Aer Lingus will begin a Dublin Airport route to the island on Oct 24th 2009.  Ryanair formally offered several flights from locations such as Shannon, Birmingham and Liverpool however they withdrew all their services on the 31st of January 2008. They layed the blame on local authorities who they say failed to keep their side of a financial agreement to promote the island as tourist hotspot. An estimated quarter of a million passengers were lost to Fuerteventura according to Ryanair.

There are a plethora of flights offered from the UK from Thomson Airways, Thomas Cook Airlines, BMI and Easyjet. Connecting Spanish flights are offered by Binter Canarias who fly to Las Palmas and Tenerife-North while Spanair fly to Madrid and Barcelona.

Step outside the arrivals lounge and you will find plenty of taxis for hire. There are also buses available that operate services to Puerto del Rosario and Caleta de Fuste. Fares are less than two euro.