Family Adventure in Lanzarote: Our Second Visit

We went to Lanzarote in August last year, in family, for 3 weeks. Would I go back? For sure — it was actually our second time there. We stayed in a house from Airbnb in Costa Teguise, very well located, close to the beach and the restaurant zone. We loved it so much the first time that we stayed in the same house again. Playa Bastián was like 5 minutes away, and we also went often to Playa de las Cucharas. Between the house and the beach you have restaurant zones with different types of food, you have all you need there. The weather is a big reason we came back. We don't like where is too hot, and in August is hard to find that. In Lanzarote the first time we had maximum 27 degrees, so possible to walk at 15h with no issues. Second time the same, except 2-3 days where it was way above — but we were told that is really exceptional and rare. It is windy though. We found a really nice English bar called Chispas Bar, it has a terrace in the shade, like in a patio with many things next to it. When it was pretty hot outside, there it was perfect. Very good prices too, like 3.5 euros a pint. Really cool place. Also a very good small restaurant where we ate many times, Juanita Mumbai, a small Mexican restaurant. It's hidden in a passing way, you almost don't notice it, but really worth it — good portions, good prices, and the family running it is super welcoming. For me it's in the top 3 of Costa Teguise. Since we ate out a lot in 3 weeks, some quick verdicts on the restaurants. Los-Amigos Cafe Bar near Playa Bastián became our go-to place, the fish of the day was superb and the staff always smiling. Sausalito, also at Playa Bastián, is the place for pizza — I'm very picky with pizza and their diavola was perfectly cooked, not overloaded with ingredients. La Aulaga for tapas, portions look medium but they are actualy quite big, and one waiter even made the effort to speak French with us. La Tabla was very good too, short menu which I like, it means everything is homemade. On the less good side: Peskera was ok but portions too small for the price. El Patio was a real disapointment — I wanted to order a pizza, but after seeing the pizzas delivered to other tables I changed my mind, they looked flat, no color, not freshly made. I took the chicken with pepper sauce instead and it was drowned in so much sauce you could not taste the chicken at all. The place was crowded, which I don't understand because the food was really bad — we will not return there. And Puerto Marineros in Playa Blanca, we stopped just for drinks: 8.5 euros for a virgin mojito, same price as the ones with alcohol. The sea view is nice but it doesn't justify the price — if you look for value, this is not the place. We rented a car for the whole duration and we visited the island from north to south, it was amazing. Parking was easy, on the street — even if a bit crowded we never had an issue, and parking is free everywhere on the island. We had the impression we were on Mars, black lava everywhere and the road dug into it. The bus tour at Timanfaya visitors center is a must, air conditioned bus through the volcano landscapes, unlike anything I've seen before. One of the best landscapes was in the north at Mirador del Río, from where you can see La Graciosa island. When we got there it was foggy, not much to see in front, and suddenly we saw the island appearing. Impressive. Many activities to do, we did karting and slingshot buggy. The buggy experience was excellent, you go up the volcano mountains and see sights impossible to reach by car — just wear something to cover yourself, lots of dust. Many beaches too, one where we went often was Playa de Famara. Another great thing was LagOmar, the old house of Omar Sharif which now is a museum, and the César Manrique Foundation — a house built in the middle of the lava, truly nice to visit. And not too many tourists like in Tenerife for example. Great landscapes, great weather, windy. We will go back for sure.