9 things to do in northern Fuerteventura

Just bake on the beach and you could be anywhere, but you're in Fuerteventura so there's a whole 'secret' coast to discover.

Stretching from the sweeping dunes of Corralejo all the way around the northern extremities of this deeply dramatic isle to the wee village of Los Molinos on the west coast, Fuerteventura's northern coast is an oasis untouched by high rises. There are more windmills than resorts, more surfers than bar touts and an ancient culture still lingers on the slopes of a sacred mountain.

You can drive or cycle around northern Fuerteventura – for something different check out Yescapa, who rent campervans, so you can tootle around, waking with the ocean within touching distance. If you’re short on time, local outfit Kali Travel run excellent day tours of the north. Here are nine ways to discover Fuerteventura’s northern coast.

READ MORE: Which Canary Island holiday is for you?

1. Base yourself in Corralejo

This is a resort for people who don’t like resorts. It’s easy to see why mainland Spaniards come here as it still retains a Spanish town feel, with its low-slung whitewashed old fishing cottages reinvented as cool cocktail haunts and tapas bars.

There is a big surf and kiteboarding community along with LGBTQ travellers and many a family too. British tourists here happily mingle with Italian and French in a truly international mix. Everyone is welcome in a chilled escape whose core is pedestrianised, with a promenade slipping right around the white-sand-fringed waterfront.

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2. Discover Las Dunas

‘The Dunes’ are officially known as the Parque Natural de Corralejo. This epic oasis of starched white sand spreads for mile after mile south of Corralejo. It looks like the Sahara – indeed Africa lies just over 60 miles (100km) away.

You can lose the world on the hulking dunes inland, a place that turns adults into kids frolicking in the sands. Down by the ocean, horseshoe-shaped shelters made of lava rock provide respite from the wind that is so beloved by the kiteboarders. Rough shacks offer cold beer and simple seafood in-between dips in the water.

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3. Sail to Treasure Island

Hop on one of Catlanza’s catamaran yachts and soon you’ll be breezing off in search of the isle of Lobos. Fruit and the gorgeous Fuerteventura goat’s cheese (majorero) is served before you anchor up and fling yourself overboard. Paddleboards, kayaks and snorkel gear are available to help you explore the clear waters of this uninhabited island. The Parque Natural Islote de Lobos is part of the UNESCO Biosphere that includes the whole of Fuerteventura. A vegetarian lunch is served before you ease back to the relative bustle of Corralejo.

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4. Hike the volcanoes

Geologically, Fuerteventura is one huge necklace of volcanoes. The hike inland from Corralejo to Lajares opens up this elemental world – the tarmac soon disappears as you swirl from sea level up around volcano after volcano, before the path narrows to take you up to gaze down into Caldera de Rebanada.

You skirt Calderon Hondo (912ft/278m) and Montana Colorada (813ft/248m) before descending towards the village of Lajares. Information boards and waymarkers en route are the only imprints of man in this starkly beautiful landscape.

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5. Savour boat-fresh seafood in El Cotillo

It may be slowly turning into a proper resort – inevitable given its jaw-dropping white beaches – but El Cotillo on Fuerteventura’s northwest coast still retains its fishing village vibe. The bounty from the local boats is served in a flurry of spot-on restaurants that gaze out to the Atlantic.

Recline on their airy terrace of Vaca Azul, taking in the views as you tuck into roasted octopus in spicy red mojo sauce, followed by bocinegro, a local fish so tasty they don’t even bother adding garlic, washed down by bone-dry Malvasia Volcánica wine from neighbouring Lanzarote.

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6. Seek out the old capital

La Oliva is still in charge of the northern municipality it gives its name to and its proud citizens still have pretensions of grandeur here in the one-time de facto island capital. Whitewashed architectural remnants include the hulking belltower of the 18th-century Church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria and the Casa de los Coroneles. The latter, also from the 18th century, is now a museum that tells not only the local story, but that of Fuerteventura. Note that it's currently closed for major works.

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7. Dine in Los Molinos

There is not much to 'The Windmills', but this tiny village is set in a spectacular spot defiantly surviving in the face of the full brunt of the Atlantic out west. More cats and goats wander around than people, but if you’re lucky, Las Bohemias Del Amor will be open. It offers a brilliantly apt dining experience for madcap Molinos as the owner cooks up his culinary storm in front of guests down on the beach as the rollers thunder in. He’s known to ask diners to check his paella for seasoning as it’s bubbling away. Very northern Fuerteventura.

READ MORE: 8 things you probably didn't know about Tenerife

8. Hike the sacred mountain

Tindaya only nudges up to a height of just 1,312 feet (400m), but its stature is unparalleled on the island and indeed it is a mountain many people throughout the Canaries hold in great esteem.

Here you’ll find hundreds of rock engravings etched by the Mahos people who presided over Fuerteventura before the Spanish descended on the isle. They believed the mountain had magical powers, as did Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida who hatched a zany plan in the 1980s to hollow out the mountain to create a 131-foot-high (40m) Cubist cave as part of a Monument to Tolerance. Fortunately for Tindaya, the plans were never realised, nor were there more recent attempts to quarry the mountain.

Check before setting off as the hiking route to the top is sometimes closed. It’s not for the faint-hearted either, but worth it for the epic views and to experience a truly special mountain.

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9. Indulge with Lajares’ surfing bakers

When surfers started frequenting Fuerteventura’s rugged and virtually uninhabited north coast, with its world of consistent breaks, they were just glad to be here. Over the years, they yearned for decent coffee and, with many central Europeans among them, proper cake, so the unlikely surf bakers of Lajares were born.

Today, the village has a sprinkling of little cafés and bakeries where you can pick up heart-starting brews from artisan roasted beans and Sachertorte that would pass muster in Vienna.

READ MORE: 9 places that prove Lanzarote is the coolest Canary Island

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