The Best Beach in Lanzarote? You’re Asking the Wrong Question

Ask ten people which is the best beach in Lanzarote and you may get ten different answers.

The problem is not that nine of them are wrong.

The problem is the question.

A beach can be perfect on Tuesday and completely wrong on Wednesday. The wind changes. The ocean changes. The tide changes. And sometimes, you change too.

Perhaps today you want to swim. Tomorrow you might want to walk for kilometres with the Atlantic beside you. Another day you want to snorkel, surf, read a book without being sandblasted by the wind, or simply sit somewhere beautiful and watch the ocean.

So instead of asking “What is the best beach in Lanzarote?”, there is a much more useful question:

What is the best beach for what I want to do today?

Papagayo — when you want the Lanzarote postcard

There is a reason Papagayo appears in almost every guide to Lanzarote.

Golden sand, clear water, volcanic cliffs and a succession of beautiful coves make this one of the island’s classic beach landscapes. Playa Mujeres and the other beaches in the protected area give you more than one option, and on the right day the water can be wonderfully inviting.

Is it famous? Yes.

Can it be busy? Of course.

Does that automatically make it overrated? Not at all.

Sometimes a place becomes famous simply because it is very beautiful.

If you want the classic Lanzarote beach day — sand, swimming and scenery — Papagayo deserves its reputation.

When you want the Lanzarote postcard

Famara — when the beach itself is not really the point

Famara is something else entirely.

You come here for space. For the cliffs. For the wind, the surfers, the enormous sky and that extraordinary feeling of being very small beside the Atlantic.

It is one of our favourite landscapes on Lanzarote.

But that doesn't mean it is automatically the best place for a relaxed swim.

And this is exactly why rankings of beaches make so little sense.

If you want to walk barefoot for kilometres, watch surfers or simply experience one of Lanzarote's most dramatic landscapes, Famara may be your answer.

If your plan is a peaceful swim in sheltered water, another beach may be much better.

Famara is something else entirely.

Playa Chica — when what matters is underneath the water

Playa Chica in Puerto del Carmen is tiny compared with Famara or Papagayo.

Judged only by size or dramatic scenery, it would probably lose most “best beach” competitions.

But that would miss the point.

Its sheltered water and marine life make it particularly interesting for snorkelling and diving.

Sometimes the best beach isn't the prettiest one in the photograph.

It is the one that is best suited to what you actually want to do.

Playa Grande — when easy is exactly what you want

There is a strange tendency in travel writing to assume that the more difficult a place is to reach, the better it must be.

We don't agree.

Sometimes you want an easy beach day.

Playa Grande gives you a long stretch of sand with restaurants, shops and everything else nearby. You don't need hiking shoes, a secret map or instructions involving an unnamed volcanic rock.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Convenience is also a perfectly legitimate way to choose a beach.

Costa Teguise — when you want sheltered water and everything nearby

We should admit something here.

We don't spend much time in the resorts. In fact, we tend to avoid them whenever possible.

So unlike many of the places in this article, this isn't a recommendation based on our own regular beach routine.

But if you are staying in Costa Teguise and want an easy place to get into the water without making an expedition out of it, the more protected bathing areas — particularly around El Jablillo — make sense.

And that matters.

An honest guide should help you choose the beach that works for you, not only the beaches the writer personally prefers.

Playa Dorada and Playa Flamingo — when you simply want a comfortable swim

The same applies in Playa Blanca.

If your priority is relatively protected water, easy access and all the infrastructure of a resort nearby, Playa Dorada or Playa Flamingo may be exactly what you need.

Would we drive across Lanzarote specifically to spend the day there?

Probably not.

But if you are already in the south and want an uncomplicated few hours by the sea, travelling somewhere “more authentic” simply because a guide tells you to may make no sense at all.

Before choosing a beach, look at the day

This is the part most “best beaches” lists tend to miss.

Lanzarote is an island in the Atlantic.

The wind matters.

The swell matters.

And the tide can matter enormously.

A beach that looked perfect yesterday may feel completely different today. On some parts of the island, particularly around small coves and volcanic coastline, the difference between high and low tide can transform not only how a beach looks but how easily you can enter the water.

So before driving across the island because somebody ranked a beach number one, look outside.

Check the wind.

Check the ocean.

Check the tide.

And then decide.

Look at the ocean, not Instagram.

And then there is the other Lanzarote

Our Otro Mundo.

The coast we keep returning to, where choosing a beach has less to do with rankings and more to do with the day, the ocean — and sometimes simply where you decide to stop.

It begins around Arrieta and Punta Mujeres and continues north towards Órzola.

There are famous places along the way. But there are also little coves you can easily drive past, beaches whose names you may never learn, natural pools, stretches of volcanic coast and places where the only people in the water may be a few local surfers.

We could give you a list of every one of them.

We won't.

Some places are better discovered than searched for.

Instead, in another Otro Mundo Experience, we'll show you how we spend a day on this coast — where we walk, when we stop, why the tide matters, the beach we privately call “our Dueodde”, and one little detour we recommend to our guests on the way home.

Because after all these beaches, we still don't have an answer to the original question.

Or perhaps we do.

Some places are better discovered than searched for.

The best beach in Lanzarote is not a place.

It is the right beach for the right day.