Best Beaches in North Lanzarote: Arrieta to Órzola

So where are the best beaches in North Lanzarote?

After everything we said about choosing the “best beach”, you can probably guess our answer.

It depends.

There are days when we don't need to decide where we are going.

We simply head north.

Not because there is one spectacular beach waiting at the end. There isn't.

What we love is the coast itself: the succession of villages, natural pools, volcanic rock, sandy coves and little places where you suddenly feel like stopping the car.

This is the stretch of Lanzarote between Arrieta and Órzola.

Our North Lanzarote beaches — *We simply head north.*

From our home at Casitas Santa Rita in Guatiza, this is our nearest stretch of coast — and one of the parts of the island we return to again and again.

We could turn it into an itinerary.

Stop 1. Stop 2. Stop 3.

But that would rather defeat the point.

So consider this less an itinerary and more the way we experience this coast.

Start at La Garita — and walk to the right

La Garita is Arrieta's long sandy beach and one of the easiest places to begin.

But even here, where you put your towel changes the experience.

Facing the ocean, most people tend to stay closer to Arrieta on the left.

We usually go the other way.

Turn right and keep walking.

La Garita beach Lanzarote — *…… and walk to the right*

The farther we walk along the beach, the quieter it tends to become. There is no dramatic moment when one beach ends and another begins.

It is still La Garita.

It just starts to feel different.

Sometimes you don't need to find another beach.

You just need to walk another five minutes.

Punta Mujeres — because the best place to swim doesn't have to be a beach

Continue north and you reach Punta Mujeres.

Here the relationship with the ocean changes.

Instead of searching for sand, there are the natural pools — the charcos — built into the volcanic coastline.

When conditions are right, they offer a completely different way of getting into the Atlantic.

And they raise another problem with the idea of choosing Lanzarote's “best beach”:

Sometimes the place where you most want to swim isn't technically a beach at all.

After Jameos, don't automatically get back in the car

This is something we regularly tell our guests.

If you visit Jameos del Agua, don't necessarily finish your visit by walking back to the car and driving away.

Walk along the coast towards Punta Mujeres.

Camino Jameos del Agua - Punta Mujeres — *This is something we regularly tell our guests.*

You don't have to go all the way. We often simply walk for as long as we feel like and then turn around. If you make a longer walk of it, allow around an hour and a half there and back.

The path takes you through jable, earth and volcanic rock, with the Atlantic beside you.

It is a simple way of adding something completely different to a visit to one of Lanzarote's most famous attractions.

Jameos del Agua is in every guidebook.

The walk afterwards is the part we like to add.

Proper shoes, water and sun protection are useful here. This is volcanic Atlantic coastline, not a landscaped promenade.

Then take the LZ-1 north — but don't stare only at the destination

After Jameos, get back on the LZ-1 and continue north towards Órzola.

And here is one of those instructions we give guests that sounds slightly ridiculous until you try it:

If you're driving north on the LZ-1 and you see a place to park on the left side of the road, slow down.

Look across the road towards the ocean.

There is a good chance there is a little beach or cove on the other side.

Some are sandy. Some are surrounded by black lava. Some are barely beaches at all.

Sometimes we stop and find almost nobody there — perhaps a couple of local surfers in the water.

We're deliberately not going to give you a list of every cove along this road. Part of the pleasure for us is that we still don't know all their names ourselves.

We often stop simply because something looks interesting from the road. Sometimes we stay, sometimes we don't.

Some of our favourite stops along this coast are still places whose names we don't know.

Check the tide — it can change the beach completely

There is one thing we always check before exploring this coast:

the tide.

High tide and low tide can make some of these small beaches feel like completely different places.

At one stage of the tide, there may be sand and relatively straightforward access to the water. A few hours later, volcanic rocks can make getting in much less comfortable and water shoes suddenly become a very good idea.

We use TiempoRadar to check the tides before deciding where to go.

It is another reason we don't believe very much in fixed beach rankings.

The question isn't only:

Which beach?

Sometimes it is:

Which beach, on which day — and at what time?

One thing we wouldn't judge by appearances is whether a little cove is safe for swimming. And seeing local surfers in the water doesn't necessarily tell you much either.

They may be there precisely because the ocean is doing something interesting.

Playa de Mojon Blanco — our Dueodde

Eventually, shortly before the much better-known Caletón Blanco, there is one beach we do want to name.

Playa de Mojon Blanco.

We love it.

Playas/Beaches in the North Lanzarote — *Our Dueodde*

And for a completely personal reason.

Its pale, fine sand always reminds us of the Baltic — particularly Dueodde, on the Danish island of Bornholm.

If you know Dueodde, you may understand immediately. Its exceptionally fine sand is one of the things the beach is famous for; Bornholm's fine sand was historically even associated with hourglasses.

No, we are not suggesting that the sand on Lanzarote and Bornholm is geologically the same.

It is simply where our minds go.

There is something wonderfully improbable about finding sand that reminds us of northern Europe surrounded by the black volcanic landscape of Lanzarote.

So between ourselves, Playa de Caleta Blanco has acquired another name.

Our Dueodde.

And then, Caletón Blanco — but come later

A little farther north is the beach almost everyone knows.

Caletón Blanco.

White sand, turquoise shallows and black lava make it extraordinarily photogenic — which is precisely why you are unlikely to be the first person to discover it.

During the busiest part of the day, it can get crowded.

We prefer it later.

Towards evening, many of the day visitors begin to disappear. The light changes. The beach quietens down. And suddenly the same famous place can feel completely different.

During the day?

We may well have stopped somewhere else.

This isn't an argument against visiting Caletón Blanco. It is beautiful.

It is simply another reminder that when you visit can matter almost as much as where you visit.

Don't turn around at Órzola

Most people arriving in Órzola are thinking about La Graciosa.

The ferries leave from here, so the village can easily become somewhere you pass through on the way to somewhere else.

But before heading home, there is one more beach we love.

Playa de la Cantería.

Finding it is easier than explaining it on a map, so this is how we tell our guests:

Drive into Órzola until you reach the T-junction with the SUMA supermarket on the corner.

Turn right.

Take the first left.

And follow the road to the end.

That's La Cantería.

Here the mood changes again.

The pale coves along the LZ-1 are behind you. The Atlantic feels bigger and wilder, with the dramatic northern landscape rising around you.

For us, this isn't the place for an uncomplicated swim.

We come for the landscape.

To walk.

To watch.

And simply to experience how different this end of Lanzarote feels from the coast we were following only a few minutes earlier.

And on the way home, one last detour

Now head back south towards Guatiza.

If the timing is right and the sun is beginning to go down, there is one final detour we love.

On the LZ-1, when you reach the junction for Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes, turn right towards Cueva de los Verdes.

Not to visit another attraction.

Just take the road.

On the right evening, the setting sun transforms this landscape. Sometimes the colours become so intense that they barely look real.

Sometimes, of course, nothing particularly dramatic happens.

That's the deal with sunsets.

But if you're lucky, this may be the moment you remember from the entire day.

Before you go

We don't take much for a day on this coast, but there are a few things we nearly always have with us: proper shoes, plenty of water, high SPF, something for the wind and, depending on the tide, water shoes.

The wind can also make the Lanzarote sun feel much gentler than it actually is.

Beyond that, we don't really try to collect beaches.

Some days we stop at several.

Sometimes we find one we like and go no farther.

Sometimes we change our minds.

Sometimes we stay until the light changes.

Because for us, this part of Lanzarote isn't really about finding the beach somebody has ranked number one.

It's about something much simpler.

Take the long way home.

Where Are the Best Beaches in North Lanzarote? Take the Long Way to Órzola