Although the City of Arrecife is both the commercial and cultural centre of Lanzarote, the depth of history, culture and nightlife here often takes visitors by surprise, and with the increasing popularity of the long weekend city break amongst travellers, we felt that a guide to Arrecife would be an essential feature of this site.

Those visitors arriving at the Arrecife International Airport, some 5km south of the city centre, have a number of transfer options available to them. The cheapest method is undoubtedly by the Transporte Interurbano de Lanzarote Linea 22 shuttle bus, which runs into the centre of Arrecife every 30 minutes, at a cost of approximately 2€ per person.

Whilst we appreciate that this may be the most cost effective option available, for most independent travellers however, the most convenient option would certainly be the door to door service offered by any of the numerous taxis waiting outside of the arrivals hall who would typically charge around 6€ for the same journey.

An important consideration for any families travelling with small children is however, that these taxis do not as a rule carry child seats, therefore children may have to sit on their parent's knee for the journey.

If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey.

Pre-booked taxis are often a little more expensive, although as with all things in life, you only get what you pay for.

Many independent travellers will however have already pre-arranged for the collection of a hire car from one of the numerous agencies based around the airport facility, and for those, making the short drive into Arrecife is very straightforward.

As you leave the airport grounds take the LZ2, the Carretera de Arrecife de Yaiza, heading eastward.

As you approach Arrecife at the junction of the LZ3, Carretera de la Circunulacion, otherwise known as the Arrecife northern ring road, continue straight on to join the Calle de Jose Antonio which will take you straight into the centre of the city.

If needed, a more detailed version of this route, complete with links to maps where appropriate, is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

Whatever method of transport you ultimately choose for this journey, your first impression of Arrecife will be of its busy and often crowded streets, although in all fairness over half of the islands 115,000 residents do live here, before taking in to account the large number of visitors.

The City of Arrecife, which literally translates in English as "rocky reef", was originally a small fishing village that grew up around the banks of El Charco de San Gines from around 1400AD onwards.

The local community naming the village in recognition of the reefs that used to exist at the mouth of the lagoon. However, the City of Arrecife didn't really begin to take shape until almost 400 years later, when at the beginning of the 19th Century, it became the capital of Lanzarote.

Whilst driving into Arrecife may be very straightforward, actually finding somewhere to park once you are there can be an absolute nightmare. Many of the streets are very narrow, and for the limited number of parking spaces that are available, there still appears to be a highly competitive game of "musical chairs" going on.

This situation has been recognised by the local authorities, leading to a regular series of purges by the local police, resulting in the clamping and towing away of vehicles that in their opinion are illegally parked.

However, experience has shown that this situation can be avoided by simply parking on the municipal car park, which is just opposite the Castillo de San Gabriel, and then walking the short distance into the centre of the city.

Many visitors to Arrecife are often quite surprised to discover that the city has it's own beach, and although it is certainly not the best beach on Lanzarote, the El Reducto beach adjacent to the Arrecife Gran Hotel, has nevertheless been awarded the internationally recognised blue flag for its facilities, cleanliness, and water quality.

El Reducto is then backed by a wide traffic free promenade leading down to the somewhat smaller beach at El Cable, some 2km west of the city centre.

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This website was launched on 1 May 2002

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