Although actually part of the municipal district of San Bartolome, the village and resort destination of Playa Honda is nevertheless considered by many people to be a every growing residential suburb of the capital of the island Arrecife.

Geographically Playa Honda is almost midway along the east coast of Lanzarote, sandwiched quite neatly between the Arrecife International Airport and the southern residential suburbs of Arrecife.

Whilst this close proximity to the airport does allow for possibly one of the shortest resort transfers on the island, usually no more than 10 minutes from leaving the airport grounds, it does however also mean that many visitors are likely to experience some degree of aircraft noise during their holiday here.

In all fairness to the authorities who run the airport, in order to minimise the disturbance, aircraft do tend to approach from over the sea, and as a consequence landings are somewhat quieter than takeoffs.

Being primarily a residential area of the island, Playa Honda has so far remained relatively "undiscovered" by many of the major tour operators, and as far as we are aware doesn't as yet feature as a recognised resort in any of their summer or wintersun brochures. As a result most visitors here will be independent travellers who either own holiday homes in the resort, or are renting such properties from the owners.

Making the resort transfer into Playa Honda is usually very straightforward, and realistically there are three options available for the journey. The cheapest method preferred by regular travellers, is undoubtedly by the Transporte Interurbano de Lanzarote Linea 22 shuttle bus, which runs through the resort on its route into the centre of Arrecife every 30 minutes throughout the day, and costing less than 2€ per person, it does represent very good value for money.

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.

Taxis on Lanzarote do also represent very good value for money by European standards, and can instantly be recognised as being the eggshell/white cars with a large red stripe on each front door.

However, a standard taxi on the island is only licenced to carry a maximum of 4 passengers plus a "reasonable" amount of luggage, so for larger groups of travellers, or those with special needs, it is our recommendation to make provision for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you at the airport, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a larger, or specially adapted, vehicle is needed for the journey.

The third option would be to pre-arrange for the collection of a hire car from one of the numerous agencies based at the airport. Driving into Playa Honda should be fairly stressless for most drivers, once you have remembered which side of the road to drive on, as you leave the airport facility you will automatically join the LZ2, the Carretera de Arrecife de Yaiza, and as long as you head north east towards Arrecife, its really quite difficult to go wrong.

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

Unlike so many other villages on the island, Playa Honda is not a purpose built tourist resort, but a small Canarian fishing village that has learnt to adapt and grow over the last 20 years to meet the insatiable demand for holiday homes and accommodation.

This part of the island around the south of Arrecife, is also becoming one of the main areas of commerce on Lanzarote, and in recent years with the development of the El Megacentro and Deiland shopping centre, it has become a favorite shopping and leisure area for the local population. However, we will hopefully cover this in greater detail as part of our Attractions and Amenities pages.

In recent years development funds from the European Union have also been used to create a wide traffic free promenade connecting Playa Honda with Arrecife some 7km to the north, with Puerto del Carmen, 10km away to the south, passing the resorts of Matagorda and Playa de los Pocillos en route. During the day, or early evening after dinner, it is a very pleasant stroll along the promenade, although for those with mobility problems, or simply wishing a night out, a taxi ride is obviously much quicker.

Returning now if we may to Playa Honda, after settling into their chosen accommodation, the first thing many visitors remark upon is that the whole area is quite windy, which makes the resort extremely popular with windsurfers and perhaps less so with sun worshipers, especially on the more cloudy days.

In all fairness on a very hot day the wind is quite refreshing, particularly when you are on the beach, although this can also disguise the intense power of the sun, and you should never forget that Lanzarote is situated on the Tropic of Cancer.

As with so many other resorts on the island, Playa Honda could never really be ever described as being rowdy, and is therefore perhaps more suited towards older couples or families looking to escape the all night neon lit bars and nightclubs favoured by the younger 18 - 30's crowd.

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This website was launched on 1 May 2002

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