Fuerteventura: Island Grand Tour with Caves, Dunes & Betancuria

4.90

(147 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

You know that sound when the van door slides open and warm air rushes in? That’s how our day started in Fuerteventura. Our guide, Pepe, had music going already—something local, not too loud—and grinned like he’d been waiting for us all week. The roads here are kind of hypnotic: endless brown hills, then suddenly a flash of green or a little white village. First stop was Corralejo dunes, which looked almost fake—sand so pale it hurt my eyes. I tried to walk barefoot but nearly burned my toes (should’ve known). Pepe called it “the door to paradise.” I just remember the wind making everything feel bigger than it was.

We wound through old towns where time moves slower. Betancuria was quiet except for a group of old men playing cards under a tree—they barely glanced up as we passed. I wandered into the Santa Maria church (only two euros) and sat for a minute just because it was cool inside and smelled faintly of wax. Lunch happened somewhere between stories about pirates and volcanic eruptions—I lost track of which mountain was which after a while. At Ajuy caves, you could smell the sea before you saw it; salt mixed with something ancient and earthy in the tunnels. Walking there felt like stepping back through layers of time—Pepe told us about Jean de Béthencourt landing here centuries ago, but honestly I was more focused on not slipping on the rocks.

The chipmunks at Las Peñitas viewpoint were bold little things—one tried to climb my shoe while I was taking photos of that weird oasis below (how is there water out here?). Sunlight kept shifting across the ravine and made everything look different every few minutes. We stopped at Sicasumbre later for one last panorama; by then the van felt like home and everyone was quieter, maybe tired or just letting it all sink in. I still think about that view sometimes when I hear wind whistling through open windows.