Lanzarote: more than just sun and beach

As the title says, Lanzarote is not just sun and beach tourism, it has obviously a lot of great beaches but those are not(in my opinion), the best things of the island.

Before talking tourism and sights I will give you some basic tips that can help you out while you visit the island. First of all, rent a car. It is the best option to move around and in the long term, the cheapest. Why? In comparison, for example to organised tours, you can move around and go wherever you want, you don't depend on a timetable and you can take more time visiting what you really like. It is really nice to move around in the island and by car, you will see local villages and resturants you would not do if you'd go by bus or in a tour. Second tip, don't rush to see it all in a day. It is possible as the island is small, but you won't enjoy everything as much as if you would separate your visits in different days. Third and last tip, don't visit Arrecife. For you who don't know, Arrecife is the capital city of Lanzarote and in my opinion that is the most "interesting" thing it has. It is quite dirty, has not sights and the beach is nothing special either. Everybody is different though and maybe what I hated, you would love, but at least that is my opinion. 

A other tip I forgot to mention is, if you are planning to go to the Canary Islands to live for a while, get the residence card. It is just advantages. You will get great discounts in almost everything. A example of its great discount is on the 5 main tourist attractions with paid entrance, instead of paying 9 euros, with the residence card you only pay 2. Not bad huh? And for what I've been told, anybody that belongs to the EU can apply for a residence card in the Canary Islands.

I have been here for more or less a month and I have almost seen the whole island, even though I have almost been most of my time working. Here are in my opinion the top 5 places to go and visit in Lanzarote in no specific order of preference:

1- El lago verde de el golfo (the green lake of the gulf)

2- Timanfaya National Park

3- Playa Papagayo


4- Playa de Famara


5- Cueva de los verdes