What first attracted you to Fuerteventura?

[duncolm]

Does anyone have a story about where they first heard about or what first attracted them to Fuerteventura?

In my case it was an article in the Glasgow Herald (as it was called in those days) by Bruce Sandison, who's columns on outdoor topics I always enjoyed. Surprisingly, I've found the original article online. Read it here. It dates from 1994, which was over 10 years before I had a change of lifestyle and started taking holidays abroad. That one article had stuck in my mind over the years and Fuerteventura was one of my first choices when I started travelling.

I don't know if Bruce still visits the island and what he thinks now. I suspect Costa Calma has changed a bit since 1994.

[woe10]

THE WIND

[cllrcollins]

The ease of watching all the Sky channels on Astra 2F

[Magoo]

Saw the iconic photo of the beach from the viewpoint at Mal Nombre. Thought "That looks good & booked"

[meggie]

Firt time  i came to Fuerte was simply because it was a new  destination from my local airport and we both fell in love with the laid back atmosphere and lack of commercialism we had found in the other Canarian islands visited.Returned every year since although we stlll go some where else every year also.

[SheilaW]

The music scene in Corralejo. It's still attracting me after nine months here!

Second reason would be that laid back atmosphere that's already been mentioned: no wonder there are so many aging hippies and Rastas here. All the different nationalities get along very nicely on the whole, and there's remarkably little vandalism and related crime for a place with such high unemployment. Wherever we were born, we're all Majoreros and Majoreras now, and proud of it.

Great place for a holiday, too. With the advantage that when you're on holiday you actually have time to get to that magnificent beach a few kilometres away.

[fifi]

Emm, well now let me see.......

Was it the tanned muscular male  bodies lying on the beach in a Tourist brochure

or the one cent Ryanair flights at the time?


I will let you guess.  

The important thing is......I got there and am still in love with the Island............for whatever reason.

[bedouin]

Saw the photos on t'interweb of the fabulous beaches in the south!  Just had to go there.

[duncolm]

Emm, well now let me see.......

Was it the tanned muscular male  bodies lying on the beach in a Tourist brochure

or the one cent Ryanair flights at the time?


I will let you guess.  

The important thing is......I got there and am still in love with the Island............for whatever reason.

I've certainly not been disappointed with what I found.

Talking of tanned muscular male bodies lying on the beach, I'm planning to get over in a few weeks....



I'll watch out for them for you

[Paddster]

Was nothing really,we'd been to Zante the year before and because the airport was so bad we went back into the travel agents and refused to go back the following year and she recommended Fuerte,we've never looked back,love the bloody place !! Not gone anywhere else since our 1st visit......
I love the relaxed pace,no hassle like a lot of other islands/places you go on holiday to........

[fifi]

Emm, well now let me see.......

Was it the tanned muscular male  bodies lying on the beach in a Tourist brochure

or the one cent Ryanair flights at the time?


I will let you guess.  

The important thing is......I got there and am still in love with the Island............for whatever reason.

I've certainly not been disappointed with what I found.

Talking of tanned muscular male bodies lying on the beach, I'm planning to get over in a few weeks....



I'll watch out for them for you

Oh yes dont forget to post a pic

But really I would be more interested in a one cent flight.



Only twice in my life have I ever been away for Christmas or New Year. Both were disasterous. We had booked a holiday for New Years Eve 2000 and just before it I came down with the Beijing flu. To make matters worse the flight was from Shannon and there was heavy snow and ice on the ground. Seriously ill ,I managed the journey as well as an overnight stay in a Hotel down South. Guess where we arrived...........Dublin. I couldnt believe it. I had all of that torturous travel for nothing because the travel agents had said that there were no holidays at all left because it was the Millenium from Dublin....and yet they took extra passengers on board when we landed there.

So things went from bad to worse. I was so ill that I even lost my sight for two days, (definitely no chance of seeing any tanned muscular bodies then  )I was bedbound, and only managed to get out for 20 minutes on New Years eve to see the fireworks in Caleta. I noticed that there were no high rise buildings and thought that it looked like a nice place but was too ill to go out apart from those few minutes.

Back then the Island was full of emaciated looking cats which were my constant visitors as I lay in my sick bed. Im glad to see that they are well looked after now.

Well anyway, to cut a long story short, several years later I starting investigating property all over the world with the view to purchasing something small and saw one cent flights to Fuerteventura. This could be the place for me I thought and so the tickets were purchased. On the second day I fell in love with a tiny little bungalow and the deal was done.

Thats how I found the Island.

[Brightspark]

Cheap cigarettes and booze

[peejay]

After hating Tenerife when I was 16, when I was 20 I was planning to go to Croatia - but there was a war - so I booked Fuerte instead. Lobos Bahia £169. 15 years later managed to buy my own little place on the rock. Never looked back.

[duncolm]

Remember back then how everywhere you turned there was an advert for Yugotours. That was a company that disappeared instantly!

[denboy]

about 12 years ago i was looking on teletext holidays (pre-internet,for me anyway) for a cheap holiday to escape the british winter.i found one on tenerife,but when i phoned up it had gone.i was offered a similar deal to the caleta amarillo(now caleta dorada) all inclusive for i week.i am ashamed to say i had never heard of fuerteventura at the time,but booked it anyway,and had a great time.since then i,ve been back every year sometimes 3 times a year,at least twice a year,and want to retire to the island as soon as possible.i love the bars and restaurants in caleta,and can honestly say i,ve never had a bad meal.the thing that most people say about fuerteventura,who love it,is it is a laid back,chilled place to be.i think that sums it up nicely.i am back in caleta at easter,and can,t wait to meet up with all the friends i,ve met over the years.roll on easter.

[joyusj76]

Although im in my mid 40s i still dream of the day I can live over in fuert  We bought our little place over 7 years ago, in the property boom, traveled from Lanza by ferry to see the place an I fell in love with it straight away.  We have been to other places in between when the kids were smaller but I just cannot imagine going anywhere else now.  Children are 15 and 18 now and they love Caleta.  Of course when they go to college they will want to hit Santa Ponsa etc, but thats part of live they move on, and perhaps before the kids have kids we will get to spend more time there.  some of my friends were saying... the bars close there at midnight, not the ones we go to .  Its one of the safest places I have ever brought the children to, not full of drunk eejets,  and we have been away to many places.  One way ticket to Fuert please.

[suendrob]

It was a lovely couple, friends of friends, who introduced us to the Island. They owned an apartment and raved about the Island when we met them, so we paid the rent and flew out. We had been to other Canaries, so we had an idea of what to expect. By the time they'd driven us to El Cotillo we knew it was different. We've been back every Autumn since. One week in El Caleton and then on to civilisation at  Infiniti for a second week.

[woe10]

Remember back then how everywhere you turned there was an advert for Yugotours. That was a company that disappeared instantly!

I used to work for them. They were a Serbian company with all their Hotels in Croatia. The war put an end to it all.

[zedzedeleven]

Read a windsurfing report in a magazine that mentioned Corky`s bar and Oscar`s restaurant. Well, they`ve both gone now but I still come back.

[falkirkdan]

Just liked the sound of the place.  Not a Benidorm or similiar.    Naturist beaches coming out of your opening at the lower end of the alimentary canal through which solid waste is eliminated from the body.  What more could you want?   Sun, Sea, good food, enough to keep your interest and nightlife if you want it.  And of course the wonderful people on the forum

Just love the place, just never taken the plunge to move but one day, maybe

[Paddster]

Love the place..........

[dagwood]

Just a lovely place to be. Relaxed but safe. Almost 365 days sunshine. We enjoy it best in Autum, Spring and
Winter. A bit too hot for us in mid Summer. It has its faults but so has everywhere.

[Paddster]

Never actually been in summer months but next year mite be the one we do try it = i love it hot....

[Can the Man]

I came to Fuerte over 10 years ago. Having holiday on Lanzorote a number of time with teen agers, and also on Tennerrie (which we hated), and Grand Canaria we (Mrs Can and I) decided to try Fuerte, and the rest is history - we were hooked and bought a place.

A lot of people say you either like Fuerte or you dont like it, I don't agree, but I can say its the type of place that you can fall instantly in love with.

Our intentions is to be able to retire here where we can have almost all year round sunshine, with occassional visits back to the Emerald Isle, and family can come visit 

[nasco]

we first went to fert 8 years ago and stayed in a friends house
up the hill in caleta.
we just loved everything about the place.
we had been using our friends place twice a year for 2 years
when they decided to move to fert full time.
we have  been going twice a year eversince and
have seen a lot of changes, but we still feel the same
about caleta as the first time we went there.
we are going again in april and looking foward to
the sunshine, coffee at the marina , 15s, nestors, windmill, tapas at el capitan,
drive up and around the mountain, lunch at casa lsaitas in pajara,
sangria on the little island opp sheraton hotel, and visiting friends.
it dont get any better than that.
so to reply to post question, we have our friends to thank
for introducing us to caleta.

[Paddster]

Think everyone has the same ideas as you Can mate,just some of us aren't that lucky to be able to afford it but fair play to ya fella,i'll keep doing the lottery......

[dee-dee]

Never actually been in summer months but next year mite be the one we do try it = i love it hot....

We always go in July/August 

Hot..hot..hot!!!!

[PHo]

February 1983 - Los Gorriones - only destination outside Africa to pretty well guarantee winter sun, and in those days you needed jabs for Egypt or Morocco. Also once we were there there was no way I could be called back to a work emergency, as there was only one flight a week! Couldn't even phone them as you had to book a call to the UK a day in advance.
We still love it thirty years later - back on Saturday

[Paddster]

LL Pho,thats a brilliant story,love it....Dee,yeah,we will be going in the summer months for the first time next year with luck.....Never done it as i said so,bite the bullet.......

[dee-dee]

Hopefully see you there then Paddy