Our holiday in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote

We have recently returned from our first family holiday abroad. We chose to visit somewhere we have been before so we knew what to expect. As the world is such a big place we don't usually go back to the same places, but we really enjoyed Lanzarote as a couple and wondered if we could as a family. Our reasons for liking Lanzarote are the lack of high rise developments and the islands bio-sphere status. Thanks to the late artist Cesar Manrique large highrise developments are not permitted and buildings are to be whitewashed which makes the island so pretty and the views from most locations stunning.  Lanzarote is only 4 hrs flight time and is in the same UK time zone so no time changing to confuse little ones.

Previously we had stayed in Playa De Los Pocillos, close to Puerto del Carmen and knew Puerto del Carmen wasn't a child friendly resort so we opted for Playa Blanca and the Flamingo Beach Resort.
We loved Playa Blanca, we were about 15-20 min walk from the shops along the front promenade so all pedestrianised. We were right on a lovely child friendly beach and walking distance from two others. These were all white sand beaches which aren't very common in Lanzarote.

We did a couple of the organised tours with the holiday company. One we took the boat across to Fuerteventura for the beach and sand dunes which go on for miles.
Another day we visited the Timanfaya National Park to get up close to all the volcanoes and also Los Jameos del Agua which is a cave created from an air pocket of lava, its stunning and had Charlotte in awe of how amazing it all was (its not pushchair friendly lots of steps).

Its actually a concert venue/nightclub but during the day is open as a tourist attraction. We wished we could have visited the green caves (Cueva de los Verdes) as we loved those from last time but it clashed with other trips. We also skipped César Manrique's house/foundation, we did that last time and unless you are a serious art fan it would be too much for little ones. Our last trip was to Rancho Texas, which is a must for adults and children alike. The bird of prey show is stunning and scary at the same time whilst the birds swoop millimetres above you head. Last year they opened up a water park at Rancho Texas and looks like they are expanding currently. Excellent water park for the kids, but its not heated so very cold in spring time.

We loved our hotel, Flamingo Beach Resort, was really well located and had so many swimming pools (6 and most of them heated), a good kids club (only used once as we don't go on holiday for a kids club), family restaurant and adult only restaurant, adult only spa (didn't use), activities through the day and evening entertainment. The food was great in the family restaurant, it may have been a little hectic at times but go a bit later on in the day or head to the chill out room and its great. We are a mix of vegetarians and fussy eaters and found something to eat at every meal.

Our first family holiday abroad went so well we have just booked our next holiday... Disneyland Paris here we come.