Tour 02 - Betancuria Day Trip - Gran Tarajal to La Pared by Car Gran Tarjal Tiscamanita Antigua Betancuria Pajara Ajuy Sicasumbra La Pared
Full day · rental car · approx. 160 km · start early
If you only have one single day on Fuerteventura that does not take place at the beach – then this one. This Betancuria day trip leads through everything this island really is: lava deserts and green valleys, medieval churches and black beaches, goat cheese dairies on mountain tops and sea caves cut into rock around 100 million years old. At the end you sit on the cliffs of La Pared and know: that was not a day trip. That was Fuerteventura.
Take water and snacks with you. Download an offline map before you set off – there is no signal in the interior of the island. Start early – if you leave too late you will not get through everything. Our recommended start: 8:00 am, not later.
Start — Costa Calma
You leave Costa Calma on the FV-2 heading north. After a few kilometres the village loses volume behind you and the island shows its real face: brown ridges of hills, goat herds, wind turbines on the horizon. No more hotels. The road follows the coast, the Atlantic on your right – rougher than the sheltered bay of Costa Calma. Keep your eyes open: sometimes there are camels in the fields to the left of the road.
A short stop before you set off is worth it: 1STone Art & Design in the CC El Palmeral, Local 8 – individual gemstone jewellery since 1997, one-of-a-kind pieces you do not order online. And have breakfast at Toni’s Non Solo Cafe before you go.
Toni’s Non Solo Cafe – If you are looking for more than just a coffee, a great breakfast for example, you are in exactly the right place. Learn more
Toni´s Non Solo Cafe
Wer nicht nur einen Cafe sondern auch ein tolles
Frühstück oder mehr sucht ist hier genau richtig.
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Gran Tarajal - The real town
Gran Tarajal is what Costa Calma is not: a real town. Fishing boats in the small harbour, a promenade that belongs to the locals. Nobody orders breakfast in English here. Walk along the promenade – ten minutes is enough. The small town centre behind it has street art that is actually good. Coffee in the nearest cafe on the market square – just go in where the locals sit.
Insider-Tipp: Gran Tarajal morgens — am besten vor 10 Uhr. Die Promenade gehört dann noch den Locals
Gran Café am Marktplatz — der besondere Spot den Aussenstehende komplett übersehen. Direkt am zentralen Platz, italienisch geprägt, Mischung aus Café und Bäckerei. Gute Cornetti, süsses Gebäck, Kaffee auf solidem Niveau. Morgens stark frequentiert von Einheimischen — kein Instagram-Café, sondern ein Ort der funktioniert weil er gebraucht wird.
Gran Cafe
Cafe Bäckerei Konditorei
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Restaurant
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Tiscamanita · Aloe Vera & Windmills
From Gran Tarajal do not drive back to Costa Calma, but head west into the interior of the island. The landscape changes immediately: no more coast, instead wide flat plains with scattered palms and the characteristic brown of the lava fields. Just before the entrance to Tiscamanita, at kilometre marker 30, you see a well-kept white building on the right: Aloe Vera Exclusive. This is not a souvenir shop – the aloe vera that grows on Fuerteventura is processed right here. A free factory tour can be booked, 95% aloe content, straight from the island. No comparison with what stands on the supermarket shelf.
Aloe Vera Exclusive
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A few metres further on: the Centro de Interpretación de los Molinos – a fully restored windmill that explains how gofio, the roasted grain flour of the Canary Islands, was the staple food of the island’s population for centuries. Interactive exhibition, tasting at the end. Tue-Sat 9:30 am-5:30 pm. The combination ticket „Museos de Fuerteventura“ is also valid for the cheese museum in Antigua and the Salinas del Carmen.
Antigua - The cheese museum
Continue north-west into the interior. The road climbs gently. Antigua is a quiet village with one special feature: the Museo del Queso Majorero. Sounds dry. It is not. The museum tells the story of the island’s goat cheese – but the interesting part is what surrounds it: a historic windmill park and a botanical cactus garden that is unique in its quiet peculiarity. On Wednesdays and Thursdays there is a cheese tasting.
Insider tip: Do not buy cheese here yet – Granja La Villa comes up shortly. Cheese straight from the producer, on the farm, it does not get fresher.
Antigua – Town description in detail (German)
The FV-30 Mountain road to Betancuria
Now begins the part of the drive that leaves people speechless. The FV-30 from Antigua to Betancuria is not a normal road. It winds through valley cuts that look as if someone had pulled the earth apart with their hands – volcanic cones on the left, stone terraces on the right, and above it all a sky that always looks a little too big on Fuerteventura.
On the way, the first thing you see are the bronze statues of Guise y Ayose – four metres tall, right at the roadside. They represent the last two Maho kings who ruled the island before the Norman conquest in 1402. A short stop, read the information board – this is not decoration.
Shortly after: the sign to the Mirador Morro Velosa – designed by César Manrique, with a small cafe and a panorama that shows almost the whole island. Corralejo in the north, the Jandía peninsula in the south, and in between a carpet of brown and ochre that looks as if it had always been there. Ten minutes at least.
Currently extensive conversion and renovation work is taking place, completion is planned for the end of 2026.
Shortly before Betancuria: Granja La Villa – turn right, 400 metres uphill. A family that has been making goat cheese from old recipes for over thirteen years. No supermarket shelf, no packaging design – just cheese, mojo and the view from one of the quietest places on the island. Call beforehand: +34 649 74 21 32. Sometimes closed without notice.
Granja La Villa
Käserei
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Betancuria First capital of the Canary Islands
Then at last: Betancuria. You drive into the valley. The village has fewer than a thousand inhabitants, a baroque church, two restaurants and a calm you have earned if you come all the way here. Betancuria was founded in 1404 by Jean de Béthencourt – in the middle of the mountains, to protect the settlement from pirate attacks. The Iglesia de Santa María – plain and cool inside, a real relief. Next door the ruins of the Convento de San Buenaventura, described as the first convent building of the archipelago. The Archaeological Museum shows who lived here before the Normans.
Insider tip: Arrive in Betancuria early – before 10:30 am the village belongs to you. Between 11 am and 2 pm the coach tours arrive.
Casa Santa María – the best-known restaurant, right opposite the church in a 17th-century manor house. Upscale Canarian cuisine, cabrito al horno (kid roasted in the oven), tabla de quesos majoreros (local goat cheese). Reservation recommended. casasantamaria.net
Bodegón Don Carmelo – a small, traditional tapas bar in one of the oldest buildings in the village. Shady courtyard, queso frito with prickly pear jam, papas arrugadas with homemade mojo. Uncomplicated, rustic, good.
Casa
Santa Maria
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Bodegon Don Carmelo
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Betancuria – Town description in detail (German)
Pájara The church with the Aztec-style portal
The return journey goes south on the FV-30 to Pájara – more bends, narrower gorges than on the way there. Pájara appears suddenly like a village that was forgotten. The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla is the most surprising thing you will see today: a small white village church – and on the portal Aztec-style motifs, jaguar and feathered serpent, right next to Christian saints. Nobody knows exactly how they came here. Ten minutes, no entrance fee, unforgettable.
Pájara – Town description in detail (German)
Ajuy Sea caves in the oldest rock of the Canary Islands
From Pájara to the coast – only a few kilometres, but the landscape changes completely once more. The road to Ajuy leads through a dried-out riverbed, the road gets narrower, the colour of the stone turns black. You literally drive into the oldest geology of the island. Ajuy is not a seaside resort – a hamlet of about twenty houses, a restaurant, and one of the rarest geological phenomena of the Canary Islands.
Park at the end of the road and walk along the wooden path to the coast. On the left, a staircase leads into a cave vault in rock that is around 100 million years old. Dripping water, dark stone, the roar of the sea through cracks in the rock. Wait until a wave comes and breaks through the cracks – that is the moment.
Safety: Do not go into the water – the surf and current on the west coast are extremely dangerous.
Mirador de Sicasumbre Optional but recommended
On the way back towards La Pared you pass the Sicasumbre. The sign to the mirador is at the roadside – do not drive past it. Panoramic view over almost the whole island, as far as the southern tip and the Jandía peninsula. No buildings, no disturbance – just lava, ridges of hills and horizon. At night one of the darkest points in the Canary Islands: no light pollution, clear air, a starry sky with a different density than at home.
La Pared Cliffs & Atlantic
La Pared is the last stop. The road comes down from the mountain and you see the Atlantic on the west side of the island – wilder, greener, with surf that tells you: behind it there is nothing until America. La Pared consists of a few houses, three surf camps and the cliffs. That is enough. Walk to the cliff, look north and south, and wait for the sunset – it goes down directly over the Atlantic. This is the moment this day was for.
For dinner: Caretta Beach Bar right at the spot. And the cheese from Granja La Villa with bread and the mojo – it belongs at a picnic on the cliff, not on the table in the restaurant.
Safety: Do not go into the water at La Pared – life-threatening current, even if the surface looks calm.
Caretta Beach
Das Restaurant liegt direkt am
schwarzen Nordstrand von La Pared.
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Hidden gem: La Pared (German)
The way back The Istmo de La Pared
From La Pared to Costa Calma it is fifteen minutes heading east. The road leads back across the Istmo de La Pared – the narrowest point of the island, five kilometres wide. Atlantic on the left, Atlantic on the right. Stop briefly if you can – it is the only time on this day that you see both sides of the island at the same time; and take a look back at the wild west coast.
At a Glance
Start: 8:00 am
Distance: approx. 160 km, approx. 4 hours driving time without stops
Rental car: A must – no public transport on this route
Water: At least 2 litres per person – no shops in the interior of the island
Offline map: Download before you set off – no signal in the interior of the island
Granja La Villa: Call beforehand: +34 649 74 21 32
Betancuria: Before 10:30 am – after that, coach tours
Safety: Ajuy & La Pared – do not go into the water, the current is life-threatening
Budget: approx. 60-90 EUR per person (food, entrance fees, shopping) plus rental car
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