Lanzarote – A Wheelchair Friendly Spanish Hotspot

Lanzarote has always been a popular Canary Island thanks to the year round sunshine and those glorious beaches that shelve gently into warm Atlantic Ocean waters. This volcanic island may be compact but it still manages to boast a fascinating national park, an abundance of lively resorts and more than enough sightseeing options to keep the restless happy.

Over the years Lanzarote has certainly become more wheelchair friendly and you’ll easily find plenty of accessible accommodation, restaurants and attractions on this beautiful little island.

Image by Dieter Meyer, used under the Creative Commons license.

The beach life

Without doubt it’s the beaches and hot weather that have almost two million people per year hopping on flights to Lanzarote. Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca and Costa Teguise are just a few of the more popular resorts, and the black, gold and white sands are the perfect place to spend the day. This is an island where you can find a stretch of sand to suit your taste and the north coast especially offers some of the most pretty Caribbean-like stretches such as La Graciosa and Famara. The pavements and promenades in the major resorts do boast ramps leading to the sands and the pathways are level enough that wheelchairs users shouldn’t have a problem reaching the beaches.

Sightseeing attractions

Exploring is one of the best parts of visiting any new destination and one of the most popular attractions on this island is the 50Km² Timanfaya National Park. More than 100 volcanoes helped to create the amazing lunar landscape of this part of the island and a guided tour of the active geysers and villages makes for a fascinating day out. There are also plenty of excursions to be had including boat tours around the coastline and to neighboring islands such as Fuerteventura, an island twice the size of Lanzarote. This is a great island for exploring and wheelchair users are well-catered for and some companies offer tours that include the use of a joëlette chair; a specially designed chair for those with reduced mobility who wish to cover areas with rough terrain.

Accessible accommodation

There are a more than a few hotels across this island that have been adapted for wheelchair users with features such as ramped entrances to swimming pools and adapted rooms with wheel-in showers and handrails. There are a number of glowing reports online about these hotels as well as the friendliness and helpful attitude of the staff. It’s also very easy to hire wheelchairs and mobility scooters in the major resorts across the island. Reports from those who have previously visited are very positive with regards to helpful restaurant staff in the resorts that will go out of their way to ensure wheelchair users do not encounter accessibility issues.

Lanzarote is definitely a wheelchair friendly island especially in the popular resort areas and visitors shouldn’t have any problems finding wheelchair accessible accommodation. Your hotel receptionist or manager will no doubt be able to provide details on the many accessible tours and excursions available around this island.