Relish the thrill and views of El Faro La Entallada, in Fuerteventura

On a trip to El Faro La Entallada, you'll experience the true spirit of Fuerteventura. The moment we escaped the feverish flair of Las Playitas Resort and followed the turning up to the lighthouse, I was met with a feeling of historic magnificence. The infamously narrow, winding path provided us with jagged volcanic mountain scenery. Up the steady incline, we were met with goats grazing and short glimpses of the beautiful ocean or lighthouse up above. Towards the end of the road, we relished in the thrill of driving the sharp twists of the single lane road to reach the top and reveal the panoramic ocean views that will stop you in your tracks.

El Faro (meaning the lighthouse in English) La Entallada is located in Tuineje, Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, and is one of the best places on the island to get 180 degree views of the beautiful crystal clear ocean and the vast barren volcanic landscape Fuerteventura has to offer. El Faro La Entallada is located in the 6 090 hectares of protected Natural Park area of Cuchillo de Vigan.

El Faro La Entallada was built in the 1940’s and 1950’s and was opened on the 3^rd of December 1954. This was the last lighthouse in the Canary Islands to be built with the ability to be inhabited. The architect Carlos Alcón designed El Faro La Entallada. It is a Canarian style building and the stone of the lighthouse comes from the Fuerteventura town of Tetir.

El Faro covers the busy maritime Atlantic coast from the Lighthouse of Puerto del Rosario, the capital of the island, to the lighthouse in the south of Fuerteventura, Morro Jable. The lighthouse has warm maroon colored trim with the volcanic rocks creating a polka dot effect on the walls. It is still in use today but instead of being manned it is now automated. The residence and living area now have plans to been transformed into a museum and exhibition halls. Living or manning the lighthouse back when is was necessary would have been amazing. Waking up to that view the year around seeing all weather changes would have been beautiful, it makes you wish the position was still available.

El Faro is simple to drive to. The turn off is just past the Las Playitas Resort round about on your left, if you get to the Las Playitas fishing village you have gone to far. There are brown signs (signaling a point of interest) at the turn off. From the turn off you are approximately six kilometers (approx. three and a half miles) to the lighthouse with only the last few hundred meters of the road turning to single lane. The road is completely sealed and there is a large parking area at the top for tourists.

From Castillo Caleta de Fuste you are approximately 37 minutes drive and from Morro Jable you are 59 minutes drive.

We also took a few minutes to walk to the end of the lookout to take in the jagged rocks and shear drop to the ocean. After reading the information guide, we learnt that we were about two hundred meters above sea level. We were lucky enough to take the trip on a quiet morning, so enjoyed the lookout all to ourselves. The view was absolutely breath taking. The striking silence exposed all your senses. The firm sea breeze graciously integrates around you, the perennial sun tingles your skin and spectacular view we had on such a calm day of the bottom of the crystal clear Atlantic sea completely mesmerized us. The water is so clean and clear you wish you could just jump in and cool off.

After a few photos and waiting until a few other people had left, to fully take in the experience we headed back down the winding road. Driving down gives you a little more vertigo that driving up as you are following the cliff side of the road and have to squeezes past the other cars. We meet two cars coming up as we drove down and they feel like they are going to nudge you off the side, this might have felt worse for me as I was in the passenger seat. We reached the bottom of the winding road, back to the two-lane road and we are meet by an extended family of goats coming running towards us. The goats had no fear of the car, so please look out for the family of goats when you visit, drive carefully! I think they were hoping that we might share our lunch. It wasn’t their lucky day we continued on to Las Playitas for a swim in the ocean and late lunch on the beach in the juice bar shack that is located on the main beach in front of the Las Playitas resort.

Next time we head back up to El Faro, I'd love to cycle or run the 6km track. The incline will be challenge but the mountain views and fresh sea air means your trip will always be rewarded.

El Faro La Entallada is worth putting on your travel list of Fuerteventura.