16 Dec 2016 15:04
Tags
Earlier this season, We spent Three months getting about the Canary Islands. Such a truly awesome journey, countless experience to be had, a great number of pristine beaches to discover, waking up in different peaceful spot every single day. So extraordinary, yet this requires a lot of scheduling and as well , organisation! This is not all prepared for you. You make your personal quest and then organize your own path! Thankfully the Canaries is not that gigantic that men could be lost there instantly. My favourite among all was The island of lanzarote. It’s a enchanting tiny place with stunning inhabitants. It's its personal style of doing things as all the other islands have. You can forget your life when you are here. Lanzarote island is really so distinct remote and lonesome to live on. You'll have an incredible holiday getaway there with all the water fun and then trips around the island. I hoped to talk about some things that I picked up in the process to help you with all the preparation and generally being traveler. Some are pretty simple, but when you feel as if a thousand miles away from home, you can not get any wi-fi and you’ve got barely any money with you, minor tips may feel like lifesavers! On Lanzarote the one thing you should have is going to be sunscreen to deal with the sizzling sunlight. The weather is normally sunny so when it's raining the life goes to a halt there. People stay at home shut the door and panes and looking forward to the storm to go.
Lanzarote island is known as a breezy area. You are likely to earliest notice this once your plane gets ready for making a landing. The north of the island is usually a bit more windy than the south. I you are unable to bear the fine sand inside your heels and view try and get closer to the bottom of the island. Puerto del carmen is a sizzling and sun-drenched place any time of the year to have fun with taverns and restaurants to go out.
Playa blanca also is a lovely area for all of the travelers with its superb panorama and slow paced life. It is the favourite location for the families and folks searching for a more slow paced holiday getaway. The island only and greatest jazz pub the Blue Note is likewise set here which tells quite a lot with regards to folks that visit here too.
Costa Teguise is the windiest all of them and wind-surfers like that quite a bit. If you are not right into jazz music or enormous gatherings then this really is your resort to be on a getaway. You will find hotels, apartments, pubs and restaurants of any sort to pass your time and energy after having a painful day at the swimming pool.
If you are more into pubs than hiking below the blazing sunshine then you may want some cash too. Hotels are actually inexpensive so are the food as well as the alcoholic beverages in the bars. Many resorts are full board which makes life much easier if you aren’t into baking your own personal diet or seeking restaurants on a daily basis to get a regular supper. Keep in mind that the majority of shops would not accept bank cards under a certain amount so having money in The island of lanzarote can be life saver.
The article Lanzarote Shopping was originally posted on LanzaroteFlare.
Shopping in LanzaroteLanzarote shopping guide may not be free of any bias and could heavily reflect personal experiences.
Food
For some reason or other Lanzarote's shops need to comply with rules are not favourable with the average consumers. This results with well-known brands being left out of the market resulting higher prices and low competition.
Luckily the duopoly of HiperDino and Spar has been broken by Lidl some years ago providing the islanders with some real quality stock on reasonable prices.
The competition just has stronger when Mercadona a long awaited Spanish food shop chain entered the market.
It is not a known brand anywhere in Europe, I guess but it is well praised here in Spain. The inhabitants of Lanzarote took the ferry once a month to Fuertaventura only to shop there. It has quality brand label stock and average prices aimed at the local consumers.
If you have a car it is the place to shop for food on the island, although the lack of well-known brands makes it a bit confusing the first experience there.
Lidl has slid to the second spot since Mercadona arrived. Actually it was empty for weeks after the big opening but it picked up the pace now and opened a shop in Puerto Del Carmen, too. This seems bigger and more organised with the advertised products actually in the shop not just somewhere "in transit".
Both Lidl better visiting by car, however it is reachable by public transport in Arrecife right next to the smallest IKEA in the world or even on foot in Puerto Del Carmen.
Unfortunately, if cars are not at your disposal you stuck with Spar and HiperDino.
Spar was the place for quality shopping before the new shops arrived. It keeps providing quality fresh stock like fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and well-known European brands in its selection. Around the tourists resorts there are smaller shops, which work with a higher profit margin than you can find outside of the towns so called Eurospars accessible mainly by cars.
HiperDino or the more expensive SuperDino around tourist areas have a reputation of having the lowest prices in the Canary Island. Well, this certainly comes at a cost for somebody. I would recommend you to pay attention to the prices of the items because it could be easily misleading. If you cannot see the price of an item, it could be because it is cheaper than the promoted item next to it. Double-check every fresh stock and meat before you buy it. It has the greatest selection of European and Spanish stock though.
Chacon reputation is to provide the best meat on the island. Most of the bars and restaurants who use fresh meat for their dishes order from them, too. However, most bars do not use fresh ingredients so it is a rather narrow margin. If you like fresh quality food then this is the place to source your ingredients.
Clothes
Well, this should be a guide in itself but to cut a long story short:
There are SALES twice a year in Spain. Summer sales start around July here and end in August. Winter sales start after the 6th January and end in the middle of March.
I won't get into details about the lack of selection of shops or clothes itself now. There are 3 well-known places for shopping clothes in the island:
Deiland Shopping Centre
in Playa Honda provides an air conditioned mall" however quite small to shop around.
In Arrecife
you may check out the dock which houses some shiny shops mainly for the cruise ship visitors, though. The main street and surrounding area is highly popular and if you used to local fashion you will probably find something there. Keep in mind that everything is closed on Sundays!!
Biosfera
and the closer end of the Strip in Puerto Del Carmen houses some of the gems of the island. If you don't want to be disappointed by the other shops then don't start here.
Electronic goods
General tax in the Canary Island is 7%. Unfortunately, this is always reflected in the prices in Lanzarote as every item which reaches or leaves the island has to go through customs the dreaded aduanas". This could increase the price of the items greatly. Not to mention that there isn't a great selection of items in the shops either.
There are two shops in the island worth visiting if you are after electronic devices. The first is Milar next the the Hospital Jose Molina in the Argana centre which has a greater selection and better prices than the more modern Electron on the same road as IKEA.
These shops have great customer service and if you have any problem with the items you can just bring them back and apply the guarantee.
Unlike in the small shops all around the tourist resorts. I always wonder who trusts their money with them but there are certainly a lot.
Chinese shops
Chinese shops are the brick and mortar eBay. You can buy there everything you need. If you are a professional craftsman then you may be disappointed but otherwise in these shops you will find everything in the same place. Flip-flops, lingerie, hammer, HDMI cable, blank DVD, perfumes. Name it they have it. It's a bit like Argos but cheaper thus lower quality.
There are two big warehouses worth visiting. Merca99 on the road of IKEA, Electron and the Baratissimo behind the EuroSpar in Arrecife.
Internet shopping
If you have used to order on eBay and Amazon then you are going to be fine there. It takes longer to receive the items as the customs AKA Aduana" stops everything and SOMETIMES you need to pay the tax, too. This can be a nightmare and this is why most seller won't send anything to the Canary Islands at all. You won't have here Google sold Nexus phone, Argos goods, or OnePlus phone.
Luckily Amazon is big enough player to provide services here. It takes care of every paperwork if necessary and you only need to pay the customs upon receiving the goods in cash to the postman. You will notice upon ordering that the Canary taxes are applied to the prices so the items are generally cheaper than listed originally. If you are LUCKY enough and your parcel won't get stopped then that's all. If your package is too big or some other unknown reasons it gets inspected then probably you need to pay the customs and the custom fees, too.
Chinese shops may worth checking out before you place an order for some general cheap goods.
Craftsman tools
As I have mentioned before Chinese shops are selling tools, as well. However, if you use them more than once a year, investing in quality tools worth every cent. Additionally, you can always check out your local Hardware Store ferreteria" if you need something but if you are a dandy handyman who is into fine tools then these are your shops:
INOXNAVAL
Hidden in Arrecife's dock, it is specialised in screws and nuts. It sells a myriad of tools, as well. If they don't have something you want, they can order it for you.
Ferreteria San Gines
This is my favourite Ferreteria shop. They have a good enough selection of quality tools.
Parrilla
BricoKing
It is DIY and Home Improvement Store. Here you can find most of the things that is needed to rebuild or renovate your home. The main shop is in Argana, Arrecife.
Car parts
Farlan is a warehouse hidden and buried in dust and silence in Arrecife industrial park Argana. They sell car parts and tools for cars. You won't find them without true boyscout skills,
Please, note that if you are out of the tourist zone you may need to speak Spanish in order to communicate, as some of these shops are aimed for the local residents.