We found another little gem this winter. Finca de Arrieta in Lanzarote. We were very pleasantly surprised!
There’s something quite special about a winter holiday. All that cold, windy, dark stuff that we can’t help but moan about slowly wears us down. The thought of a break to somewhere a little warmer, sunnier and brighter fills us with enough of those endorphins to carry us through.
A couple of weeks ago we took a taxi to Cardiff, our local airport and hopped on a flight to Lanzarote. It’s a popular destination during the winter months, so getting flights was no problem. After an early start we were in the taxi to our holiday destination before 10am. We then arrived at Finca de Arrieta around 10.30.
What is a Finca?
Those of you with any knowledge of Spanish will know that finca is a farm or smallholding. It’s a small, gated area with a delightful collection of environmentally-friendly places to stay, including cabins, a tower, lodges and yurts.
We were staying at the ‘Eco Chico Yurt’. It was absolutely lovely! We had our own little ‘yard’, which included not only our own double-bedded yurt, but an outdoor kitchen complete with stove, fridge, breakfast bar etc. There was a separate bathroom too, also done as a sort of indoor/outdoor arrangement, with a palm tree growing up through the roof. There were two sunbeds and two easy chairs to top it all off.
The thing that struck us most was the calmness of the whole Finca de Arrieta experience. We had privacy yet weren’t isolated. There were many communal facilities, including a pool area, a communal lounge and an honesty shop. (just write down what you take and pay for it at the end of your stay) Not only that, there were donkeys and chickens too. Need eggs? Just go and collect some from the chicken enclosure each day. You can’t get fresher than that, can you!
Evenings at Finca de Arrieta
In the evenings we just sat in our own little enclosure and chatted while looking up at the stars and enjoying the peace and quiet. We were only a few hundred metres from Arrieta’s beach too, where we enjoyed our November ‘dip’ in the waves. Overlooking the beach was a little bar called ‘Samrise’. It was just a converted VW camper van which served some of the best Mojitos around and was playing some really great music to get the feet tapping. It really was a picture-book setting which we thoroughly enjoyed.
The accommodation at Finca de Arrieta is self-catering, but there is a regular Paella and Cava night where residents can get together and enjoy a chat and a drink together. A very enjoyable night. For the rest of the time we split our catering between the numerous lovely restaurants in Arrieta and home-cooked food, which was easily bought from one of the two good supermarkets nearby.
Fisherman’s Cottage
For the second half of our stay we moved down to ‘Fisherman’s Cottage’, located down at the waterfront in Arrieta. This was an entirely different kind of experience. It’s an off-grid, environmentally-friendly little house, overlooking the sea and facing out along the town’s pier. You can watch all the locals walking, fishing and playing from dawn till dusk. Rather than peace and quiet, it was right in the middle of the ‘social’ part of the town. There are restaurants literally next-door and a very popular cafeteria just across the road. It offered a totally different vibe to the finca. It’s one that I’m sure some would prefer and some maybe not.
The staff at Lanzarote Retreats couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. From the minute we arrived until the minute we left, everything was looked after. All our questions were answered and the rest of the time we were left to simply enjoy our time there. They were even able to provide a hybrid electric car for us to use during our stay. This was great for getting out and about to see some of the local attractions. Would we go back? You bet!
