Kayak and Snorkel PapagayoLanzarote's Best Known Beach, 3 Hours

Kayaking to Papagayo

Three hours on the water at the southern tip of Lanzarote, from the beach at Las Coloradas along the coast of the Los Ajaches natural monument to Papagayo, the best known beach on the island, and back. It leaves at 10:00, Monday to Saturday, and nobody needs to have sat in a kayak before.

How the morning runs

The kit comes out on the beach and the guide runs a briefing first: what the trip is going to cover, how to handle the kayak and the safety rules. Then the group sets off east, working into the coves under the cliffs, past a sea cave and along the string of small beaches down there that have no road to them.

The first half ends at Papagayo, the best known beach on the island, where everyone lands for a picnic, a swim and snorkelling. If you have never snorkelled, that is where you are shown how. Fruit, a chocolate bar and water come along for the stop.

Afterwards the route carries on towards Punta de Papagayo, which is where the cliffs on this stretch of coast are at their biggest, and turns for home.

What you hear along the way

Between beaches the guide covers the eruptions that built this corner of the island, the conquest of the Canaries, the pirate raids the coast was fortified against, and the wildlife of the biosphere reserve the whole island sits inside.

Worth knowing

Come dressed to get wet: shoes that can be soaked, swimwear or trousers you do not mind, a towel and sun cream. The weight limit is 130 kg. Children have their own rate from eight, and a child of five to seven comes free in a triple kayak between two adults. All the kit, the guide, the insurance, the snack and the photographs of the trip are part of what you book.