Fuerteventura is the second-largest of the Canary Islands and the closest to Africa, less than 100 km from the Moroccan coast. It has about 129,000 inhabitants, more than a third of them in the capital, Puerto del Rosario, and since 2009 the whole island and its surrounding sea have been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This is the beach island: more than 70 km of sand, with turquoise water on the east coast and Atlantic surf on the west.
The north revolves around Corralejo: the Corralejo Dunes, the boat to Lobos Island, the Calderón Hondo volcano and the surf village of El Cotillo, with its coves and lighthouse. In the centre the landscape turns to bare mountains and palm groves: Betancuria, the first capital, the Morro Velosa and Las Peñitas viewpoints, and the Ajuy caves, with the oldest rocks in the archipelago.
The south is the Jandía peninsula: the beaches of Sotavento and Costa Calma, a world-class windsurfing and kitesurfing spot, Morro Jable, where the dolphin boats leave from, and, on the other side of the massif, wild Cofete beach with Villa Winter on the hillside. Here too is Pico de la Zarza (807 m), the island's highest point.
With five or six days you can combine the north, the centre and Jandía. The practical choice is to hire a car: buses link the main towns, but services to the south and the interior are infrequent. It's sunny almost all year (average highs of 21 °C in January and 28 °C in August at the airport) and it rarely rains; what never lets up is the wind, which takes the edge off the heat but can be relentless on exposed beaches.