Playa Blanca - Surrounding Area

Surrounding Area

Playa Blanca is overlooked by the dormant volcano, Montana Roja. The walk up to and around the rim of the mountain is not too difficult and there are views over Playa Blanca, to the North of the island and across to Fuerteventura. Within the crater itself, many people have arranged rocks into names and messages.

To the north and east of Playa Blanca, there is a protected area named Los Ajaches. It is a triangular area of some 3,000 hectares bounded by: the mountain village of Femes, the small coastal fishing village of Playa Quemada and the Papagayo beaches. The highest point is the Ajache Grande (aka Hacha Grande) at 562 metres, which affords views of the whole island and also of Fuerteventura. There are defined paths when entering the area from Femes. The walks start from the goat farm up on the ridge behind Emilianos Restaurant. This is on the right as you enter the village from Playa Blanca. Los Ajaches was declared "Natural space" of the Canaries on June 19, 1987. The volcanic landscape of Los Ajaches has an impressive beauty. It includes areas of scientific interest with the presence of fossils of the Pliocene period.

Just a 20 minute drive north of Playa Blanca is El Golfo. The beach at El Golfo is within a half-submerged cone of a volcano, which over time has been eroded by the sea, leaving behind only the striated wall of the crater. At the foot of the crater wall is Lago Verde, a half-moon-shaped lagoon of a striking green colour, said to be caused by the volcanic minerals and micro-organisms that are believed to be unique in this lake. The beach itself is made of black volcanic pebbles spattered with fragments of the semi-precious olivine. The scenery is further enhanced by the large finger of rock which sits just off the beach and causes the sea to crash around it. This was where Raquel Welch appeared, wearing her animal skin bikini in the movie One Million Years B.C.

The lagoon is adjacent to El Golfo village, separated only by a steep cliff with loose scree. El Golfo’s fish restaurants are plentiful and serve a selection of fresh fish and meat dishes.

About 8km north of Playa Blanca is the Laguna de Janubio, a large, saltwater lagoon, location of the Salinas de Janubio, the only still operating commercial salt works on the island. At its height the Salinas produced around 10,000 tons of sea salt per year, with the water originally being pumped into the lagoon by wind power, which has been replaced by electrically driven pumps.

The main part of the salt production was used in the fish industry for preservation and processing but with the invention of the refrigerator, the production decreased considerably and reaches around 2,000 tons per annum today. A small part of the production is still sold as high quality table salt. Each year, during the Corpus Christi festival in June, tons of dyed salt are traditionally used in the creation of magnificent decorations in the streets and squares of Arrecife, the capital.