EUROQUEST SideTracks

Things in Los Cabos have certainly changed in recent years. The infrastructure is much better, roads are nicely maintained, new business venues have opened, and Puerto Paraiso Mall has higher occupancy than just a few years ago. Yet the downside to all this urban growth and overdeveloment can also be felt - with every visit, MEDANO beach with its adjacent hotels increasingly looks like Benidorm, and remote, isolated spots are harder to find between San Lucas and San Jose. Outside the developed areas around the Cape, however, true unspoilt nature can still be discovered, and the next signs of civilization lie hundreds of miles away - so far in fact, Los Cabos feels distinctly more insular than peninsular, as every time a true change of venue is called for, riding a plane up to Los Angeles or into Guadalajara or Mexico DF becomes a necessity. For those of us lovers of treasures away from the crowds, this geographical set-up, however, offers several wonderful escape options for a day

Traveling to Gran Canaria in wintertime? You are not alone! Join the thousands of sun-deprived Northern Europeans, who as snowbirds or just for vacation flock on innumerable charter flights South to the sunny Canarian Islands. Upon arrival at Gran Canaria's airport, however, most visitors will head right down to the southern resorts of MASPALOMAS and PLAYA DE INGLÉS for fun times in the Dunes, at the Beach and in their holiday communities. Contact with local culture is thus minimal, reducing any stay on the island to a generic fun-in-the-sun vacation experience. In our effort to infuse travel with culture and to reach a deeper understanding of local Canarian ways and means, however, we may want to opt for a different stay on Gran Canaria - one that veers off the beaten track and goes local once again. Such an alternative travel paradigm can best be experienced in the North of the Island in the capital city of LAS PALMAS. With a population of around half a million, this is as urba

No visit to Lanzarote would ever be complete without visiting the black lava lands of Timanfaya National Park. Most visitors will opt for the official tourist experience, however, approaching the Park from the South, parking their rental cars in order to switch to big tour buses to take them on a scenic round trip around the volcano land. The official  tour then provides them a public display of the forces of nature by having water shoot out like hot geysirs and broiling chicken on volcano stoves. While undoubtedly  impressive, it still is a mainstream tourist experience built on mass appeal and spectacle. For those of us who love treasures of the beaten track, however, Timanfaya has other more alternative experiences to offer as well - such as a great escape to some of the most remote beaches of the island in the far north of Timanfaya, the so-called  "VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK". So best to pack plenty of water and some food for a great day on the road, and to head North to

There are very few beautiful sunny places left in the world that have not yet been marketed, developed and sold off to package-deal tourism. Fortunately, the Northern part of Lanzarote has so far resisted such overdevelopment, and the island of La Graciosa is yet even a further step towards genuine preservation of habitat and unspoilt paradise. This gem of an island is totally free of cars, roads, tourists and boasts a population of only about 600, mostly all of which are located in the main village of CALETA DEL SEBO that can be reached by ferry boat from the Northernmost outpost of Lanzarote, ÓRZOLA. The latter, too, is one of our all-time favorite communities on the island, with authentic flair, relatively few tourists, great seafood restaurants serving the fresh catch of the day and the boat departing to and from La Graciosa several times a day. So there is hardly anything more soothing to the soul than to sail forth from Órzola on one of the early departures to Caleta del Sebo

We love the North. The combination of dramatic landscape, amazing views, arid yet green emptiness and lack of tourists make the Northern half of Lanzarote our favorite part of the Island. Far removed from the overdeveloped tourist resorts of Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca further south (since when has overdevelopment been dubbed "sustainable" just because it is done with white houses and green window frames?) - it is here in the North that the real Lanzarote wants to be discovered. There are tourists also - especially around the César Manrique heritage sites of JAMEOS DEL AGUA and MIRADOR DEL RIO - but apart from those few places, there is a whole world of far-apart Lanzarote waiting to be explored. Heading North from Costa Teguise - a resort community much more low-key than its counterparts in the south - we first head past the villages of Guatiza and Mala famous for their Cacti - the JARDÍN DE CACTUS, another Manrique masterpiece, attracts some visitors but nothin