What you can see on the Costa Teguise webcam
The camera stands on the terrace of a beach bar on the promenade at Las Cucharas. Tables and red parasols fill the front of the picture; beyond them are the promenade, its palms and the beach. It is a view of the resort more than of the waves: how busy the seafront is, what people are wearing and how hard the trade wind is pulling at the parasols.
Las Cucharas beach bar and promenade
This camera sits on the terrace of a beach bar at Las Cucharas, the biggest of Costa Teguise's four beaches, on the east coast of Lanzarote. In the foreground are the bar's tables and green chairs under a big red parasol, with the crêpe menu board by the rail; beyond them the seafront promenade curves away between palms, with runners and walkers from early morning, and on the right the sand of the beach with its rows of sunloungers. The sea itself stays just out of shot.
It is less a view of the waves than of the resort itself: you can see whether people are out on the promenade, whether the sunloungers are filling up, whether they are in T-shirts or jackets, and how strong the sun is. The parasols are a handy wind gauge, too, because the north-east trade wind that windsurfers come here for blows straight onto this stretch of coast, strongest on summer afternoons.
A resort planned from scratch
Costa Teguise was conceived as a tourist town before a single street was built. The company Explosivos Río Tinto bought a vast estate here, and construction began in 1970 with the island's first five-star hotel, designed by the architect Fernando Higueras with the Lanzarote artist César Manrique. A golf course designed by John Harris followed in the late 1970s, and for about 30 years it was the only one on the island. Of the four beaches, Las Cucharas is the largest and the windsurfers' favourite, Los Charcos almost joins it, Bastián lies to the south, and El Jablillo is the quiet one.
When to watch Costa Teguise
Lanzarote keeps UK and Irish time. Because the coast faces east, the sun rises over the sea, and early morning is the brightest, emptiest moment on the seafront. The north-east trade wind blows onshore here, strongest in summer afternoons, which is why Las Cucharas is the windsurfers' beach; El Jablillo, further along, stays calm behind its breakwaters.
Around Costa Teguise
Arrecife, the island capital, is a short way south-west along the coast. Inland lies the old capital, Teguise, known for its weekly market, and to the north the Cactus Garden at Guatiza, one of César Manrique's last works.
Visiting Costa Teguise
Lanzarote airport is about 8 miles (12.5 km) away as the crow flies. El Jablillo is the beach to pick with small children; on windy days Las Cucharas is livelier, and the promenade links all four beaches on foot.
