Car tours of Fuerteventura - the south tour

The east coast is home to many isolated coves where waves crash in and the west coast, massive sweeping beaches.

Heading down the Jandia coast, there are interesting diversions at Tarajalejo, a fishing village, Gran Tarajal, the island's second largest town, Las Playitas - an even smaller fishing village - and La Lajita.

Then it is down through Costa Calma and on to Morro Jable. The road to Punta de Jandia and Cofete is found just above the port and leads on to a gravel road on the right. This is the start of a trip to one of the most desolate corners of Fuerteventura. The road is bumpy and almost all of the tracks off it lead to coves. Eventually the mountain chain fades off into hills and about 12kms out of  Morro Jable lies the turn off on the right to Cofete. Going left takes you past a wind generator which stands over the fishing hamlet of Puerto de la Cruz and at the very tip of the island, Punta de Jandia, stands the lighthouse.

Just off shore lies a reef called Bajar del Griego or "Where the Greek sank" - named after a disaster about 200 years ago when a Greek ship carrying passengers from Fuerteventura to Gran Canaria sank with no survivors.

Heading back to Puerto de la Cruz take the narrow tarred road on the left opposite the village  which will take you to the picturesque cove of Playa de Ojos.

From around here you can get a spectacular view along the west coast. Return to the Cofete turn off. This will take you along a pass where eventually you will come to one of the best views of the island along the massive stretching golden beaches of Cofete and Barlovento de Jandia. In the distance lie the sand dunes of the Pared isthmus. La Pared - the wall - was named after a wall which once separated the two kingdoms of the island.

This rough and narrow road carved into the landscape was built by the German Gustav Winter who banned outsiders from living in Cofete which boasts one restaurant and a collection of a few stone houses. His villa dominates the plain and his love for isolation has led to many rumours and legends on Fuerteventura over the years.

Passing through the village and bearing right, there is a track on the left a couple of hundreds metres along which leads captivating, huge beach. Spectacular though it is, swimming here is extremely dangerous because of a strong cross current and a number of tourists have drowned so stick to paddling.

Villa Gustav Winter lies 1.7km further on then it is back along the same route through Cofete to Morro Jable.

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