El Mirador de Fuerteventura

El Mirador de Fuerteventura is the old Parador Nacional de Turismo de Fuerteventura, a long, low neo-Canarian building with a tower, set above Playa Blanca just south of Puerto del Rosario. Manuel Fraga opened it on 23 September 1968 as the 80th parador in the state network and the fifth in the Canaries. In 1996 Paradores decided it no longer fitted the brand, and from 1999 the island council ran it, until years of losses closed it in 2013. After a year of restoration it reopened in May 2017 with four stars, run under a concession by the company Ara Krulich, and the building also houses a hospitality and tourism training centre.

There are 50 rooms, each named after a town or village on the island. All of them face outwards, and most look over the ocean. Every category measures about 35 m², with air conditioning, a desk and a private bathroom; what changes as you go up is the balcony and the view. The plain Double Room promises neither. The Double Room with Balcony adds a balcony, and the hotel describes it as soundproofed. The Sea View Double Room has a balcony with the sea in front of it, for about €13 a night more than the entry room.

The reason to book is the arithmetic. A double starts at about €110 a night, half board for two from about €115, and the rate barely moves through the year, rising only a little over Christmas and New Year. For that you get a historic building with a path straight onto a golden-sand beach about 875 metres long, a restaurant, El Parador, that carries on the old parador dining room islanders knew for decades, a terrace bar looking over the beach, and the airport five minutes away by car, which turns a 7am flight into an easy morning. Puerto del Rosario is six minutes' drive, Caleta de Fuste 12, Betancuria 31 and the Corralejo dunes 32, so with a hire car this is a central base for the whole island.

The trade is the setting and the facilities. The runway ends about 1.6 km to the south, aircraft pass close by, and guests mention the noise. There is no working pool: the one on the grounds has been out of service in 2026, and the hotel does not sell one. This is a small, simple hotel with one restaurant, a short half-board menu and no entertainment. Book it for a first or last night beside the airport, or as a low-cost, central base for a week of driving round the island; skip it if you want a resort pool and a sunbed by the water.