The catch at ZEL Fuerteventura

The hotel sits in what the René Egli school calls the strong wind zone of Sotavento, where the north-east trade wind is squeezed between two ridges and speeds up as it reaches the sea. The school's figures, averaged since 1985, show wind above Force 4 for at least three hours on 90 to 100% of days in June and July and 85 to 100% in August. Even from October to January, the calmest stretch, it blows that hard on about half of all days. That is perfect for kiting and windsurfing, and the reason the World Cup is held here, but the beach is rarely still, and on the windier days the sea is not always an easy swim.

ZEL stands alone at Playa Barca with only Paradisus by Meliá Fuerteventura and the René Egli centre beside it. Costa Calma, the nearest town with shops, bars and restaurants, is 6 minutes by car, or about 45 to 50 minutes on foot along the beach. Every meal out and every trip means a car or a taxi. The airport is 64 minutes away by road, Morro Jable 26 and Betancuria 48. The hotel has outdoor parking and lists car and bike rental among its services, and on a day without a car the beach, the pool and the hotel's four bars and restaurants are what there is.

The shallow lagoon along the beach, more than 4 km long and up to 200 m wide, is a tidal one: it fills with the spring tides around the full and new moon, so it is not full every day. The René Egli school, which holds the exclusive licence for lessons in it, publishes a lagoon timetable for each year. The school is a separate business from the hotel. Kite courses cost €205 for three hours, €395 for six, €585 for nine and €750 for twelve per person on site, and take students from 15 years and 50 kg. Courses depend on the weather.

Every room at ZEL has a balcony or terrace, but only the cheapest one faces inland. The Zel Room is the same 48 m² as the Zel Ocean View, with its balcony over the gardens; every other category, from the Ocean View to Casa Zel, is sold as sea view. For Tuesday 8 June 2027, with breakfast, the Zel Room was €210 and the Zel Ocean View €243, so the Atlantic costs €33 a night. Above the Ocean View, the junior suites, suites and Casa Zel all face the sea too, so the extra money buys space, a seating area or a freestanding bathtub rather than a better outlook.

Parda, the main restaurant, serves Mediterranean cooking with Canarian produce from breakfast to dinner, and breakfast is a buffet. Half board is sold as an extra, and the dinner it buys is a hot and cold buffet. Since there is nowhere to walk to for dinner, the board decides more here than at a town hotel: on a breakfast rate, every evening is either Parda, Voltaje or a drive. The nearest restaurants, in Costa Calma, are six to eight minutes away by car, and El Pellizco, the MICHELIN-listed table there, closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.