Until the 1960's Puerto del Carmen was a small fishing village in the southeast.
Towards the airport there was still a saline plant.
Today, Puerto del Carmen is the biggest and most important tourist centre of the island Lanzarote, with annually more than 960 000 tourists (status 2017, source tourismodeislascanarias.com).
If you would like to have beach and nightlife as close as possible to your door, you should choose a holiday accommodation in Puerto del Carmen.
On a distance of about 6 km you will surely find the right beach, in the evening the right restaurant and at night the best disco or bar.
The largest beaches are Playa Grande, Playa de Los Pocillos and adjacent to the airport is Playa de Matagorda.
Various sports are offered, such as windsurfing, diving, sailing, deep sea fishing, boat trips and much more.
Near the harbour, the beach Playa Chica, which is especially suitable for children, awaits you with a diving school and boat trips next door.
Somewhat hidden, opposite the La Penita area, between Playa Grande and Playa de Los Pocillos, there are some more bathing possibilities that are not so easy to discover from the road and that are best explored on foot from the Avenida de las Playas.
At the Avenida de las Playas there is practically one restaurant alternating with Shopping Centers to the next.
In between, you will find boutiques, supermarkets, amusement arcades, car rentals and of course also various souvenir and/or often rather junk shops.
Above the Avenida, near the harbour, there is one of the biggest and most modern shopping centres of Lanzarote, the "Biosfera-Plaza", with free underground parking and an open-air cinema.
You can satisfy your hunger and thirst in numerous restaurants with great views of the hustle and bustle and the sea.
5 minutes by foot from the Biosfera in southern direction you reach the harbour of Puerto del Carmen, also called La Tiñosa.
Here you can find fishing boats and excursion boats as well as numerous authentic fish restaurants and especially on weekends at late hours lively bars invite you to stay.
The restaurant Casa Roja which was built in 1850 and served until the 1950s as a port warehouse is particularly outstanding.
From the harbour, there is a footpath along the cliffs from Puerto del Carmen in the direction of Barranco del Quiquere and on to Puerto Calero, the next village further south with its marina.
