by Nick Ball

© LanzaroteGuidebook.com

Despite the credit crunch and weak state of sterling the holiday island of Lanzarote still expects to welcome well over one million tourists this year. The bulk of them from the UK and Eire. And anyone planning to visit Lanzarote this summer can now get their hands on a comprehensive 96 page guide to the island – entirely free of charge.

Lanzarote Guidebook has been created by long term island residents in order to provide visitors with accurate and up to date information about the Island of Fire. Along with plenty of inside tips about the best places to go and things to see and do.

The Summer 2009 edition features 96 pages – illustrated with some fantastic visuals – and is packed with useful information for tourists. Which can be downloaded fast and for free at www.lanzaroteguidebook.com

Lanzarote Guidebook contains comprehensive information about all of the island’s resorts, towns and places. Including maps for each resort. Along with coverage of all of Lanzarote´s many attractions. Such as the Timanfaya Volcano Park and the Jameos del Agua.

Discover the work of César Manrique – the island born artist and architect who campaigned for the controlled development of tourism on the island. Find out more about upcoming events this summer – such as the Jazz Canarias Festival and the fiesta of Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

For those who like to explore and enjoy days out Lanzarote Guidebook also features an overview of the islands most breathtaking beaches and information about the best excursions on the island. Including kayak tours, catamaran trips and submarine voyages.

Lanzarote Guidebook also contains a handy Essentials section. Which covers all of the holiday nitty gritty such as bank opening times, hiring a car, driving on the island, duty free allowances, shop opening hours and a list of emergency contact numbers.

This indispensable guide is published in a handy and portable A5 format and is distributed free to tourists on the island via car hire companies, hotels, tourist information offices and private villas.

Visitors to the Lanzarote Guidebook website will also find even more in-depth and detailed information about the island online. They can catch up on all of the latest island news, check live weather reports and use in-depth climate information to work out when best to visit. Whilst browsing one of the best selections of Lanzarote villas and apartments online.

Are the residents of Lanzarote “grumpy?”  I can’t say that would be my experience, and yet the Chamber of Commerce has launched a “friendliness campaign” to improve the image of the island!

If I had to think of places where the people in restaurants and hotels were unfriendly to their guests, then Lanzarote would probably not have featured very highly (although I can think of some good examples in Germany and the UK).  In fact, my only real complaint about restaurants on Lanzarote would be that they charge for rolls and butter without asking and sometimes feign a lack of English when there is a problem with the bill.

Perhaps they are worried about the falling numbers of visitors to the island this year.  But I would have thought that that had more to do with the World economy than with the attitude of the taxi drivers.

As far as the restaurants are concerned, investing in decent translations of the menus might be a better investment!

One of the interesting things about visiting foreign countries can be the different type of food available.  Either there are local, previously unknown, delicacies.  Or there may be the same brands, but with different varieties of their products.  Sometimes there are even the same brands under different names (one of the best-known examples being Twix, known previously in Germany as “Raider”).

Of course, this can make shopping in a foreign country, especially in a foreign language, an interesting experience.

Now, I found the idea of a 24-hour supermarket in Puerto del Carmen innovative.  What I am not so thrilled about is reading today that the supermarket chain Lidl are building a store near Arrecife.

Not that I am opposed to Lidl – I shop there myself in Germany.  But I am wondering how much local produce they will be stocking, and how much it will be geared towards the tourists on the island?  Will you need a car to get there?

Let’s hope that it doesn’t have an adverse effect on the smaller supermarkets.