← Maratón de Corralejo·Day trip

Betancuria: The Old Capital in the Mountains

The first capital of Fuerteventura, founded in the fifteenth century in a hidden valley in the island's western mountains, reached by a road of viewpoints and seen without much walking.

DurationDay trip
TransitCar, about 1 hour south of Corralejo
DepartsCorralejo

After the Maratón de Corralejo: Betancuria

The Route: Corralejo → Betancuria → Vega de Río Palmas → Corralejo Logistics: Hire car, about 1 hour each way on winding mountain roads. Short, mostly level walks in the village. Marathon Month: December Duration: Day trip

Corralejo ──(about 1 hr by car)──> Betancuria ──(about 10 mins)──> Vega de Río Palmas ──(about 1 hr)──> Corralejo

The Maratón de Corralejo is run on the flat coast at the northern tip of Fuerteventura. The interior is higher and older. Betancuria, in a valley in the western mountains, was the island's capital for four centuries and is the best place to see what Fuerteventura was before tourism.

December in the interior is mild by day and cooler than the coast in the evening. After any winter rain the valleys turn briefly green, and the palm groves around Vega de Río Palmas are at their freshest.

This is a day for a hire car, with a rested driver; the last stretch climbs through hairpins. Allow about an hour from Corralejo. Buses reach Betancuria only occasionally.

The road in

South of the village the road crosses a ridge at Mirador Morro Velosa, a viewpoint with a café built into the hillside and wide views over the centre of the island. The viewpoint building has opening hours of its own; the view from the car park is free. A second viewpoint on the road has large bronze statues of two pre-Hispanic kings of the island.

Betancuria

The village was founded early in the fifteenth century by the Norman conquistador Jean de Béthencourt, who gave it his name. It was the capital until the nineteenth century. Today it is small and quiet, with white houses, stone walls and cobbled streets, most of them level within the centre. The church of Santa María, rebuilt after pirates burned the original in the sixteenth century, is the main building; check its opening times locally. An hour covers the village at an easy pace.

Vega de Río Palmas

A few minutes further south, the valley of Vega de Río Palmas is lined with palms and old farmland, with a pilgrimage church. It is a pleasant, flat stop before the drive back.

Lunch and the return

Restaurants in Betancuria serve island dishes: goat stew, majorero cheese and papas arrugadas. Drive back to Corralejo before dark; the mountain roads are unlit.