Fuerteventura, Spain: ATVing in the Canary Islands

One fun activity that I tried out on Fuerteventura was ATVing and it was wonderful to be able to see the different terrains of the island up close. I highly recommend this if staying on the island even if it is something you’ve done in the states or elsewhere in the world, as the rules are a little different. 

How are they different, you may ask? Well, safety and liabilities are vastly different compared to the states. In America, individual participants are required to sign a liability notice, which prevents the participant from suing the company if they are injured or something of that sort happens while on the ATV. On Fuerteventura only 1 person of the entire group signs something and it sure did not look like a limited liability notice. Your drivers ID is individually checked in the states while they assume you have one in Fuerteventura. They also assume you’re 18 or over. The speeds at which you can ride an ATV are much lower in the states than in Fuerteventura (depending on which ATV attraction you attend).

 So what I’m really saying is, if you want to ride an ATV faster and more dangerously, then you’ll have this golden opportunity in Fuerteventura! I ended up trying a 4.5-hour tour of the island and hit speeds of 55 km/hr doing so. A few others from the group hit 70+ km/hr. Try getting away with that in the states!

 Some things I will point out from my ATVing experience is that you’ll be traveling on sandy, bumpy roads, which as a result will kick up a LOT of dirt. Bring a bandana for your mouth and nose so you’re not blowing sand snot out of your nose midway through the trip. The tours on the island also cross many different terrain from sandy deserts to beaches and sand dunes so bring a durable (and sand proof) camera for the journey. What I found most surprising is how part of the island can be cloudy/stormy yet an hour into ATVing the weather drastically changes to full on beaming sunshine like in the photos below. I kid you not, this is the same island.

There are different places that provide the same ATV attraction but some had terrible reviews so definitely do your research before paying for it. We went with Fuerte Adventure Quards S.I.. I felt more comfortable about the upkeep of their vehicles since they are authorized by the Canarian government. Our whole group had a blast on the trip!

P.S. expect to take a long bath to get the sand and dust out of your hair and skin. However I was impressed at what ATVing can do to "contour" your skin. Definitely better than my makeup skills!