Lobos is capped by law at 200 people per four-hour slot, and the authorisation that holds the cap is free. The island lies 2 km off Corralejo, a low barren volcanic islet with a 127 m red-brown crater at one end, white sand paths cut through black lava and turquoise shallows at the edges.
The permit before the boat
Parque Natural del Islote de Lobos (2 km off Corralejo) takes visitors in two four-hour slots, 10:00 to 14:00 and 14:00 to 18:00. Each slot holds 200 people. The LobosPass authorisation is issued by the Cabildo de Fuerteventura and costs €0, though some sellers add €2 to handle the request for you.
One request covers only a few names, so a party of eight files several of them. Without the authorisation you will not land, whatever you have paid the boat. Settle the authorisation first and choose the operator second.
Walking the island
The Centro de Visitantes del Islote de Lobos (by the Lobos jetty) is a small single-storey stone-and-white building with interpretive panels and island maps inside, bare volcanic ground outside. It covers the monk-seal history behind the island's "sea wolf" name, the Roman purple-dye workshop and the park rules, and it takes five minutes. Entry is free and you walk in. It is one small room, so groups filter through a few at a time. The hours track the island's two visiting slots.
El Puertito is the island's one village, a dozen low whitewashed fishermen's cottages facing a shallow transparent lagoon ringed by black lava, with small boats pulled up on the sand. It is seven minutes' walk from the jetty. The ground is open and nobody is counting you in, but the lagoon is one of only two places on Lobos where swimming is legal, and that concentrates everybody.
Montaña La Caldera is the island's one real climb, a cinder cone whose crater is breached open to the sea. The path zigzags up loose red-brown scoria and takes 30 to 40 minutes. It is narrow and loose underfoot, so walkers string out single file. From the summit you look back over Corralejo's dunes.
Faro de Punta Martiño stands on the northernmost cliff, a squat white tower with a short keeper's house and surf breaking on black rock below. It has worked since 1865. The interior is closed to the public, so you see the tower from outside. It also sits at the far end of the loop, and in a four-hour slot most cruise passengers end up choosing between the lighthouse and the cone. Judge it against your return boat before you set off.
Swimming on Lobos
Playa de la Concha is the island's other legal swimming zone, a crescent of pale shell sand in a sheltered bay beside the Salinas del Marrajo salt flats, the water flat and clear, stone lime kilns crumbling on the slope behind. The bay has no facilities, no shade and no lifeguard.
Swimming anywhere else on Lobos is prohibited. Boats that only anchor offshore give you neither the lagoon nor the bay, which is the argument for taking a whole slot ashore.
Lunch on board
Fuertecharter (Corralejo) runs the most complete version of the day: seafood paella, an open bar, snorkel, kayak and paddleboard kit, and a guided landing on Lobos. The catamaran is broad and white with taut netting bows, and it anchors in flat turquoise water with the kayaks and boards tied astern and Corralejo's dunes pale in the distance. The four-hour trip is €65 adult and €45 child. It splits 20 passengers into two groups of 10 for the speedboat landing, and a party stays together only on a whole-boat private charter, which runs into the hundreds. Hotel pick-up inside Corralejo is free.
Obycatamaran sells three crowd sizes off one pontoon on Corralejo marina. The Freebird is a wide catamaran taking 50; the two smaller boats, with blue sun canopies, take 21 each. Prices run €62 to €85 per person depending on which boat you take, and lunch is paella, salad and fruit on all three. A swim ladder goes down into clear water.
Lobos in Catamaran (Muelle de Corralejo) sails with a maximum of seven passengers and has done since 2015. Lunch is Canarian, papas arrugadas con mojo and tortilla laid out on a cockpit table, and the deck carries wetsuits and four paddleboards. The price is €€€, quoted on request, a small-group premium over the big catamarans. Groups book the whole boat.
Costeando Charter puts up to 12 aboard a monohull sailing yacht that heels over under white sail between Corralejo and Lobos, then anchors off a crescent of sand while the meal is served in the cockpit. Lunch is built from local produce and the open bar includes cava and ron miel. The four-hour trip is €79 adult and €52.50 child. The same yacht sells per-seat places, full private charters and multi-day charters from three days.
Paralos Sailing Tour Fuerteventura charges for the whole skippered sailing yacht, which moors at Corralejo and has a bright saloon and bar below. It is €400 for three hours and €500 for four, with €100 for each extra hour. The per-seat Lobos option needs a minimum of six people. Split across six or eight, the whole-boat rate lands near the big-catamaran price with none of the crowd. The website is dated, so confirm the sailing by phone.
Lobos Tours Fuerteventura works out of Corralejo port with a small skippered sailboat and an open sport-fishing boat, snorkel gear and a couple of kayaks aboard. It bolts snorkelling, kayaking or fishing onto the Lobos run, keeps groups deliberately small and quotes private charters per boat on WhatsApp at €€€€. Drinks and food come with the longer trips only.
Lunch ashore at El Puertito
Chiringuito Lobos Antoñito el Farero (El Puertito) is the only restaurant on the island and the reason the lunch-ashore option exists. The terrace is open-air at the water's edge, plastic chairs and paper-covered tables, lava and sea on three sides. Pans of seafood paella come out of the kitchen, along with fritura and papas arrugadas, €€. Its name points at the lighthouse keeper's tower at the far end of the island.
It takes no bookings at all, seats first come first served across two sittings, and serves 10:20 to 15:30 daily. Arrive on an early boat or you will not eat. A big group should expect to split or wait.
Crossing without the lunch
Naviera Nortour loads a small blue-and-white passenger ferry at the mouth of Corralejo port, beside Bar La Lonja, for the 20-minute hop across the strait. It runs several sailings a day, with extra afternoon departures in high summer, and sells online and walk-up. A non-resident return is €17 adult and €11 child; with snorkelling added it is €27. The crossing is fine for a group, and the LobosPass is still name by name.
Carbasant Ferry Celia Cruz is the one underwater-viewing boat on the route, a white excursion ferry with 16 glass ports set into the hull that passengers lean over to watch fish in the Bocaina strait. Crossings run €11 to €17. The 90-minute mini-cruise costs extra, boards at the Lobos jetty at 12:30 and includes one drink. A group discount applies from 20 people on advance request. It is the easiest version of the day with children: ferry across, mini-cruise at midday, lunch ashore.
Líneas Romero runs the high-capacity scheduled ferry excursion used by visitors who are not staying on Fuerteventura at all, a large navy-and-white catamaran heading out with the Lobos lighthouse and Fuerteventura's dunes ahead. It sails at 09:30 and comes back at 17:30. The full day excursion is €100 adult and €63 child, and the boat is set up for coach-sized parties.
How long it takes and when to go
The whole day runs on the four-hour slot, and four hours is not long enough for the cone, the lighthouse and both swims. The morning slot is the one that covers the restaurant's service in full. On the afternoon slot, eat before you sail and give the time to the lagoon, the bay and one climb.
Boats sail seven days a week. Some sailings are confirmed by the operator by hand, with up to 48 hours allowed, so they cannot be booked last-minute. Book ahead, and start with the authorisation rather than the boat.
Who the day suits
It suits a visitor who wants a swim, a walk and lunch inside one four-hour slot, and who will arrange a free permit a few days in advance. In return you take loose ground underfoot on the cone and a choice between the summit and the lighthouse.
Pay for a cruise when you want the lunch, the kit and a guided landing. The passenger ferry buys the crossing alone, so measure the cruise prices against it.
Before you book
The permit is the only thing that will stop you boarding, and the island's one restaurant takes no bookings and holds no tables. Fix the LobosPass names and your slot, then pick the boat to match. See the Fuerteventura guide and the Fuerteventura hotel search.
