A day on Fuerteventura from Lanzarote: the €19.50 ferry, the €45 version and when the organised day is worth €65
Updated October 19, 2026 · 9 min read
The short answer: the crossing itself is cheap. A return ferry ticket between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura starts at €19.50 and takes about half an hour. If you are not staying in Playa Blanca, the return ferry with a bus from your resort at €45 is the one to book — 4.8 out of 5 from 101 reviews, and it solves the only hard part of the day. If you would rather somebody else ran the whole thing, the organised round trip is €65 with five hours free in Corralejo. And if Isla de Lobos is the reason you are going, the day cruise with lunch is €110.
See times and prices for the return ferry with bus pickup
| Option | What it includes | Duration | from | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return or one-way ferry with Wi-Fi | the crossing only | about 30 minutes each way | €19.50 | 4.7 from 271 reviews |
| Return ferry ticket with bus from your resort | bus to Playa Blanca and back, plus the ferry | 1 day | €45 | 4.8 from 101 reviews |
| Organised round trip with free time in Corralejo | coach, ferry, five hours free | 9 hours | €65 | 4.3 from 302 reviews |
| Lobos Island and Fuerteventura day cruise | ferry, catamaran, paella, water activities | 6 hours | €110 | 4.5 from 72 reviews |
| North Fuerteventura island tour | guided coach day, dunes and Betancuria | 10 hours | €69 | 3.9 from 51 reviews |
What you are actually paying for
The boat is the same boat. Between the €19.50 ticket and the €65 day there is no difference in the crossing — the strait between Playa Blanca and Corralejo is narrow, the express catamarans take roughly half an hour, and the price gap is entirely about how you get to Playa Blanca and what happens once you are off the other end.
So the decision is simple and it is about your own geography:
Staying in Playa Blanca? Buy the €19.50 crossing and walk to the terminal. Anything else is money for a bus you don’t need.
Staying in Puerto del Carmen, Costa Teguise or Arrecife? The southern tip of Lanzarote is a long way from you and the bus timetable is thin. The €45 ticket with resort pickup buys the day back.
Want the dunes, Betancuria and a guide? That is a different product, and it costs ten hours.
See prices and times for the plain return crossing
Nine hours, of which five are yours
The organised round trip at €65 is the one most people compare against doing it themselves, so it is worth reading closely. The operator describes pickup from the resorts, the drive down past Uga and Yaiza to Playa Blanca, the Fred Olsen Express catamaran past Lobos to Corralejo, then free time, then the return ferry at around 5:30 PM.
Included: transport to the ferry and back to your pickup point, the return ferry ticket, and the free time. Not included: lunch, drinks, a tour guide on the other side, and any bus or taxi in Corralejo. The booking page is honest that this is a transfer product rather than a guided tour — there is no guide waiting in Fuerteventura. It is also listed as not suitable for people with mobility impairments.
Two numbers on that page do not quite agree with each other: the written description promises five hours of free time and a 25-minute crossing, while the itinerary panel shows six hours in Corralejo and 35 minutes on the boat. Plan on the shorter version of both and you will not be disappointed.
And one thing the page says that genuinely matters: the Corralejo dunes are not part of the ticket. The operator puts the dune park at around eleven kilometres in length south of the town and names the public bus or a short taxi ride as the way there — both explicitly not covered by the price.
See availability and prices for the organised round trip
Isla de Lobos needs a free permit — and most people find out too late
The little island in the strait is a nature park, and the Cabildo de Fuerteventura limits how many people may be on it. Access requires an authorisation, applied for free through the Cabildo’s Lobos Pass web application, with a morning slot from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and an afternoon slot from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, each capped at 200 visitors. Each applicant may request up to three people per day and slot, and the ticket is obtainable three days before the date of the visit.
If you are crossing independently and plan to hop over to Lobos, that is a step to do before you leave home, and it is worth checking the current rules on the Cabildo’s own pages — capacity systems like this get adjusted.
If you book the day cruise instead, the operator handles the day: the trip leaves Puerto de Playa Blanca at 9:30 AM, crosses to Corralejo, transfers to a catamaran, sails what the operator calls El Río, the two-kilometre arm of sea between Fuerteventura and the islet, anchors near La Concha, and splits the group in two — one half ashore at the old fishing settlement of El Puertito with a guide, the other half snorkelling, kayaking and paddleboarding with paella, soft drinks, beer and wine on board, then they swap. The on-water part ends at 2:00 PM, leaving around three hours in Corralejo before the return ferries at 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM. €110, 4.5 out of 5 from 72 reviews. Ask the operator who arranges the island authorisation when you book.
See availability and prices for the Lobos Island day cruise
The guided island tour is the weakest score here, and that is the point
Ten hours, €69, Corralejo dunes and Betancuria — and 3.9 out of 5 from 51 reviews, the lowest rating of anything in this comparison and well below the ferries. Fuerteventura is a long island; seeing its north properly from Lanzarote means a very long day with a lot of coach in it, and the ratings say people feel that.
It is not a bad tour, it is a hard brief. If the first capital and the dunes are what you came for, book it knowing the day is mostly travel. If you want a beach, a lunch and a walk round a harbour town, the ferry does that better for a third of the price.
If you were thinking of taking a hire car across instead, read your rental conditions first — whether the vehicle may leave the island at all is a question for the supplier and not something to assume, and our guide to excess, deposit and counter charges explains where those clauses live.
Our recommendation
For most visitors who are not staying in Playa Blanca: the return ferry with bus pickup, €45, 4.8 out of 5 from 101 reviews — the highest rating in this comparison. You get the whole day on the other island, you choose what to do with it, and you have not paid for a guide you were not going to listen to.
Book a date for the ferry with resort pickup
If you are in Playa Blanca: the €19.50 crossing. Nothing else here beats it, and the terminal is in town.
If Lobos is the reason: the day cruise at €110. It is the most expensive thing on this page and the only one that puts you on the islet with lunch and a guide included.
Not for you if you were hoping to “see Fuerteventura”. You will see Corralejo and whatever you can reach from it in five hours — a town, a beach, and the near edge of a dune field on an island far too big to cross in an afternoon. That is a good day out. It is not the island. More crossings and day trips from here are listed under things to do on Lanzarote.
Crossing times, inclusions, exclusions, departure and return times are as published on the GetYourGuide booking pages of the operators named; the Isla de Lobos authorisation rules are as published by the Cabildo de Fuerteventura. Ratings and review counts are from GetYourGuide. Subject to change.
