When you fly to Lanzarote the aircraft will arrive at the island's main airport in Arrecife. The airport is conveniently situated midway along the east coast making transfers to most of the island's main tourist hotspots relatively short, in fact as the whole island is only around 35 miles long, transfer distances are rarely more than 20 miles.

Due to the fact that over half of the island's permanent inhabitants live in or near Arrecife, it's not surprising that many of Lanzarote's cultural events take place in the town. One of the biggest of those events is the annual carnival, which in 2010 took place between the dates of 13th and 17th February. The main carnival procession took place on 15th February and the closing celebration which was the traditional burial of the sardine, or La Sardina Muerta, on the 17th February. The theme for this year's carnival was Michael Jackson, so there was plenty of Wacko Jacko costumes and lots of wannabe lookalikes.

Arrecife has all the activity you would associate with a capital city such as good shopping, plenty of parks and promenades, including an especially nice one along the sea front. It also has a healthy nightlife scene, but by far the best time to go there is during carnival. Thats when you will see the locals really letting their hair down, fully intent on having a great time. Fancy dress, live music and plenty of food and drink are par for the course during any Canary Island carnival and Lanzarote is no different. The Arrecife carnival is usually the first one of the season for Lanzarote, with similar events taking place later in February and March in Puerto Del Carmen, Costa teguise and Playa Blanca.

You can fly to Lanzarote during February with flythomascook.com on a variety of low cost flights.