A new marina, plenty of cafes and a relaxed atmosphere make Playa Blanca the perfect place for a quieter, more sophisticated holiday in Lanzarote. Playa Blanca is the most southerly resort on the Island of Lanzarote, it is approximately 37 kilometres from the Island’s Capital and some 33 kilometres from the airport              . As Playa Blanca is the latest major tourist resort to be developed,there is still considerable building work taking place. You should not allow this to put you off, as it is still a more tranquil, less noisy place than puerto carmen. Until quite recently, Playa Blanca was a small fishing village somewhat stranded at the bottom end of Lanzarote. The fact that there was a bustling port where you catch the ferry to Fuerteventura meant it was always a popular place, ripe for development.   Although some of the villa developments around the edge of the town are fairly faceless, it is — on the whole — developing into a very nice town which seems to have learnt from the mistakes made by other resorts, both on Lanzarote and the other Canary Islands. There has been investment in infrastructure as well as the holiday villas and hotels. There is a Golf Course planned for construction near faro park and the new marina rubicon  has certainly made Playa Blanca a more upmarket resort. There is some discussion at the moment about enlarging the harbour to allow it to take larger cruise liners such as the QE2 which visited last year, but which had to moor just off the coast. There are a host of entertainment as well as the obvious attractions of the beaches. The promenade is well worth taking as it links both sides of the resort. It allows you to take in most of the (sea-front) sites of Playa Blanca as well as spectacular Ocean views across the Bocaina Straits to Fuerteventura. The coastline around Playa Blanca is essentially one large 9 kilometre wide bay which is then broken up into three smaller, but still large, bays. This basic geography means that the beaches in and around Playa Blanca are sheltered and ideal for swimming and sunbathing.  Playa Blanca has all the normal tourist shops that you would imagine in the centre and along the central part of the beach promenade, although not as many as the other major resorts. If you want a more upmarket style of shopping experience, then the new Marina Rubicon is rapidly becoming the place to go. While it is fair to say that there are still many shops waiting to be occupied, every time you visit the Marina a new shop seems to have opened. While you can eat and drink in one of the many bars and restaurants in Playa Blanca, the tone of nightlife here is not as riotous as it is in other resorts on the island, certainly if you want late night discos then you really need to be looking at Puerto del Carmen or Costa Teguise. Again there is no shortage of places to eat in Playa Blanca, with a variety of styles being available in the town centre. There are some good seafood restaurants on the beach promenade overlooking the central Playa Blanca beach and out over the Atlantic across to the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura. Certainly a great place to spend a long lunch in good company. In the Marina Rubicon, the new Casa Roja — Red House — is again a great place to go, it has been well decorated in a style that leaves you wondering if it hasn’t been there a lot longer than the couple of years that the Marina has been in existence. There are a number of good Cafes already open in the new Marina Rubicon, including the Cafe del Mar which is a great place to chill out, have a drink and sit and watch the boats in the Marina.