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I have been twice

Once in Sept...lovely and warm, nice old town of Puerto Del Carmen (didn't think much of the "new" bit though, a bit touristy but not at Torremolinos levels, eg)

Again in February and it was absolutely freezing and rained quite a lot

Don't believe the hype about it being a winter sun destination. Well, I suppose it is if you take your duffel coat and don't want to swim in the pool.

We've booked to go for a week at Easter and this thread is really encouraging. We're staying in Puerto de Carmen and have booked a two-bedroom self-catering apartment in a hotel complex with swimming pools etc. which was less than £300.

For those of you that have been, do we need to hire a car for the volcano park etc.? Other places I've been the hotels often have day trips and coaches organised or can you get local buses?

queen - we got a coach that was organised by a local tourist office. If you go in a car you have to queue whilst the coaches get priority, plus you aren't allowed to drive through a lot of the park in a car but you are in the coach. Don't think local buses would go there. Definately worth seeing.

Worst holiday of my life. It pissed out of the heavens for a week and there is nothing to do in Lanzarote in bad weather except drink, which we did. Copiously

If I want a cheap week of guaranteed sunshine out of season now, I go to Egypt.

My experience of Lanzerote was in April - cold wind which they said always came in April, sun too hot to sit in - I got a terrible itchy rash, and even through a cotton top the sun irritated it. So had to sit in the shade with a padded jacket on. It was on the east coast. No rain though. We had a pale sandy beach, but the wind blew the sand all over us. Loved Gran Canaria.

Horses for courses, innit. I have no wish to holiday in the Middle East because 1) I believe it is a soul-less place 2) I have major issues with the (non) rights of women (although of course female tourists have all the rights they need as long as they don't have the misfortune of "getting themselves raped") < buttons gob >

QOW, you will have a lovely time but do take some jackets/cardi's as it may be coolish at Easter

PDC is built up but no ugly high rises and the Old Town is pretty nice (easy to get to as although the resort is massive as it stretches along the coast from one end to the other, there is a regular bus going up and down the length of it)

We go alternate years for new year, hire a villa with friends. I am v fussy (!) have had villa in puerto del carmen ( near old town) - old town nothing like the rest of PDC - restaurants in the old town great. Thinking of playa blanca this year with 13 and 11 yr olds - any recommendations?

We're big lanzarote fans, in fact our next visit will be our 4th to playa blanca and 5th overall, it's one of the few places we've ever returned to but I've found with a baby initially, now toddler the familiar is welcome!

We always stay in a villa so can't comment on hotels but the island is very family friendly and actually we've found lots to see and do, favourite trips being the old capital teguise, tapas and wine in la geria and yaiza, timanfaya worth a visit especially with older children, el golfo village for fresh fish by the sea...

The resorts themselves can feel quite touristy, though blanca less so, beaches are fab.

As beach/pool destinations go I'd say it's a very good choice. We've been in november/dec and it was still warm enough to swim, September temps fantastic... Summer a bit too hot for us, well me!

"(there is little to see on Lanzarote)."

Nonsense. Timanfaya national park, Cesar Manrique foundation, jameos del agua, el Golfo, Mirador del Rio, cueva de los verdes are all really interesting.

"I've been there twice. I hate it. Tourist trap, boring, windy, no decent food, chips with everything, night life in the shopping centre, no nice shops, TOTALLY miserable fgs don't go, the sun is not worth it imo (bloody wind)!"

You must have stayed in Costa Teguise then. I didn't like Costa Teguise but I like the island as there are plenty of interesting places to visit.

We have been twice and hired a car the first time. On our second visit we found the increase in the amount of traffic on the roads and lack of parking put us off hiring a car so we took a couple of (excellent) bus trips instead.

When married me and now exh had a timeshare there went six times our complex was in PCD at the bottom end it was fab. Theres a large waterslide park the volcano the animal park in PCD in the harbour area there is a beach where u can snokkle and feed the fish and also loads of scuba dives. Plus theres a western theme night show in PCD We went on a catermarron ( sp) and saw dolphins yes its windy but not cold i found playa blanca more overcast ( we had friends who did a week at our complex then a week at theres) the dds loved every hoilday

PCD typo should be PDC