I visited the much-loved Spanish island that’s warm in half term and found un-touristy towns and ‘popcorn’ beach

AFTER a long, hard winter it’s no surprise families are pining for some sunshine by the time the ­February half-term rolls around.

And now with a school-aged son, I’ve joined the legion of vitamin-D-starved mums searching out some winter warmth.

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But can you really have hot temperatures only a short flight away at this time of year?

When my mum, five-year-old son and I took the four-hour flight from London to Fuerteventura, I’d packed anoraks, trousers and sweaters just in case.

But we needn’t have bothered.

The temperature hit between 23C and 25C every day, and we didn’t need even a jumper once.

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Deciding to go only a few weeks before travelling, we were fairly limited in our choice of resorts but lucked out with the Hotel Riu Palace Tres Islas, which we booked through Tui.

Built in 1974, the four-star hotel might not have all the mod cons of a more contemporary resort but it more than made up for that in location and service.

Set on the seafront among the Corralejo sand dunes of Grandes Playas, it boasts sweeping views of the Atlantic ocean.

The beach is one of the island’s most ­popular but it never felt overcrowded.

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Neither did the hotel, despite it being fully booked.

The property welcomed children but wasn’t family focused.

So the age of guests erred towards 50 or 60-something, which made for a delightfully calm holiday.

While other Tui hotels on the island laid on kids’ clubs, water parks and scores of activities, this was more of a break where the children entertain themselves.

The small number of little ’uns meant everyone under the age of ten immediately became best mates, splashing about in the warmer of the two huge pools, making sun lounger dens or ordering fancy-looking mocktails from the friendly staff at the bar.

The evening entertainment team were equally enthusiastic about the kids, despite the shows not being specifically directed towards children.

The beach is one of the island’s most ­popular but it never felt overcrowded

How the saxophonist managed to keep a straight face as my son and his friend passionately mimicked his movements with paper straws in front of the stage, I’ll never know.

Thanks to the wonderful Tui rep Samuel, we also spent several days exploring the island.

Samuel is a born and bred Fuerteventuran and took his brief very seriously when I said we wanted to experience some of the less touristy areas.

As a result, we ended up in a big top in Puerto Del Rosario, celebrating Carnival with local families, with a pirate show laid on for the kids and a funfair out back, followed by a parade through the streets.

Clapping along to performances is hard work, so we treated ourselves with a meal at La Jaira Gastrobar in the town.

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It serves Canarian tapas with a modern twist in a peaceful whitewashed courtyard.

We dined on goat-meat moussaka, king prawn carpaccio with prickly pear vinaigrette and cheese fondue with aubergine honey.

The restaurant was a very easy bus ride directly back to our hotel, as was Corralejo, a popular town to the north of the island.

The town has a twice-weekly crafts market, where we picked up some pretty jewellery, a handmade toy and a living cactus fridge magnet.

It also has a lively strip, lined with bars and restaurants, along with musicians and performers of an evening.

We spent a delicious couple of hours at the Gregorio El Pescador restaurant, dining on paella, fish skewers and Canarian potatoes.

We were back in the town the following day, to join a glass-bottomed boat tour.

As a child of the Eighties, glass-bottomed boats were the height of holiday sophistication and I was delighted to see them hold the same fascination for my son.

We took the boat out to Lobos Island, a protected islet with a large nature reserve and shallow bays, with paddling water 30 metres out to sea that was warm enough to splash about in for hours.

Similarly captivating, but for different reasons, was the Popcorn Beach that we stopped off at on our way back to the hotel from Corralejo.

The “sand” on Playa del Bajo de la Burra, as it’s officially called, has made it a magnet for tourists, thanks to its shape.

Made up of small white algae fossils, it looks like the whole beach is lined with popcorn.

We spent a delicious couple of hours at the Gregorio El Pescador restaurant, dining on paella, fish skewers and Canarian potatoes

All of the TripAdvisor reviews of our hotel praise the hospitality of staff and the quality of the food, and for good reason.

While there is a smaller offering than some other four-star all-inclusives, the quality was considerably higher.

The canapes were switched up every night and the hot food and salad bar were expansive, as was the pudding section.

The carafes of house wine were also very good, so tempting that we got into the habit of a late afternoon cava on the balcony while my son enjoyed a siesta.

The rooms were slightly dated but very clean, with exceptional views over the ocean, beach and sand dunes, and we had a small interconnecting lounge with space for a campbed.

Unlike the fittings in some more modern hotel rooms, the wooden furniture and heavy drapes felt comforting.

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The same could be said of the entire hotel.

It felt as if we had stepped back in time and enjoyed a slower pace of holiday more like my childhood, which was something to be savoured.

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