Some beaches you visit; others you plan for. Cofete belongs to the second kind. It lies on the far side of the Jandía peninsula, on the windward coast: some twelve kilometres of sand beneath a mountain wall that rises to Pico de la Zarza, at 807 metres the highest point of Fuerteventura. There is no promenade, no beach bar, no sunloungers. There is wind, space and time, which is precisely what you come for.
This guide explains how to do the day well: how to get there, what is and is not allowed inside the park, why the sea demands respect and what is actually known about the island’s most talked-about house.
The essentials
- Where: the windward coast of the Jandía peninsula, in the municipality of Pájara, inside Jandía Natural Park (14,318 hectares, declared in 1987).
- Access: a dirt track of almost twenty kilometres from Morro Jable, or Tiadhe’s line 111 bus, which runs very few times a day.
- No facilities: bring water, food, shade and a warm layer. Whatever you bring in leaves with you.
- The sea: heavy surf and strong currents. This is not a beach for swimming.
- The park rule: never leave the track, no camping, no drones, no taking sand or stones.
The track: slowly, and never off it
The track leaves Morro Jable and climbs to the Agua Oveja pass, where the whole beach appears for the first time below you, edged with a white line of foam. It then drops towards the hamlet of Cofete. It is an unpaved track: drive slowly, do not overtake on bends and give way where needed.
Two practical points. First, check your hire car agreement: many companies do not cover damage on dirt roads. Second, not a metre off the track. You are inside a protected natural area; driving cross-country, parking on vegetation or cutting new tyre tracks is prohibited and leaves scars that take years to fade.
If you would rather not drive, Tiadhe’s line 111 runs from Morro Jable to Cofete and on to Puertito de la Cruz, at the tip of the peninsula. Departures are very few and the bus can fill up: check the timetable on Tiadhe’s website before you go and do not plan to improvise the return.
The windward sea
Cofete sits on the exposed face of the peninsula and takes the Atlantic head-on. The shoreline has heavy surf and strong currents, even on days that look calm from above, and people have drowned on this beach. Do not count on facilities or lifeguards. The sensible thing is to walk, get your feet wet and save swimming for the leeward coast on the other side of the mountain, where you will find the Sotavento lagoon.
This is a beach for walking, with the mountain on one side and the ocean on the other. By mid-morning the wind has lifted the sand; early on, the light comes in low and the mountain stands out in relief.
Villa Winter, told with care
High on the slope above the hamlet stands a large, solitary house: Villa Winter, linked to the German engineer Gustav Winter. Few buildings in Fuerteventura have inspired so many legends, and it is worth separating what is known from what is told. Even the construction date is unclear: official sources give 1946, while Winter himself placed it in 1958. The stories that circulate about its purpose are not backed by documentation, and we do not repeat them here as if they were. If you go closer, respect private property and any signs you find on site.
Near the beach is the small Cofete cemetery, between the sand and the wind. It is best looked at in silence, from outside.
A park that is looked after
Cofete is part of a protected peninsula. Since 2006 there has been a loggerhead turtle reintroduction project here; if you find signed or fenced areas on the sand, keep out. And, as everywhere on the island: do not take sand, stones or shells, do not build cairns or stone shelters, do not fly drones and do not camp. Cofete’s beauty is that it still has nothing; keeping it that way depends on every visit.
Which suits you
- You want the beach without driving the track → line 111, with the timetable checked and your return secured.
- You want to swim → change coasts: Sotavento, the lagoon that comes with the tide.
- You want to see Jandía from the sea → Fuerteventura from the water, with trips from Morro Jable.
Our view
Cofete is not an afternoon. You leave early, take the track down slowly, walk the shoreline without going into the water and head back before the light goes. The luxury here is absence: of facilities, of noise, of people. And that only works if you arrive prepared and leave everything as you found it.
Access, transport and protected-area information as of October 2026, checked against official sources and regional press. Tracks, bus timetables and sea conditions change: confirm everything before you go.
