You are here: Home » Venezuela » Guide to Venezuela » Venezuela's beaches » Los Roques
Venezuela's Beaches:
Los Roques
Los Roques is seriously beautiful. Over 50 coral islands, and numerous low reefs and sand flats, are thrown like a necklace around a central lagoon. Each has powder-soft, white sand beaches, set in shallow emerald and turquoise waters.
Los Roques lies 85 miles off Venezuela’s mainland. Days are typically sunny and hot all year round with pleasant breezes. There is an almost total absence of both rain and insects.
Gran Roque
Gran Roque is the only inhabited island in the archipelago. A 30min flight from Caracas, it is a small fishing village with three sandy streets of cottages, a few tiny shops, a dive centre and a number of attractive posadas (guesthouses).
Most buildings are whitewashed with brightly painted doors and windows, and fishermen’s colourful wooden boats are beached on the sand. There are no cars.
No wonder Christopher Columbus called Los Roques “Heaven on Earth”!
Sun, sun and more sun
Natural shade is hard to find, so bring plenty of high factor sunscreen against the bright sun, which glitters off the water and reflects off the talcum white sands.
The only activities are swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, windsurfing, and sailing—or just lazing in the sun.
Style
Los Roques is starting to feature in the style magazines, with an award-winning cover story in Conde Nast Traveller, and sightings of stars (Gerard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Francis Ford Coppola…).
Substance
There is little wonder: year-round Los Roques has better, more reliable, weather than the Mediterranean in high summer (and seldom too hot), the setting is impressively beautiful, the beaches are much nicer and completely natural, and there are far fewer people.
Los Roques marine national park
The archipelago is the Caribbean’s largest and longest-established marine national park. Tight controls protect the marine environment and the reefs are as free from exploitation as any in the Caribbean.
There is great snorkelling off many of the beaches. You can see pelicans, frigate birds, brown boobies, scarlet ibis and herons. Turtles lay their eggs on the remoter beaches.
Travel ideas to Los Roques
Tailor-made and independent
Order a Venezuela brochure
Order your copy of our in-depth Venezuela travel brochure, packed with inspiration and information on holidays in Venezuela.
› Order or download a Venezuela brochure
› Flip through a Venezuela brochure now
Contact our Venezuela specialists
Geodyssey brings you an exclusive selection of thoughtfully designed holidays in amazing locations throughout our destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our holidays focus on what is natural, authentic, comfortable, stylish and affordable, and on what works best in each country. Our tailor-made holidays are individually designed by our experienced team on the basis of in-depth knowledge, a real enthusiasm for our destinations, and a desire to make sure we get it right for each and every customer. All our customers have 100% financial protection. All the land-based holidays on this website are exclusive to Geodyssey. Geodyssey is an independent company managed by its owners, based in London, founded in 1993.
