Papagayo Beaches Crossing

Event information

About the event

The Papagayo beaches swim is held along the Los Ajaches coast, in the municipality of Yaiza. It is organised by the Asociación Cultural y Deportiva Aguas Abiertas de Lanzarote, which signs its website as B15 Active, and the rules give it the full title «TRAVESÍA PLAYAS DE PAPAGAYO – GRAND HYATT LANZAROTE PLAYA DORADA». It is not swum inside a protected area from start to finish: the rules say «algunos tramos en el Parque Natural de los Ajaches» (some sections inside the Los Ajaches Natural Park).

Where it starts and where it finishes

This is the part most people have backwards, and it changes the whole day.

The 4.5 km is not an out-and-back from a cove. The rules say «Salida desde el agua frente a las Costas de Papagayo – Llegada: Playa Dorada, Playa Blanca» (start in the water off the Papagayo coast, finish at Playa Dorada, Playa Blanca). And you do not reach the start by land: «La organización se hará cargo del traslado de los participantes hasta el lugar de salida» (the organisers handle the transfer to the start line), and the entry includes «Transporte de los participantes en ferry o barco hasta el punto de salida de 4´5 Km» (ferry or boat transport to the 4.5 km start). The transfer leaves at 09:15.

The other five distances have «Salida y Llegada desde el mismo lugar; Playa Dorada, Playa Blanca» (start and finish in the same place), which is the town beach in Playa Blanca, with a promenade and car parks around it.

The organiser adds one selling point that appears on no calendar: on its own race page it talks about «la oportunidad exclusiva para los nadadores de pasar por encima de las escultura submarinas del Museo Atlántico», the chance to swim over the underwater sculptures of the Museo Atlántico (the singular/plural slip is in the original).

Schedule for Saturday 7 November

Published in article 4 of the rules, read on 3 October 2026:

The relays are the only slot with two official versions: the rules say 13:45 and the Sportmaniacs listing puts 13:00 on that distance. The other five match in both sources.

The two cut-offs in the 4.5 km

This is the figure that decides whether the race fits you, and it sits in that same article 4:

• Passing km 2.5: «máximo 60 minutos desde hora de salida» (maximum 60 minutes from the start).
• Finish: «11:55 - Tiempo cierre de control en meta distancia. (1h55´) Desde la salida».

One hour for the halfway point and one hour fifty-five for the lot. The rules themselves lose track when explaining it on the course map, where they write «tras una hora y cincuenta minutos (1h55)» (after one hour fifty minutes).

How many places there are, and how many are left

The rules set the cap per distance, not an overall cap. The entry numbers are the ones Sportmaniacs published on 11 October 2026, with the seven distances named as the entry form names them:

That is 181 swimmers. The total of 183 shown on the page includes two places for the charity lunch, which is bought separately.

The row that decides your day is the first one: 135 of 150 in the 4.5 km, so fifteen places against the published cap, and the rules add that «la organización se reserva 20 plazas para compromisos con los patrocinadores y colaboradores» (the organisers hold back 20 places for sponsors and partners). If that is your distance, enter now. The 1,200 m in the bay of Playa Blanca is at 35 of 200 and the three short events are almost empty: there is room there until entries close.

There is a waiting list if it fills up: «se creará con todos los nadadores que hayan quedado sin plaza», and whoever moves up has to answer fast, because «si no se obtuviera respuesta en menos de 12 horas, el turno pasará al siguiente» (no reply within 12 hours and the place goes to the next swimmer).

Minimum age by distance

The 4.5 km carries one condition no other distance has: «se les podría pedir un breve currículo deportivo» (swimmers may be asked for a short sporting CV).

What you have to bring, and what you cannot bring

• Swim buoy compulsory in the 4.5 km: «LA UTILIZACIÓN “BOYA DE NATACIÓN” será de USO OBLIGATORIO para la distancia de 4´5 Km. En el resto de distancias no será necesario». In the 1,200 m it is optional.
• Official cap and chip: swimming without them means disqualification, and so does «No presentar el DNI» (not showing your ID).
• One swimsuit only, «que podrá ser de una pieza hasta el tobillo y no se extenderá por encima de los hombros (solo tirantes)» (it may be one piece down to the ankle and must not extend above the shoulders, straps only).
• Banned: «aletas, careta y tubo (snorkel)» (fins, mask and snorkel), «relojes, pulsera, pendientes» (watches, bracelets, earrings) and «cámaras de fotos acuáticas, MP3 acuáticos o similares» (underwater cameras, waterproof MP3 players or similar).

Wetsuits come under two official regimes for the same morning of water, and both are worth reading before you pack one. The Cup rules make a wetsuit compulsory below 18 ºC and ban it from 18 ºC, with referee discretion up to 20 ºC, and they call the race off outside the 16 to 31 ºC range. Article 8 of the race’s own rules allows one «cuando sea inferior a 21ºC» (below 21 ºC), adds that «podrá usarlo en todo momento el nadador con más de 50 años» (swimmers over 50 may always wear one), and by distance says that in the 4.5 km it «es opcional» (optional) and in the 1,200 m it «no está permitido» (not allowed) except below 18 ºC. Pack the suit even if you do not plan to use it: the call is made on the day, on the measured temperature.

Paperwork with a deadline

• Name change: «sólo se admitirán hasta 15 días antes de la prueba. La organización cobrará 10€» (accepted up to 15 days before the race, with a 10 EUR fee).
• Change of distance: «sólo se admitirán hasta 15 días antes» (only up to 15 days before).
• Refund: there is a separate service, «un coste de 16€ que le garantiza la devolución del 100% de su inscripción sin importar el motivo» (16 EUR guaranteeing a full refund whatever the reason), and it can only be bought «junto a la inscripción» (together with the entry); it is valid «efecto de garantía hasta 7 días antes del evento» (up to 7 days before the event).
• Charity lunch: 10 EUR on top, and «se solicita que confirmen la compra antes del 28 de octubre» (purchases to be confirmed before 28 October).
• Protests: «depósito de 50€» (a 50 EUR deposit) and «no más tarde de 60 minutos después» (no later than 60 minutes afterwards).

The 4.5 km awards two sets of podiums

Article 7 scores two separate overall classifications at that distance: «“SIN NEOPRENO” ABSOLUTO Distancia 4´5Km– Trofeo para los 3 primeros» and «“CON NEOPRENO” ABSOLUTO Distancia 4´5Km– Trofeo para los 3 primeros», trophies for the first three without a wetsuit and for the first three with one. Swim in a suit and you are not racing against those who swim without.

Fifth and final stage of the XII Cup

The swim closes the XII Lanzarote Open Water Swimming Cup 2026, the circuit convened by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa through its Área de la Actividad Física y del Deporte. It is the fifth of five stages, and the Cup’s official listing has it as the XVI edition:

1. 1 August: II Travesía a Nado La Tiñosa El Poril, Puerto del Carmen, Tías
2. 22 August: XXXI Travesía a Nado San Ginés RCNA, Arrecife
3. 29 August: Travesía a Nado Emmax, Playa Honda, San Bartolomé
4. 17 October: VIII Travesía a Nado Alejandro Candela, Playa Las Cucharas, Costa Teguise
5. 7 November: this one, in Yaiza

To make the island classification you have to swim at least three of the five, and the best four count, or the best three if one is cancelled. The Cup rules set out the prizes for the awards ceremony but do not publish its date.

The Cup’s cap is read separately from the race’s own: the Cup rules say «Cada travesía tendrá un máximo de 450 plazas» (a maximum of 450 places per swim), while the rules for 7 November hand out the per-distance caps in the table above, which add up to 470. The Cup also sets bands by age group: benjamín up to 400 metres, alevín up to 800, and 1,200 to 3,000 metres for infantil, junior, senior and masters.

What the entry includes

• Official Cup swim cap, compulsory and the same one across all five swims in the circuit. Lose it and a replacement costs 2 EUR at the Ciudad Deportiva Lanzarote.
• Timing chip, also compulsory. Failing to return it has two official prices: article 6.3 of the Cup rules says «deberá pagar 20 euros» and article 8 of the race rules says «el abono de 30 €».
• Canary Islands Swimming Federation judges, alongside the sole referee of the Lanzarote Swimming Delegation.
• Boat transfer to the 4.5 km start, leaving at 09:15.

One swim, two names

Worth saying plainly, because it is what brings almost everyone here: Papagayo and Bahía de Playa Blanca are the same swim on the same morning, and each name comes from one of its distances. The 4.5 km starts off the Papagayo beaches; the 1,200 m is swum in the bay of Playa Blanca, at Playa Dorada.

The island Cup rules call it «XVI Travesía a Nado Bahía P. Blanca - Yaiza» in its date tables and «XVI Travesía a Nado Playa de Papagayo» in the circuit calendar in article 12. Sportmaniacs titles it «TRAVESIA PLAYAS DE PAPAGAYO GRAND HAYTT LANZAROTE PLAYA DORADA 2026», and the rules hanging from that same page carry both names together: «Reglamento Travesía Playas de Papagayo - Bahía de Playa Blanca 2026».

There is one single entry, with the seven distances inside it, and one single date: Saturday 7 November 2026.

The 18 October date that circulated in earlier calendars appears in no 2026 document.

After this one, nothing until next year

7 November closes the open water season in Lanzarote. The Travesía a Nado Alejandro Candela is swum three weeks earlier, on 17 October, and after this one there is nothing left on the Cup calendar. The Travesía a Nado El Río is already announcing its next edition for 9 October 2027.