Holidaymakers can take full advantage of the fact that Lanzarote, like the rest of the Canary Islands, enjoy a special duty-free tax status. Cigarettes, alcohol, perfumes, and petrol are much cheaper than in mainland Spain and the rest of the EU. Duty-free prices are far better in the individual resorts than at the airport or on-board flights.Puerto del Carmen is the best shopping destination on the island and is stuffed with shops of all kinds, from duty-free electrical stores and stalls along The Strip targeting holidaymakers, to the excellent clothes shops and boutiques in the Old Town.The Sunday Market in Teguise is worth a visit for travellers seeking out a variety of locally produced goods from pottery to tablecloths. Costa Teguise itself has a variety of shops around the resort and in the La Cucharas Shopping Complex, selling all the usual tourist fare for holidaymakers, as well as a few electrical duty-free stores.Matagorda has a two-storey shopping centre containing a supermarket and souvenir stores, but the shopping is far better at neighbouring Puerto del Carmen. There are good supermarkets in Playa Blanca that sell all the well-known brands and holidaymakers will find that, although the choice is not as good as in Puerto del Carmen, there are a fair number of electrical duty-free stores and other shops geared at tourists near the harbour.For couture shopping, most tourists in Playa Blanca head to the stylish Marina Rubicon. It is possible to get good bargains in the electrical duty-free stores, but shoppers should remember that they can't take purchases back to the shop once they've left the island. They should check everything works and that all batteries, cables and plugs are included; that there is a European guarantee, not an Asian one; and that all electrical items have a CE stamp.
