Lanzarote Travel Guide

This February, I spent a week in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands with my husband, sister and brother in law. This holiday was to be a mixture of relaxing with a little bit of exploring as well! So let's delve in to what we got up to!

TRAVEL

There is only one airport in Lanzarote, called Cesar-Manrique-Lanzarote Airport. We arranged a shared coach transfer via 'Sun transfers' which was cheap (£20 for 2 people return!) to get us to and from our resort. On the days we decided to explore, we hired a car which I would say is the best way to get to some of Lanzarote's highlights as public transport to anywhere which isn't in a town is tricky. We hired a car when we got there through 'Cabrera Medina' which provides excellent quotes which includes insurance and no excess - so completely stress free! You can reserve your car online and pay on collection with either cash or card. Lanzarote is a fairly small island with it only taking 1.5hrs from one side of the island to the other. Best to note however that in Lanzarote they drive on the right hand side of the road so if you are from the UK like me, this is a learning curve!

HOW LONG TO STAY

We stayed one week but over half of that was staying local to our resort of staying and relaxing in our resort. If you are going purely to explore, 3-4 days would give plenty of time to explore the island.

WHERE TO STAY

As the island is so small, you can stay anywhere on the island and be able to explore (so long as you have a car). If you plan on relying on public transport, I would recommend staying in one of the towns by the coast which will have more transport links. We stayed in Costa Teguise in a 4 star resort called Bareclo Active Resort Lanzarote. We really loved this accommodation, it had incredible gym and swim facilities, as well as lots of activities such as an 'iron guest' challenge, workout classes and yoga sessions. It was newly refurbished and really modern. We stayed half board so ate our breakfast and dinner there which we enjoyed - although a week eating from the same restaurant was enough for us (although they do switch up the theme of cuisine each night). The resort is a 30min walk from Costa Teguise along the coast where there are plenty more restaurants and bars to enjoy if you prefer. (Note - this is not an ad in anyway, just sharing my personal opinion!)

HIKES

We only did 1 hike whilst we were here which I will describe below, plus add in a few other's which I had on the list but didn't end up doing.

1. Caldera de Montana Blanca in Timanfaya National Park - Timanfaya national park is a must do when in Lanzarote and what better way to see it than a scenic loop hike round a volcanic crater ridge! The park is known for it's dramatic terrain, characterised by lava fields, craters, and unique rock formations. Because of the amount of volcanic activity that took place on this part of the island, plant life is rare - making it a hike like no other! The hike is 10km in length and takes approx 3 hours to complete. It is only accessible by car, and has a gravel parking lot available. There are no facilities here so make sure you have food/water with you in advance. All trails link - here.

2. Haria - Mirador Montana Ganada - I didn't personally complete this hike as we went to a similar viewpoint. This circular hike is in the Chinjo Archipelago Nature Park, and takes approx. 1hr 45mins to complete this 7km trail. All trails link - here.

3. Pico Redono - Again, I didn't complete this hike but I had it on the list to complete if we wanted to explore more! This hike is a big one - at 14km long and approx 5 hours to complete, it covers a good amount of the south part of the island with some impressive views of the Monumento Natural de los Ajaches region. All trails link - here.

WHAT ELSE TO SEE AND DO?

• Costa Teguise - as this was where we were staying, we enjoyed walking into this quaint town a couple of times throughout the week. It is a perfect place for watching the sunrise, heading to the beach or getting your lunch or dinner.

• Mirador del Rio - a great viewpoint spot for a panoramic view of Lanzarote and the Chinijo Archipelago. The architecture of this viewpoint is the works of Cesar Manrique who is very famous throughout the island and if you are interested there is more of his works that can be visited by the public. It cost 8 euro to get into this viewpoint, and it has a cafe and toilets available.

• Mirador Ricon de Haria - another viewpoint that can be driven to (the last 1km is a gravel path), but it offers impressive views of the dramatic volcanic coastline meeting the sea. This is an alternative to the hike mentioned in '2' above.

• Timanfaya National Park - if hiking isn't your thing, you can pay the visitor's centre a visit (link here) or even just take a drive through the central road of the National park (there is only one road you are allowed to drive on, to get into the depths of the national park you must go on an organised tour). If you fancy seeing more of the volcanic landscape, you can take a 30min bus tour for 20 euro through the dramatic national park (note- you aren't allowed out of the bus at any point on the tour due to protection of the land).

• Charco Verde - a green geothermal lake which was created from a volcanic eruption when the lava hit the green seaweed! About a 400m walk from the car park, and it also sits alongside a black sand beach.

• Los Hervideros - A picturesque rugged volcanic coast line with some awesome sea caves and blow holes.

• Playa de Papagayo - A stunning sandy beach with volcano's towering in the distances which makes the beach really unique. The water is turquoise blue and is very idyllic. Don't let the 6km dirt road to get there put you off!

This is very much a non-exhaustive list of thing's to do in Lanzarote and there were loads of other places we would have loved to have seen and visited but we wanted to prioritise relaxing for some of the trip. From what I have mentioned above, we hired a car for 2 days of the trip to complete seeing all these areas. We look forward to visiting again for round 2, to explore further!

Happy Travelling!

Ruth xxx