Lanzarote is a Spanish island, one of the Canarian Islands, awash by the Atlantic Ocean. Lanzarote is celebrated for its natural beauty, featuring lots of volcanos, mountains, and black soil. What can you see and do in Lanzarote for a weekend? Choose from the options below.
Castillo de San José (San José Castle), known as the «Fortress of Hunger», is a defensive building erected under the reign of Charles III. César Manrique, the island’s famous landscape architect, refurbished the castle to establish the first contemporary art museum on Lanzarote. Since 1976, the International Museum of Contemporary Art MIAC has offered visitors a spectacular collection of international and Canarian artists’ works and hosted various cultural events. San José Castle also contains a fancy restaurant with nice bay views.
Montañas del Fuego, a part of the Timanfaya National Park, in the south of Lanzarote, is a unique «lunar» landscape consisting of craters and lava flows. It is a product of numerous volcano eruptions that occurred between 1730 and 1736. In the summer, the area is open from 9 AM to 5:30 PM. The landmarks of Montañas del Fuego are Islote de Hilario, a great viewing point for observing 25 craters at once; Ruta de los Volcanes, a 14-km route following the central core of eruptions, where one can enjoy the overwhelming scenery from a bus; El Diablo restaurant, also designed by César Manrique, an impressive space seamlessly blending with the surroundings, with food grilled over the earth’s heat.
Casa Museo del Campesino, another work by César Manrique, is a museum devoted to Lanzarote’s farmers and features architecture, agriculture, crafts and gastronomy sections. The star of the museum is the avant-garde sculpture called Monumento a la Fecundidad (Monument to Fertility). The restaurant offers a variety of traditional island’s dishes and a selection of exquisite Lanzarote cheeses. The museum is open from 10 AM to 6 PM, and the restaurant — from 12 AM to 4 PM.
Jardín de Cactus is a fantastic space filled with 4,500 cactus specimens of about 500 species collected from five continents. The area used to be a landfill when César Manrique decided to rehabilitate it. Creation took him 20 years, including the erection of decorative elements and sculptures, which perfectly complement the surrounding landscape due to the choice of materials widely spread around the island — volcanic stone and basalt. In 2017, Jardín de Cactus was awarded the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens by the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche Scientific Committee. Take a chance to see a one-of-a-kind combination of architecture, interior design, sculpture, and gardening!
Mirador del Río is a fantastic viewpoint located 500 m above a cliff. From there, you can enjoy a splendid view of Lanzarote and the Chinijo Archipelago. The space was created in the 70s by César Manrique and features a combination of man-made and natural beauty. The entry is guarded by a sculpture of a bird and a fish that stand for water and air. Two vaulted windows — the eyes of Mirador del Río — let you see such places as the mountains of Risco de Famara, a strait of El Rio separating Lanzarote from La Graciosa, the islets of Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Alegranza, which form the Chinijo Archipelago. The area also contains a cafeteria with a terrace and a souvenir shop. Visiting hours are from 10 AM to 4:40 PM.
La Cueva de Los Verdes, in the north of Lanzarote, part of the Malpaís de la Corona mountains, is a cave with a mysterious and picturesque volcanic landscape. The cave features a complex of tunnels, vaults and lagoons, with galleries reaching a height of 50 metres and a width of up to 15 metres. La Cueva de Los Verdes is a part of a volcanic tube that is approximately 4000 years old. The underwater part of the tube is called the Túnel de la Atlántida. The cave was used as a refuge for the island population during Berber pirates’ assaults in the XVI-XVII centuries. In the 60s, the cave was adapted for visitation by Jesús Soto. A walk through Cueva de Los Verdes amazes visitors with intricate shadowplay and ambient sound which create the bizarre atmosphere highlighting the cave’s unique beauty. Summer (July 15 — September 15) opening hours are from 10 AM to 6 PM; at other times of the year, it is closed an hour earlier.
If you would like to visit several of these places, think of purchasing a combination ticket, which allows you to pay a reduced price for each place. The ticket is valid for 14 days from the first stamping; you may visit each place only once. For more information, go to cactlanzarote.com/en/buy-online-tickets.
Best beaches and bathing places
Playa de Papagayo (Papagayo Beach) is the most famous beach in Lanzarote. It is situated among the cliffs and is accessible only via a dirt road. There are almost no amenities on the beach, so you should bring everything you need. However, there is a small restaurant on one of the cliffs surrounding the beach. Activities available here include paragliding, snorkelling and kayaking tours.
Playa Grande, in the middle of Puerto del Carmen, is close to many of Lanzarote’s tourist attractions and accommodations. Playa Chica nearby is a smaller beach featuring a dive school and a good spot for snorkelling. On El Porit Beach, next to Playa Chica, you can take stand-up paddleboarding lessons.
An off-the-beaten-path destination, Los Charcones, is a group of natural rock pools. There is a great number of them, deep and shallow, so you are free to choose. Be careful when driving there — the road is complex, with no asphalt coverage and is surrounded by a dramatic landscape. Thus, it’s not recommended to drive to Los Charcones unless you have a 4×4 car. However, small cars may pass from the side of the Hotel en Ruinas, an abandoned hotel. To get there, follow the El Faro Pechuigera road. Another tip is not to visit Los Charcones during high tide as the waves become big and powerful.
Wine tasting
Lanzarote is an unusual wine destination because of the conditions in which grapes grow. It is not soil but fertile volcanic ash, which holds moisture from the morning’s dew. Night’s cold wind gives grapes sourness, while hot days create sweetness. That’s the recipe for the unique taste of Lazarote’s wine. Head to La Geria, the region with the most wineries, to taste it.
When to visit
The best time to visit Lanzarote is considered to be the least rainy and warmest period, from May to September. However, remember that this is also the busiest period. If you don’t want to spend most of your weekend on the beach, you may opt for a visit during colder months. The temperature is rather high, so you can still hike and go for a walk for the whole day.
Where to stay
The three most popular resorts on Lanzarote are Costa Teguise, Playa Blanca, and Puerto del Carmen. For each, we will provide three accommodation options: upscale, middle-range, and budget-friendly. You can search for more hotels on hotelin.com, a hotel price aggregator launched this year. The website is great because of its multiple filters and wide selection of prices collected from all the major booking websites.
Costa Teguise, on the east coast of Lanzarote, is attractive for tourists because of its many beach bars, brunch cafes, and two nice beaches. The drawback of this resort is the strong wind. The resort is also popular because of water sports, the Lanzarote Aquarium, and an aquapark.
Barceló Teguise Beach – Adults Only, 4 stars, beachfront
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/barcelo-teguise-beach-adults-only
Grand Teguise Playa, 4 stars, beachfront
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/occidentalgrandteguiseplaya
Charlie’s Apartment Los Molinos, 3 stars, 450 m from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/charlies-apartment-los-molinos
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Playa Blanca, translated as «white beach,» is Lanzarote’s southernmost town and newest resort. It has many high-end resorts, so it is rather quiet. Beaches and beach bars are plentiful, too. The town’s major landmarks are the port of Marina Rubicon and the Underwater Museum.
Princesa Yaiza Suite Hotel Resort, 5 stars, beachfront
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/princesa-yaiza-suite-resort
THB Tropical Island, 4 stars, 1.1 km from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/apartahotel-thb-tropical-island
Palmeras Garden, 3 stars, 200 m from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/palmeras-garden
Puerto del Carmen, considered the main tourist town in Lanzarote, is a great place to have fun, not only on beaches. The resort offers a variety of casinos, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. The beaches here are centres for scuba diving, which is available both from shore and by boat.
La Isla y el Mar, Hotel Boutique, 5 stars, 750 m from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/la-isla-y-el-mar-hotel-boutique
Apartamentos Tisalaya, 3 stars, 550 m from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/apartamentos-tisalaya
Casa Rosalia Puerto del Carmen, 3 stars, 500 m from beach
https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/bengala-puerto-del-carmen
Have a splendid weekend in Lanzarote!
