If you are looking for attractions to visit when you have booked a villa in Lanzarote to help you escape from the beach, then starting with Timanfaya Volcano Park is a must and probably top of your list if it is your first visit to the island.
You will first drive to the car park at the visitor centre. The journey through the park is amazing. It is described as being a lunar scene and that is honestly the feeling that you do get as you gaze across fields of solidified volcanic lava that have been untouched since they were laid down. The area is now a protected park to help preserve this landscape.
When you arrive at the car park at the top of the visitor center there are an abundance of uniformed guides to entertain you. They will show how a bucket of water emptied down into a bore hole erupts seconds later as steam, heated unbelievably quickly just by the heat of the rocks below the ground. Another favorite show is to push some brushwood into the ground and then it is pulled out burning moments later. Again, this is just the heat of the rocks.
The visitor centre also houses a fairly unusual restaurant There are no powered ovens. Instead the food is cooked from the heat given off from a hole in the rocks. The demonstrations of the heat given off from the subterranean rocks are certainly varied!
There is also a guided coach tour from the visitor center that shows tourists a little more of the area and the rock formations. All of this makes Timanfaya, Fire Mountain, well worth a visit!
When you are renting an apartment in Lanzarote there are lots to see and do, as well as the beaches and Timanfaya National Park. The island is easy to get around whether in a hire car or in organized tours. Take your pick!
A favorite location to visit, especially for my daughter, is the Cactus Garden, designed by local artist Cesar Manrique. There are a wide selection of cactus plants on show, well over 1000 species in fact, in this sunken garden that can be sheltered from the hottest of the elements. There is also a restored white windmill to visit within the gardens, which also houses the site’s café for a welcome refreshment or snack.
Also worth a quiet visit is El Golfo, a semi-circular volcanic crater. The crater has been half washed away by the sea, hence not being visibly chopped, and filled with sea water that has filtered through the black sand that keeps the sea from the crater. The water in the crater has formed a green lagoon, which is caused by the algae thriving in the water and it contrasts spectacularly with the surrounding black sand.
Another favorite, and the target of many coach tours, is the Cave of Los Verdes. These are a complex of underground caves that were formed in the lava some 3,000 years ago and served as shelter to the original inhabitants when the pirates of old came sacking. They are well worth a visit, even if only to uncover the secret of Lanzarote. You only get to discover it by visiting the cave and I’m not about to tell you now!
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