Lanzarote Walk, Maguez

The Camino de Gayo can be completed as a walk or a drive depending how energetic you are feeling! Either way its a beautiful route and definitely one to be explored in the spring as the hills come alive with blue and yellow flowers not to mention the stunning panoramic views. From Máguez drive towards Guinate, look for the house in the first photo, turn left to the side of it.

The road winds up through a fertile valley and past a corona until you reach the radar station at the top, this is a distance of 2.7km.

We took a detour along the worn path to the side of the radar station on top of Los Helechos.

All kinds of flowers were starting to sprout and flower, the landscape looked very green but when you looked closer there were yellow, white and pink flowers in the undergrowth.

We were nearly at the summit of the peak, views were opening up over to La Graciosa and along the Risco de Famara

We stopped at the building with the antenna on and walked back down to the radar station to continue.

The track is now a dirt road but slightly better than the tarmac, there are a number of paths leading off here, we followed right towards Guinate.

The track leads you around the back of the hill you walked up, there are beautiful views over to La Graciosa and down to the village of Guinate.

The track rejoins the main road at the turn off for Guinate, follow the road right back into Máguez and you will be back at the house where you started.

The circular route is 8km without any detours at the top. A shorter option is to drive up to the top and take a walk. Although walking on a road / track there is little traffic, we saw one car on our journey, on a weekday, it can be popular with locals at the weekend. I would strongly recommend visiting this area from December to March to see the flowers in bloom. The flower picture above is the Allium Roseum which is also known as the ajo de bruja (witches garlic) the buds are pink with white flowers and yellow stamens, they were flowering in abundance when we visited early January.

Allow 2-4 hours depending upon your pace and if you climb the peak before continuing.

Photos from this walk taken in January 2021: