Insólita Premium Tour
We enjoyed the new Insólita tour of Timanfaya in September 2022 and this takes you to parts that are not normally open to visitors. Read this section to find out more about it, but continue below to find out about the regular tour.
When you arrive for this special tour, you are directed straight to the main car park, close to the buildings, and a guide will collect you from your car and take you to a bus. The bus follows the usual 14km Route described below, but with some additional stops, and unlike the other tour buses, there is a stop right in the centre of the National Park of Timanfaya, at Montaña Rajada, where you can get out and witness the beauty without doing so through a window.
Additionally, we stopped at the original building, Refugio de Tinecheide, which was there before Manrique built the attraction we see today, and was an area where locals used to come to the area to barbecue their own food at weekends, and enjoy one of the most amazing views in the world. Thanks to a Magma Chamber below the surface, the ground in this area is hot, and the barbecue is always ready to cook some food! We had a chance to go inside the building and we were encouraged to touch the walls, which are constantly very warm!
From there, we were taken to the restaurant, overlooking the park, and we were served a glass of local wine, and a platter of local produce.
Our guise Vanessa, was excellent, and we’d highly recommend doing this rather special tour, especially if you have already enjoyed the regular one.
Here are some photos from the Insólita tour:
The price of the premium tour is €38 per person.
Regular Tour of Timanfaya
It’s not until you visit the most popular of the Lanzarote attractions, the Parque Nacional Timanfaya (Timanfaya National Park), that you realise the true beauty of Lanzarote.
We approached the entrance to the Montañas del Fuego (Fire Mountains) from the direction of Tinajo, the roads were empty except for a group of cyclists, after stopping at the kiosk to pay our entry we followed the road to the parking area and were directed straight onto one of the coaches preparing to depart. There is plenty to see on the tour from either side of the coach but my favourite is a window seat on the left hand side as you walk down the isle.
Note: In mid summer currently, there can be queues to get into Timanfaya, so we’d suggest avoiding from 1100 until 1330.
The coaches are a dull burnt orange in colour and blend into the landscape beautifully. The buses are clean and comfortable, the drivers expertly manoeuvre these vehicles around the 14km of twists and turns, stopping in all the right places with enough time for everyone to capture the scenery on their cameras, videos and phones.
We are on a continuous single lane track, there is a commentary in Spanish, English and German explaining the history of the eruptions from 1730 – 1736 complete with dramatic music.
The first part of the tour concentrates on the area situated between the visitors centre and the coast at El Golfo, then on to an elevated position where you can see the extent of the lava flow towards Yaiza before circling to look down on the main road and the entrance.
Once you arrive back at the visitors centre at Islote de Hilario , head over to the area on your right, here staff will demonstrate the heat caused by a residual chamber of magma close to the surface, a volcanologist would call this a geothermic anomaly. Although the volcano is classed as dormant the red pícon handed to you from the ground is almost too hot to hold. First is the element of fire, dry bushes are placed in a pit just below the surface of the ground, they ignite just from the natural heat! Next on the higher terrace water is added, a bucket is poured into a shaft in the ground, two seconds later a geyser erupts with a loud whooshing noise.
We headed for the gift shop, I always like to check out the Lanzarote book section and found a new one to buy, this time a colouring book “Pintando con César”, you have to see the natural oven situated in the round room at the entrance to the café, the chicken was roasting on a barbecue al grill de volcan from the heat. You can look down into the hole but hold on to your hat and sunglasses – you’ll see what I mean when you look!
We purchased a café con leche at the bar and took a look round the Restaurante El Diablo (The Devil) the restaurant design was influenced by César Manrique and is circular with panoramic windows looking out over the lava landscape, in the centre is a homage to Hilario with a fig tree and camel bones.
This must be a fantastic location to watch the sunset although the park closes at 6pm.
We left Islote de Hilario and made our way to the exit, here we turned right heading towards Yaiza and stopped at Echadero de Camellos (The Camels Resting Place), we watched the camel trains being loaded with tourists to be led up into the Fire Mountains for a different perspective on the landscape with traditional transport.
If you turn left on leaving the Montañas del Fuego, you will find the Timanfaya Visitors Centre which is free entry and full of information about volcanoes and even has a volcano demo room.
The Montañas del Fuego are open from 09:30 to 15:45 (last entry.) The park closes at 17:00.
Entry is €12 per adult and €6 per child (aged 7-12).
Residents are entitled to discounted prices with proof of residencia and ID. Canarian resident €9.60, Canarian child €4.80 and Lanzarote resident €2.
Visit Timanfaya as part of the Lanzarote Grand Tour.
If you have a hire car and are driving to the Montañas del Fuego in the Timanfaya National Park, it is situated on the LZ-67 which connects Yaiza and Mancha Blanca. The easiest way to find this attraction from the holiday resorts, is to take the LZ-2 road which is the main road from Arrecife to Playa Blanca, the LZ-67 turn off is by the town of Yaiza.
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