I will be the first to admit that I thought Lanzarote was all about all-inclusive resorts and package holiday trips.
But we went to Lanzarote on a family trip to celebrate my parents turning 60 and honestly? I was so pleasantly surprised by the number of things to do in Lanzarote that meant we could not only enjoy our resort, but also we could go out exploring and see what the island had to offer.
The stunning black volcanic terrain and lunar-like landscapes are some of the most dramatic and unique landscapes I’ve ever seen. Contrasted with the white-washed houses and rolling hills, the scenery per mile really gives you a bang for your buck!
We did hire a car for 3 days of our trip, but this is a testament to how small and drivable the island is - we saw everything in this Lanzarote guide by car during those 3 days. Everything else we could reach on foot from our hotel in Playa Blanca.
So if you’re looking to escape your Lanzarote resort and get some inspiration for what to do in Lanzarote and things to see in Lanzarote around the island, here’s everything you need to plan your trip.
Calaton Blanco
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Do you need a car in Lanzarote?
To see a lot of these places I’m sharing in this Lanzarote travel guide, I would recommend hiring a car. Hiring a car in Lanzarote is very affordable and we didn’t hire it for the whole week, just 3 days during the middle of our trip.
This allowed us to get off the resort and see more of the island, but we were easily able to see a lot of the island in 3 days and I definitely don’t think you need a rental car in Lanzarote for a whole week unless you’re planning to do lots of full-day hikes or cycling routes and need a car to get to the trainheads.
Our rental car in Lanzarote
Driving in Lanzarote
How to see Lanzarote without a rental car
If you would prefer not to hire a car or drive in Lanzarote, there are plenty of tour options which are often significantly cheaper than the add-on packages offered by hotels.
This Lanzarote island full day tour is the perfect option to see as much of the island as possible on a tour in just one day.
Here are some of the top reviewed tours:
When is the best time to visit Lanzarote?
The great thing about Lanzarote is that you can visit almost any time of year because the weather is great for a lot of the year.
We did everything in this article in February and we were averaging about 20C each day and only had 1 day of rain. It was windy on several days and the evenings were definitely cooler but it was the perfect temperature for exploring more of the island without getting overwhelmed with the heat.
I would recommend visiting outside of the peak summer months too as they’re not only the hottest, but also the most expensive and busy. If you are planning to hire a car and see more of the island, February-June or September-November are great times to visit.
The best things to do in Lanzarote
1. The Cactus Garden
Lanzarote Cactus Garden
What’s so special about a cactus garden, right?
Honestly I was so so impressed by this cactus garden and I’m not even a big cactus fan, I just saw it was insanely well reviewed on Google Maps (4.6 Stars with almost 29,000 reviews!) and was kind of intrigued.
And I’ll say it was worth it and I was really impressed.
This is a botanical garden inside a crater with THOUSANDS of different types of cacti. I mean, from every corner of the world.
You walk through the fairly unassuming entrance with opens up into an amazing crater full of walkways, terraces and garden features as well as some of the biggest cacti I’ve ever seen!
Make sure you head up to the windmill for a great view of the whole garden and walk along the terraces.
PRO TIP: arrive early, we got there at 10am and the car park was already filling up, by the time we came out again an hour later the car park was chaos.
Tickets cost 8.50 euros for adults, 4.25 for children. You can book here or just turn up on the day like we did.
Cactus Garden in Lanzarote
2. Calaton Blanco
Calaton Blanco
If you love turquoise blue, crystal clear, shallow waters in a more wild and natural setting, you need to head to this beach.
It’s on the northeastern most tip of Lanzarote island and while the resort town beaches like at Playa Blanca are beautiful, they’re very busy and can sometimes feel a bit… manufactured?
Calaton Blanc is one of the best things to do in Lanzarote if you want beautiful, authentic beaches. It is easy to get to and the car park is right off the road, next to the beach. It’s free to park and visit.
This is a beautiful, shallow beach with stunning water surrounded by a backdrop of mountains. The water in the bay is also really calm and shallow, even though it was windy when we were there, the beach was safe and there were no waves in the bay.
The beach is a fine pebbly/shell beach rather than sand and there are a few volcanic rocks around so you might be more comfortable paddling in water shoes or crocs or similar.
3. Timanfaya National Park
Timanfaya National Park
Timanfaya National Park
This Lanzarote National Park is probably the most famous attraction in Lanzarote, however the roads around the entrance to the park and where the paid area is are a NIGHTMARE.
You can drive through the National Park for free and the scenery is stunning, rolling jet-black and deep red hills, an almost lunar-like landscape of rock formations and spectacular craters. But the most famous area is Montañas del Fuego Timanfaya (the Fire Mountains) and this is in the paid area. You drive in, park the car, then get on a tour bus which takes you on the 14km route through lava fields, craters, caves and stunning volcanic landscapes.
However it costs 20 euros and you can’t get off the bus, you can only see this from the tour bus window. If you do this, I recommend sitting on the righthand side of the bus for the best views.
The queue at the entrance to Montañas del Fuego Timanfaya (here on Google Maps) is where you enter the paid area and you need to go here either at 9am or 3pm - the queues in the time in between are ridiculous and you can’t turnaround or get out of your car because it’s in the protected area.
There are camel rides inside the park and a geothermal restaurant, El Diablo, which uses the 300C earth temperature in the park to cook their food.
There’s no doubt that the National Park is one of the top things to do in Lanzarote, but I also think it’s important to set expectations about not being able to leave the bus and the queue times at the entrance.
Tickets can only be bought at the entrance and cost 22 euros for adults and 11 euros for children. Last entry is 3.45pm but they will close entry if maximum park capacity is reached - so this is definitely something to bear in mind if you visit in the peak summer months.
4. Playa Dorada and Playa Blanca town
Playa Blanca beach
We were based at a resort in Playa Blanca just a couple of minutes from the Playa Dorada beach and the boardwalk along the coast here is gorgeous - we usually walked it in the morning after breakfast or in the evening after dinner.
Playa Blanca beach was too small and busy but we were closest to the Playa Dorada beach and this is the beach I’d recommend as it’s in a bay and there were never any big waves, despite how windy it sometimes was.The water is lovely but chilly, especially if you’re visiting in February like we were!
Playa Blanca doesn’t have tonnes going on and I found that there wasn’t a lot of things to do in Playa Blanca Lanzarote unless you want to eat, drink or go to the beach. But there are lots of nice waterfront restaurants and bars, I also loved some of the smaller stores a couple of streets back like The Bookswop-Playa Blanca.
5. Haria
Haria, Lanzarote
Haria town, Lanzarote
This is a charming town we stopped at on our drive back from Calaton Blanco.
The tree-lined León y Castillo street has restaurants under the trees and a market on Saturdays. There’s also a bougainvillea covered square at Plaza de la Constitución.
We stopped here for around an hour and had a drink at snack at one of the restaurants.
6. Teguise
Teguise market square
Streets in Teguise
Another charming town which was our next stop on the drive back south on the island.
My favourite spot was the central market square with the cobbled streets and whitewashed stone buildings and church. The surrounding buildings are beautiful, historic buildings - we actually thought the CaixaBank in the square was a museum but it’s just a bank in a really nice historic building!
The square is also surrounded by artisan stores and al fresco cafes and restaurants - a great spot for some less touristy souvenirs!
7. Mirador del Rio
Mirador del Rio - the alternative (free) lookout point
Mirador del Rio is a stunning scenic lookout point on the northwest coast of the island which we did as a second stop after Calaton Blanco.
The lookout point gives you a view of the narrow strip of water called El Río between Lanzarote and La, and the stunning Graciosa island as well as the Chinijo Archipelago. The turquoise blue water contrasting with the black-red sandy landscape is a unique panorama that’s well worth seeing.
However it’s 8.50 euro per person to visit which I thought was a pretty steep price for a viewpoint. So my pro tip is to drive down the road to this location on Google Maps, there’s a small layby for just a handful of cars and the view is almost the same, just slightly lower down. But it’s free and it’s beautiful!
8. Las Grietas
Las Grietas “slot canyon”
Las Grietas
This was probably my favourite stop during our time in Lanzarote and definitely more of a hidden gem.
Las Grietas is a solidified lava tunnel which has created something similar to a slot canyon (like a smaller version of famous ones in the US such as Antelope Canyon)
Las Grietas is free to visit and there’s a large car park on the side of the road, located here. It’s then a short 5-10 minute walk to Las Grietas rock formations. The car park is slightly beyond Las Grietas itself, please park in the car park, we saw several tourist cars just stop on the side of the road and almost cause accidents and some very angry locals because of inconsiderate parking on the curb, rather than the car park.
To avoid confusion, this is the location of Las Grietas, and this is the location of the car park.
The canyon is narrow and slippery with loose stones in some places so I highly recommend having good, closed toe footwear.
It only takes 15 minutes or so to explore the canyon, unless you’re choosing to go hiking further along the hill or roadside trail, but it’s a fun stop for sure!
Exploring through the canyon
9. The Stratified City
We stumbled on this stop on the side of the road purely by chance as we drove to the Cactus Garden.
The Stratified City is an area of volcanic rock formations which have been eroded over years due to wind, rain and climate changes to create unique rock shapes and formations which you can explore.
There is a large free parking area right on the side of the road and it only takes 10-20 minutes to wander around and through the rock formations.
It’s free to visit, fun to explore, climb and photograph and definitely one of the hidden gems of Lanzarote as it doesn’t seem to ever get busy.
10. Bodega La Geria
Bodega La Geria
The unique landscape of wineries in Lanzarote
This bodega is a family-run winery with a tasting room, restaurant and tapas.
The main reason this is on the list is that you’ll probably drive past it every day that you have your hire car because it’s right beside the main road - LZ-30 and it’s surrounded by hundreds of the unique semi-circular stone walls that are used to protect vines growing grapes for wine in Lanzarote.
You’ll see thousands of these stone semicircles as you drive through the centre of the island, they are called Zocos and are a historic way of protecting the vines in La Geria wine region of Lanzarote. The vines grow well in the volcanic soil and the craters surrounded by rocks protect them from the high winds that Lanzarote is known for.
The bodega is one of the easiest places to stop because they have a large terrace to the left of the building where you can go to photograph the Zocos and enjoy the landscape without having to pay to get in, but you can of course buy souvenirs from the gift shop or sample the wines from the tasting room.
There are other wineries along the road which offer tastings and viewpoints but this one is definitely the easiest to stop at - evidenced by the regular coaches that kept pulling into the car park.
If you do want to do a wine tasting it’s one of the most fun things to do in Lanzarote and there are several great tour options (of course don’t drink and drive if you’ve got a hire car):
Volcanic landscape of Lanzarote and wine growing fields
11. El Golfo
El Golfo beach
This stop and the next two can easily be done together as they’re all fairly close.
El Golfo is a charming coastal town on the southwest coast of Lanzarote and it’s perfect for a slow afternoon walking along the coast, seeing the Atlantic Ocean waves crashing on the shoreline and enjoying one of the many waterfront restaurants, bars or cafes along here.
El Golfo feels like a slower, more authentic town to visit in Lanzarote, compared to Playa Blanca and we thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon eating and drinking in the sunshine here.
There are car parks at both ends of the town, we drove to the furthest car park and it was free to park. You’ll know when you’re there because the road just ends in the car park and there’s a children's playground there.
12.Salinas de Janubio
Salinas de Janubio - Lanzarote salt flats
We stopped here briefly on our way to Playa del Janubio and El Golfo.
You’ll probably have seen the salt flats from the road and they really are a unique landscape to see. There is a viewpoint at the top of the road right next to the entrance and you can also go into the visitors centre for free and view the salt flats from there.
This is the only continuously operating salt mine in the Canary Islands and has been operating for 127 years. They have daily tours at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm which include a 90 minute guided tour and tasting.
13. Playa del Janubio
Playa del Janubio - Lanzarote’s black sand beach
If you’re planning what to see in Lanzarote, this was probably the most visually unique place that I enjoyed and it’s super close to Playa Blanca if your resort is there - only a 13 minute drive.
This is the stunning black sand beach in Lanzarote, with volcanic black sand contrasting with the turquoise blue crashing waves of the Atlantic.
I didn’t even know there were black sand beaches in Lanzarote until I discovered this place when planning our trip, but it makes sense as a volcanic island - I’m surprised there aren’t more black sand beaches on the island to be honest!
The beach has a large parking area and is free to visit, take your beach gear and enjoy a day or half day here.
I will say that this beach had by far the biggest waves of any beach we saw on our trip as it’s quite wild and exposed compared to the other beach bays we visited. And I’m not sure if there’s a lifeguard in summer but there was no facilities or lifeguard in February, so please exercise caution if you’re planning to go in the water, or avoid the water completely if the waves are big.
It’s a stunning and unique beach to enjoy as it is without swimming, definitely one of the best beaches in Lanzarote if you’re looking for something a little different.
14. Marina Rubicon and the weekend market
Marina Rubicon
We walked here along the boardwalk from our hotel in Playa Blanca and it’s a beautifully developed marina with restaurants, bars, artisan stores and an outlook over the marina.
It feels more chilled and sophisticated than Playa Blanca town and I definitely preferred it to Playa Blanca.
The Marina Market is open every Wednesday and Saturday from 9am to 2pm and it’s got a great range of artisan crafts and great souvenirs which aren’t just tat!
15. Cueva de los Verdes
Unfortunately we didn’t visit here as we found out you had to purchase tickets online here and the only timeslot we could do was already booked.
But this is a spectacular 8km cave in Lanzarote, formed by the historic volcanic activity on the island. La Cueva de los Verdes tube was created after the eruption of the La Corona Volcano, 4000 years ago. There is also an underwater part of this tube is known as the Túnel de la Atlántida and parts of the tube were used as a hiding place from Berber pirates.
Tickets cost 16 euros and include a 1 hour tour of the incredible vaults, lagoons and routes of the cave.
16. Jameos del Agua
Another similar experience is Jameos del Agua which is a large underground cave complex including a restaurant, concert venue and subterranean salt lake in the vast lava tunnels.
This costs 21.20 euro to visit and you can book here.
17. Museo Lagomar
Museo Lagomar in Lanzarote is unfortunately another place that we didn’t get to on this trip although I would have like to!
It’s the former home of Omar Sharif and was designed by famous artist and activist, César Manrique, who was from Lanzarote and is revered all over Lanzarote.
The former residence is now an art gallery with a restaurant and bar. The unique design elements of the house look like a fascinating place to explore.
Summary: best things to do in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands
I hope this guide has given you plenty of inspiration for things to do in Lanzarote that allow you to see and experience the whole island, beyond your resort.
There are so many incredible resorts in Lanzarote but the island itself has a lot to offer and is well worth spending a day or two exploring during your trip.
