Parque Nacional de Timanfaya & Montañas de Fuego (Fire Mountains)

Coming from the south, you will arrive at a boundary to the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya, which is marked at the side of the road by a sign carrying the malicious El Diablo (‘The devil’) logo – designed by César Manrique. Shortly afterwards, you will pass the dromedary station Echadero de los Camellos (Camel Park), from where a 20-minute ride on a dromedary – always worth the experience – will take you around the outer reaches of the Timanfaya National Park. Near the camel station, somewhat hidden, is the small geological museum Museo de Rocas, exhibiting charts and rock samples of the park as well as some information about camels and their use by humans.

Named after a village that was one of the eleven settlements, which were buried by lava and ash during the volcanic eruptions between 1730 and 1736, the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya was declared National Park in 1974.

This grandiose, multicoloured volcanic landscape enclosing the Montañas de Fuego (Fire Mountains) and stretching over approx. 50 sq. kilometres (19 sq. miles) – just north of Yaiza to Mazdache and westwards, where it covers a considerable part of the northwest coast – is doubtless the highlight of Lanzarote’s landscapes, though almost completely devoid of any bird, animal and plant life.

History tells us of the dramatic volcanic eruptions during the years 1730 to 1736, from which the Fire Mountains resulted. On the 1st of September in the year 1730, the up to that date most fertile lowlands of the island were struck by a tremendous nature catastrophe. More than thirty volcanoes belched forth fire and smoke and huge masses of magma buried entire villages, which the inhabitants fortunately had deserted in time so that despite of the horrendous proportions of this nature catastrophe, no casualties were known. These eruptions transformed almost a quarter of the island into a sea of solidified lava, multicoloured volcanic rocks and copper-coloured sand, with wide areas covered with thick layers of lapilli (coarse ash). These materials formed the malpaís (badlands), and more than 250 years after these eruptions, there is still hardly any vegetation on these lands. For the time being, the area is quite safe, though underneath the surface it is still bubbling and an odour of sulphur hangs in the air. The temperature below the surface rises quickly from 100 to 400°C, which are already reached in 6 m (20 ft) depth.

The Parque Nacional de Timanfaya can be visited but only on a coach tour or guided walks; free roaming around the park is not allowed. There is an entrance fee to be paid at a barrier a few kilometres further along the road after the Camel Station. Then you continue on an asphalted road for another 2 km (1.2 miles), which will lead you up to the Islote de Hilario, a black volcano – with 510 m (1,673 ft) the tallest of all the Fire Mountains – dominating the view. Crowned by the Manrique designed glass-walled El Diablo restaurant, built in a circle and offering breathtaking views over the moon-like landscape and the sea beyond, it is also here where the coach tours for a visit round the park depart.

Before entering the big – but nevertheless often crowded – El Diablo restaurant, take a look at the barbecue, built like a well descending in the underground, which was Manrique’s invention, too. Here, much of the food served in the restaurant is cooked using the oven-like heat rising from the depth of the sleeping volcano. Employees of the park give impressive demonstrations of the intense heat of the earth just below the surface by throwing a bunch of dry lichen into a shallow hollow, which quickly bursts into flames or pouring water into tubes set in the earth, turning into steam within seconds and shooting up several metres like a man-made geyser. In some spots the surface is so hot that you cannot walk on.

A spectacular bus tour, which is included in the entrance fee, takes you for about 40 minutes on the 10 km (6.2 miles) long Ruta de los Volcanes, through the awesome heart of this surprisingly colourful landscape. On this extraordinary and unforgettable tour, you will enjoy awe-inspiring views over volcanic cones, look down into craters, see dunes of picón or lapilli, have a glance into lava tubes and experience passing through the steep walls of a collapsed tube. There are stops on this tour, but visitors are not allowed to get off the bus and you will have to take your much-desired pictures through the windows.

If you’ve planned only one sightseeing tour during your holidays in Lanzarote, then opt for this one… you won’t regret it! The Parque Nacional de Timanfaya can be visited daily between 09.00 and 17.45 hrs.