The essentials
- CACT says exploring Timanfaya freely by car or on foot is not permitted, and drivers stay in the vehicle from El Taro to the Islote de Hilario car park.[1][2]
- The park authority asks hire-car drivers to leave the car at Islote de Hilario, where the coach tours depart every 20 minutes.[1][3]
- Montañas del Fuego has no box-office sales, so pick a date and time online and arrive 15 minutes before it.[1][4]
- An entry time missing from the online calendar means the visitor quota for that slot is already full.[1]
- The general Montañas del Fuego ticket costs from €30.00, while the 2-hour express tour from Yaiza lists skip-the-line entry from US$66.[2][5]
| Own car | Half-day tour | Express tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking | Online in advance, no box office[1] | Reserve now & pay later[6] | Reserve now & pay later[5] |
| Entry slot | Fixed date and time, arrive 15 min early[1][4] | Skip the ticket line[6] | Skip the ticket line[5] |
| Parking or pickup | Islote de Hilario car park[3] | Pickup included, 53 pickup options[6] | Starts from Yaiza by bus/coach[5] |
| Inside the park | 35-minute coach route in the ticket[2] | Timanfaya and Islet of Hilario stops[6] | Timanfaya National Park stop[5] |
| Duration | 90-min slot on CACT's booking card[2] | 5 hours[6] | 2 hours[5] |
| From | from €30.00 per ticket[2] | from US$68[6] | from US$66[5] |
To preserve this protected National Park, remain inside the vehicle from El Taro to the car park on the Islote de Hilario. Your cooperation helps conserve this environment.
To protect the fragile ecosystem of Parque Nacional de Timanfaya, it is not permitted to explore it freely by car or on foot.
Drive yourself, or let a tour handle the slot and the parking
Before you drive
At the park
Can you drive through Timanfaya National Park?
You can drive the LZ-67, the road between Tinajo and Yaiza that gives access to the park's different facilities.[3] What you cannot do is tour the interior in your own car: CACT states that, to protect the fragile ecosystem of Parque Nacional de Timanfaya, it is not permitted to explore it freely by car or on foot.[1]
From El Taro, visitors must remain inside the vehicle as far as the car park on the Islote de Hilario.[2] The park authority tells anyone who hires a car to leave it there, because the free routes are done on foot and the guided ones on foot or aboard the park's internal buses.[3]
On the drive in, the road is built from the same lava materials as the area and carries no painted markings, to keep it in unity with the landscape, and the devil sculpture that serves as the park's symbol welcomes you on the road to Montañas del Fuego.[2][8] Signs with César Manrique's El Diablo logo, made from the timber of broken-up boats, stand at the access points.[8]
What the car ticket includes
CACT lists the general Montañas del Fuego visit from €30.00, and children aged 0 to 6 enter free.[2] The ticket includes a 35-minute coach route, the geothermal demonstrations, access to Islote de Hilario and a volcanic landscape viewpoint.[2]
The coach route was conceived by César Manrique and comes with an audio narrative.[2] CACT describes it as around 14 kilometres long, while the Canary Islands park authority gives 12 km, 45 minutes and a circular route between 251 m and 453 m of altitude.[2][9]
CACT's pages and the park authority give different ride times: CACT's ticket page says 35 minutes, its FAQ says the buses leave Islote de Hilario every 20 minutes for a tour of approximately 40 minutes, and the park authority says 45 minutes.[1][2][9] CACT also lists the audio guide in Spanish, English and German in its What to do list, and in Spanish and English only in its FAQ.[1][2]
Volcanic landscape seen on the drive into Timanfaya
Timanfaya National Park parking
CACT says all of its centres have parking areas.[1] At Montañas del Fuego the car park is on the Islote de Hilario, which MITECO describes as the core of the site, with a cafeteria, a restaurant, a souvenir shop and toilets alongside it.[2][10]
The car park slopes, and CACT warns drivers to take care when opening a car door, because the slope may cause it to hit other vehicles.[2] There are no parking bays specially marked for visitors with reduced mobility, but park staff point out the most convenient spaces for them.[7] The Mancha Blanca Visitor Centre has several marked parking spaces for people with disabilities next to the building.[7]
For families, CACT notes that access with a pushchair can be difficult and recommends bringing a baby carrier, and it says the Route of the Volcanoes has adapted coaches.[2] Pets are not allowed, except assistance dogs.[2]
Queues, time slots and quotas
For anyone worried about Timanfaya National Park queues, entry works by timed ticket. There are no box-office sales at Montañas del Fuego, and selecting a date and time is mandatory when you buy online.[1][4] If the entry time you are looking for is not available, the quota for that time slot is already full.[1]
Plan to arrive 15 minutes before your booked time. You cannot enter before or after your slot, there are no waiting areas inside the site or in the surrounding area for early arrivals, and a visitor who arrives outside the scheduled time finds the ticket no longer valid, with no changes or refunds.[1] For problems on the day, CACT's customer service line for its centres is +34 928 84 84 84.[1]
The Ayuntamiento de Yaiza says the park receives more than half a million visitors a year, and that the pressure is already causing conservation problems, above all at Hilario.[11] Among the GetYourGuide tours, the 2-hour express tour from Yaiza and the 5-hour Volcanic Craters Tour both list skip-the-line entry.[5][6]
20 min
How often CACT says the Ruta de los Volcanes coach tours leave Islote de Hilario, where the park authority says to park.[1][3]
Opening hours and the recommended time
Montañas del Fuego is open every day of the year, but the listed hours vary. CACT's ticket page gives 09:30 to 15:45, Turismo Lanzarote's current sightseeing page gives 09:00 a.m. to 04:45 p.m., and MITECO's national park page gives 9:00 to 17:00.[2][10][12] Whatever the listed hours, the time on your ticket is the one you must arrive for.[1]
Turismo Lanzarote's visitor listing gives 9.00 a.m. to 3.45 p.m. and names 1.00 p.m. as the recommended time.[13] CACT's Insólita Experience, a small-group upgrade, starts at 08:45 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, lasts 120 minutes and costs from €46.30.[2]
CACT's booking card allocates a 90-minute slot to the general visit, while its visitor guide puts the visit at approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.[2] The Echadero de los Camellos keeps its own hours: the Ayuntamiento de Yaiza recommends 9:00 to 15:00 every day except 25 December and 1 January, while MITECO lists 9:00 to 16:00.[14][15]
Other stops along the road
Beyond the park, the road continues towards Tinajo to the Mancha Blanca visitor centre, 4.5 km along the LZ-67 from the Montañas del Fuego gate, where Turismo Lanzarote says entry to the exhibition and audiovisual programme is free.[8][13] MITECO gives its hours as 9:00 to 16:00 every day since 1 July 2023, and Turismo Lanzarote gives 9.00 a.m. to 4.45 p.m.[13][16]
Coming from Yaiza, the Echadero de los Camellos is 2.5 km before the Montañas del Fuego gate.[8] The Ayuntamiento de Yaiza prices the camel ride from €11 per person per trip, payable by card or cash, while an older Turismo Lanzarote page gives €12 per camel for 2 people.[13][14]
At Islote de Hilario, El Diablo restaurant does not accept reservations and assigns tables first-come, first-served.[2] Its mains of meat cooked in the heat of the volcano range from €18.00 for chicken thighs to €26.00 for entrecôte.[17] The grill sits above a five-metre well where the earth's natural temperature reaches around 250 degrees.[2]
Car or tour?
Rome2rio gives driving times to the park of about 26 minutes from Playa Blanca, 33 minutes from Puerto del Carmen and 41 minutes from Arrecife.[18][19][20] Cruise passengers who want to drive can hire a car at the dockside in the Port of Arrecife, where Cicar and TopCar have offices and parking areas.[21]
The Volcanic Craters Tour lists pickup included from 53 pickup location options, skip-the-line entry and a stop at the Islet of Hilario, over 5 hours from US$68.[6] The express tour from Yaiza lists skip-the-line entry and a 2-hour duration, from US$66.[5]
The Timanfaya, Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes tour booked from this site lists 61 pickup location options, a live guide in English, French, German and Spanish, skip-the-line entry and a 9-hour day, from US$102.[22] A self-drive visit costs from €30.00 per ticket at Montañas del Fuego, with children aged 0 to 6 free.[2]
Drive time to Timanfaya by starting point
Rome2rio's estimated drive times to the park, not park-authority figures.[18][19][20][23][24][25]
Price a Timanfaya tour instead of driving
Each amount is that listing's own "from" price in US dollars, and the calculator applies the same listed figure to every traveller.[5][6][22][26]
Timings for a self-drive visit
From the gate to the coach
Book a date and time online
Selecting a date and time is mandatory for Montañas del Fuego when buying online.[4]
Drive the LZ-67 to El Taro
The LZ-67, linking Tinajo and Yaiza, gives access to the park's facilities.[3]
Stay in the car to Hilario
Remain inside the vehicle from El Taro to the Islote de Hilario car park.[2]
Park with care on the slope
Take care opening car doors, as the slope may make them hit other vehicles.[2]
Board the coach route
Buses leave Islote de Hilario every 20 minutes for a tour of approximately 40 minutes.[1]
Let a tour with skip-the-line entry handle your Timanfaya visit
from US$103Reserve now & pay later
