The essentials
- Timanfaya lies in the municipalities of Tinajo and Yaiza, reached by the LZ-67 road that links the two towns.[1]
- MITECO gives the park a total surface area of 5,107.50 hectares, and its highest point, Timanfaya, reaches 511 metres.[2][3]
- The Taro de entrada gate is 2.5 km past the Echadero de los Camellos from Yaiza, or 4.5 km from Mancha Blanca.[4]
- The Route of the Volcanoes is a 12 km circular route by the park authority's figure, and around 14 kilometres by CACT's.[5][6]
- MITECO gives Mancha Blanca's address as Ctra. Tinajo-Yaiza, Km 11,500, 35560 Tinajo, just outside the park boundary.[4][7]
| Montañas del Fuego | Mancha Blanca | El Golfo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where | Islote de Hilario, core of the site[8] | Ctra. Tinajo-Yaiza, Km 11,500, Tinajo[7] | Yaiza's west coast, in the natural park[9] |
| Road or path | LZ-67, 2.5 km past the camel station[4] | LZ-67 towards Tinajo[4] | End of the long coastal route on foot[10] |
| Position | Its gate is 4.5 km from Mancha Blanca on the LZ-67[4] | Outside the national park boundary[4] | Start of the 2 km short coastal route[11] |
| What is there | Coach route, geothermal demos, restaurant[6][8] | Free exhibition and audiovisuals[12] | Charco de Los Clicos green lagoon[9] |
| Tours that stop there | Volcanic Craters Tour, from US$68[13] | 4x4 north tour, from US$78[14] | Full-day tour with El Golfo, from US$86[15] |
Timanfaya National Park is one of the most impressive volcanic landscapes in the world. Its eruptions, which took place between 1730 and 1736, forever transformed the centre-west of Lanzarote
Among the nearly seventy geosites, the most significant is Timanfaya, home to numerous volcanic structures and one of the largest historic lava fields in the world.
Three points to find on the map: Hilario, Mancha Blanca, El Golfo
Key map points
Where is Timanfaya National Park?
Timanfaya National Park lies in the municipalities of Tinajo and Yaiza, and Turismo Lanzarote says its eruptions, between 1730 and 1736, forever transformed the centre-west of Lanzarote.[1][18] The LZ-67, the road between Tinajo and Yaiza, gives access to the park's different facilities.[1]
Yaiza holds 2,901 hectares of the park, more than half of its total area.[9] Around it, the Parque Natural de los Volcanes, declared in 1994 and covering 10,158.4 hectares, forms a wide ring that surrounds the national park.[9]
The 1730-36 eruptions left a sea of lava of about 174 square kilometres over part of the west of the island and gained new land from the sea, and MITECO's history says they affected a quarter of the island's surface.[19][20]
Timanfaya National Park location and address
The Timanfaya National Park address for the visitor centre, as MITECO gives it, is Ctra. Tinajo-Yaiza, Km 11,500, 35560 Tinajo, Lanzarote.[7] The park's administrative offices are at C/ La Mareta, 9, 35560 Tinajo, open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 14:00, or 9:00 to 13:00 in summer.[1]
Montañas del Fuego is reached along the same road. Coming from Yaiza, the Taro de entrada gate to the Montañas del Fuego tourist centre is 2.5 km past the Echadero de los Camellos, and coming from Tinajo it is 4.5 km beyond the Mancha Blanca visitor centre.[4]
Past the gate, visitors stay in the vehicle from El Taro to the car park on the Islote de Hilario, the core of Montañas del Fuego, with a cafeteria, a restaurant, a souvenir shop and toilets.[6][8] Signs with César Manrique's El Diablo logo, made from the timber of broken-up boats, stand at the access points to the park.[4] The devil sculpture, the symbol of the National Park, welcomes visitors on the road to Montañas del Fuego.[6]
Craters and lava fields of Timanfaya National Park
How big the park is
On MITECO's technical fact sheet, the Timanfaya National Park size is a total surface of 5,107.50 hectares.[2] The park was declared by decree on 9 August 1974, reclassified by law on 25 March 1981, and designated a Biosphere Reserve in 1993.[2]
The land rises from sea level to the Timanfaya-El Señalo massif, whose highest points reach 511 and 507 metres above sea level.[3] The sea of lava habitat covers roughly 70% of the park, and the cones and hornitos habitat about 20%.[17] The park's most characteristic hornito, a secondary vent that built no large volcanic edifice, is called Manto de la Virgen.[21]
About 5% of the park is private land where traditional crops survive behind volcanic-stone walls, around Montaña Tremesana, María Hernández and Pedro Perico in the south and the Miraderos zone in the east.[22] Of the 1824 volcanoes, only the westernmost, Chinero, and its lava flows lie within the park's current boundaries.[19]
The Route of the Volcanoes
The Timanfaya National Park route included in the ticket is the Route of the Volcanoes, a coach route conceived by César Manrique and accompanied by an audio narrative.[6] CACT describes it as around 14 kilometres through the main core of the eruptions, while the Canary Islands park authority gives a circular route of 12 km and 45 minutes, between 251 m and 453 m of altitude.[5][6]
The coaches leave Islote de Hilario every 20 minutes, according to CACT's FAQ.[16] On the route, the Valle de la Tranquilidad is named after the Moon's Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed, and from Islote de Hilario the view opens onto a sea of lava with more than 25 craters in just a few square kilometres.[6]
The route is not open to private cars: CACT says the park may not be explored freely by car or on foot, and the park authority says the guided routes run on foot or aboard the park's internal buses.[1][16] CACT lists the route's audio guide in Spanish, English and German in its What to do list, but in Spanish and English only in its FAQ.[6][16]
5,107.50 ha
The total surface area of Timanfaya National Park on MITECO's technical fact sheet.[2]
Geothermal hot spots and the camel station
Besides Islote de Hilario, the park's most important geothermal anomalies, with surface temperatures above 100°C, are at the Casa de los Camelleros and on the floor of the Timanfaya crater.[19] The park's module of the Laboratorio Geodinámico de Lanzarote is housed in the Casa de los Camelleros.[23]
At Islote de Hilario, IGME's description gives about 250°C at the surface and more than 600°C at 13 m, while its own scientific section gives 100 to 120°C at the surface and 610°C at 13 m.[24] IGME explains the heat by a residual magma chamber at around 2-4 km depth.[24]
The camel ride is a circular route on the south slope of Montaña de Timanfaya, lasting about 20 minutes by the park authority's figure, while the Ayuntamiento de Yaiza puts it at between 20 and 25 minutes.[25][26] The Echadero de los Camellos, where it starts, sits on the LZ-67 2.5 km before the gate when you come from Yaiza.[4]
El Golfo and the coast
On foot, free access to the park is permitted only along the coast, on a path that runs the length of the park's coastline.[4] The long coastal route, self-guided with free access, runs 9.75 km from Playa de la Madera in Tinajo to Punta del Jurado inside the park and ends in the village of El Golfo, a walk of 5-6 hours.[10]
The short coastal route is guided and needs a prior booking, covering 2 km in about 2.5 hours from El Golfo to near Playa del Paso.[11] The compulsorily guided Tremesana route covers 3.5 km and meets at Plaza de los Remedios in Yaiza.[27] El Golfo sits on Yaiza's west coast inside the Parque Natural de los Volcanes, and its Charco de Los Clicos lagoon, green from plant organisms in suspension, is separated from the sea by a sand beach.[9]
Also on Yaiza's west coast, Los Hervideros is a stretch of cliffs with caves and blowholes formed by the 1730-1736 eruptions and sculpted by erosion.[9] The Lanzarote Film Commission counts the Charco de los Clicos viewpoint as the backdrop for 14 different films.[28]
Distances from the resorts
Rome2rio gives the driving distance to the park as 20 km from Playa Blanca, about 26 minutes, 21 km from Puerto del Carmen, about 33 minutes, and 28 km from Lanzarote Airport, about 37 minutes.[29][30][31]
From Arrecife it gives 33 km, about 41 minutes, from Arrecife Port 34 km, about 43 minutes, and from Costa Teguise 39 km, about 46 minutes.[32][33][34] The park authority's best access from Costa Teguise runs via the LZ-20 to Tinajo and visits the Mancha Blanca centre first.[4]
Without a car, no public transport enters the park; line 16 serves Mancha Blanca and lines 6 and 61 serve Yaiza.[1][35][36][37] The tour booked from this site lists 61 pickup location options and stops at Timanfaya National Park, Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua, from US$102.[38]
Heights on the Timanfaya map, in metres
Heights above sea level from a University of La Laguna paper and the park authority's route page.[3][5]
Price a tour that covers these map points
Each amount is that listing's own "from" price in US dollars, and the calculator applies the same listed figure to every traveller.[13][14][15][38][39]
Map distances worth knowing
Following the map by road
Take the LZ-67
The LZ-67, linking Tinajo and Yaiza, gives access to the park's facilities.[1]
Pass the Echadero de los Camellos
From Yaiza, the camel station comes 2.5 km before the Montañas del Fuego gate.[4]
Enter at the Taro de entrada
Stay inside the vehicle from El Taro to the Islote de Hilario car park.[6]
Ride the Route of the Volcanoes
Coaches leave Islote de Hilario every 20 minutes for a tour of approximately 40 minutes.[16]
Continue to Mancha Blanca
The visitor centre is 4.5 km beyond the Taro gate on the LZ-67 towards Tinajo, outside the park boundary.[4]
See the Route of the Volcanoes on a guided Timanfaya day tour
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