Lanzarote

For a first (and only) overseas trip in 2021, I was looking for somewhere I could walk in some sunshine and escape the Scottish winter for a few days. I also had a voucher from a canceled flight from April 2020 that I could do with using before I forgot its existence (or the airline did). Andalusia or the Canaries were the obvious places to consider but I also very much wanted to find flights that departed and arrived back in the middle of the day. These requirements led me to a flight to Lanzarote in the Canaries, not an island I had previously considered. However, a walking map was available and family members had reported favourably on the volcanic scenery during a brief visit in 2019. So why not? My flight arrived in Arrecife in the evening and so I booked myself into a hotel in the city for the first night. After that, I found that the accommodation in the island’s interior (needless to say, I wanted to avoid the beach resorts) was mainly apartments and not economical to book for a single night. So I decided to book myself into an apartment in the north of the island for the remaining four nights of my trip and use that as a base to walk from.

Costs. Flight £74. Car parking £24. Arrecife hotel (B&B) €69. Maguez studio apartment €61.50 per night. Arrecife–Mancha Blanca bus €1.80. Arrecife–Maguez bus €3.40. Typical evening meal with drinks €14–€18. Travel insurance £17. Day 2 PCR test £40. Total cost of trip £545.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Diamar, Arrecife (Day 1, Read my review); La Molina, Maguez (Days 2–5, Read my review).

Maps. Lanzarote Tour & Trail, 1:40,000, Discovery Walking Guides.

See also. Gran Canaria; La Gomera.

Day 1: Travel to Arrecife. Left home at 11.20 am and reached Edinburgh Airport at 12.20 pm. Boarded plane at 2.35 pm and took off at 2.50 pm. Landed at Arrecife at 7.00 pm and caught 7.20 pm bus no. 22 into town, arriving 7.30 pm. Walked to my very good hotel (pre-booked), arriving 7.40 pm. Went out for pizza on seafront at about 8.30 pm.

Day 2: Walk around La Caldera Blanca from Mancha Blanca; Travel to Maguez. Left hotel at about 10 am after a good breakfast. Walked to bus station and caught 11.00 am bus no. 16 to Mancha Blanca, arriving 11.40 am. Walked towards La Caldera Blanca, following Walk 28 on the Lanzarote Tour & Trail map, reaching the lip of the spectacular caldera at 12.35 pm, and the 461 m summit at 1.05 pm. Left summit at about 1.15 pm, carried on clockwise around the caldera, and was back at the bus stop at 3.00 pm. The bus to Arrecife came at 3.20 pm and arrived back at the bus station at 3.55 pm. Went and found an ATM to get some more cash. Caught 5.10 pm bus no. 7 to Maguez, arriving at the bus stop next to my lovely studio apartment La Molina (pre-booked) at 6.10 pm. Went for dinner (solomillo) at the nearby bar Los Roferos at 8.10 pm.

Day 3: Walk to Haria and then onto the Mirador del Risco de Famara. Left apartment at 10.45 am and walked south along the road (the “GR131”) to Haria where I found a small supermarket and bought some food for a late breakfast and lunch (the even smaller shop in Maguez being closed that day for some reason). Then I set off south-west along Walk 33 on the Lanzarote Tour & Trail map. At first this was a dull bulldozed track but after a while it became a lovely old mule route, climbing gradually uphill towards the coast. I arrived at the Mirador del Risco de Famara at 1.00 pm where there were great cliff top views up and down the west coast. On my return to Haria I took in some of Walks 34 and 34alt and another coastal viewpoint, the Mirador Montana Ganada, although not as elevated or spectacular. Arrived back in Haria at 2.30 pm and bought some supplies for the apartment from the little supermarket. I then went and had a beer in a nearby bar and used their WiFi. Left at about 3.30 pm and was back at La Molina for 4 pm (so 5 h 15 min walking minus about 1 h in Haria. Made myself pasta and a tomato sauce (out of a jar, of course) for about 7 pm.

Day 4: Walk to the Mirador del Rio. Left La Molina at 10.15 am. Walked north along the “GR131”, then crossed to Ye main road, and then the LZ202 road to the Mirador del Rio. Superb views but all road walking. Arrived at the Mirador at 11.50 am, where there was a €5 entrance fee. Had a light lunch in the cafe. Left Mirador at 1 pm but found that the wind outside had strengthened to an extent that made walking difficult. (I had intended to explore Walk 41 on the Lanzarote Tour & Trail map.) So I headed back to Ye along the LZ203 and caught the 1.30 pm bus no. 26, arriving back at La Molina at 1.40 pm (so 3 h 15 min walking minus 1 h 10 min at the Mirador). Went for dinner at Los Roferos at 8 pm.

Day 5: Walk to the Fuentes del Gayo, the viewpoint at La Pescosa, and then Haria. Left La Molina at 10.40 am and started north along the “GR131” as on Day 4. But then I cut across west to the Guinate junction and followed Walk 38 (southern variant) on the Lanzarote Tour & Trail map to, first, the Fuentes del Gayo and then the La Pescosa viewpoint. I then continued south down a steep and tricky slope and walked east along the next valley. With time to spare, I took in a bit of Walks 34 and 34alt before descending into Haria at 1.30 pm (so 2 h 50 min walking). It was market day and I could not find a table free at Day 3’s pleasant bar. So about 2 pm I headed up to Cruz de Haria and had a beer in the bar there. Reached La Molina at 3 pm and chatted briefly with a newly-arrived Anglo-French couple. Made myself pasta and tomato sauce for about 6.45 pm.

Day 6: Travel home. Left La Molina at 6.40 am and caught 7.00 am bus no. 7 to Arrecife, arriving at 7.45 am. Caught 8.40 am bus to airport. Boarded plane at 10.50 am and took off at 11.20 am. Landed in Edinburgh at 4.05 pm. I was at my car at 4.30 pm and home at 5.45 pm.

Wildlife seen. Canary Island Red Admiral, Great Grey Shrike, Atlantic Canary.

Other useful links. Bus lines and timetables

Reflections. Well, it was lovely to be in Spain again after very nearly two years away. The December weather was pretty good for walking on the whole, although the wind was strong at times and did cause me to cut short my walk on Day 4. I really enjoyed my spectacular walk around La Caldera Blanca on Day 2 but the walks were rather more functional the other days, with a lot of time spent on roads and bulldozed tracks. The volcanic scenery on Lanzarote was interesting but the island was rather brown and arid compared with Gran Canaria and La Gomera, the other two Canary Islands I have visited. Ideally, I would have liked to have stayed a few days in the north of the island and a few days in the south. It would have been easy getting around as the buses were very cheap and all ran on time.

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