Touring Lanzarote in a Car

We’ve been to Lanzarote a few times now, and we always like to hire a car for a day during our stay. Touring Lanzarote in a car is something we discovered some years ago. I may have mentioned before that whilst we like the beaches, we get bored after a few hours so are always looking for other things to keep us entertained!

Car Hire in Lanzarote

Lanzarote is not the biggest of islands, measuring roughly 60 miles top to bottom, and 16 miles side to side. This means it’s pretty easy to see much of the island in a single day.

Car hire in Lanzarote is pretty cheap, I recall we paid around €40 to hire a Seat Leon for 24 hours. There are quite a few car hire companies in Lanzarote, and the larger ones have multiple offices in the tourist areas. As car hire is so popular, it’s worth arranging this a few days in advance to avoid disappointment. There will always be a vehicle available on the day, but it may not be the one you want!

Hire cars often have a few dings and they are usually marked up on the paperwork before you hire the vehicle. However, we always check over the car for any obvious signs of damage and will take some pictures if any are found. Do I need to mention that they drive on the right here?

Playa Blanca

A couple of years back we set off from our resort of Puerto del Carmen. We thought we’d check out the southern resort of Playa Blanca first. Getting there was simple. We headed for one of the largest roads on the island, the LZ-2. When I say the largest road, I mean it’s because it only has two lanes! Thankfully traffic is pretty light here. The road took us past the pretty town of Yaiza, and then we followed it all the way to Playa Blanca. It was an easy half-hour drive, although the transfer buses don’t seem to adhere to any speed limits. Watch out for those overtaking…

We found a parking spot in a quiet street and headed straight for the centre. Playa Blanca has a lot more all-inclusive hotels than our resort, but a smaller centre and beachfront. Clearly, the holidaymakers prefer the confines of their hotel, and why not – if it’s free!

The beachfront promenade was lovely. There was a smallish beach, plenty of al fresco dining, and numerous bars. We grabbed a quick bite before ticking it off the list and thinking about our next destination! You can catch a ferry to Fuerteventura too, which we’ll have to try sometime.

Timanfaya National Park

We headed back on the LZ-2 towards Yaiza again, and then hit the LZ-67. This was a single lane main road, and it took us to our next spot – Timanfaya National Park. The landscape as you approach the park is amazing. There are volcanic lava fields everywhere you look.

Lanzarote has many volcanoes on the island, and one or two are technically not extinct. Timanfaya is a huge area at almost 20 sq. miles. The National park is full of volcanoes and stunningly beautiful landscapes. The volcanic soil everywhere means that there is hardly any vegetation growing.

Plenty of tours go to Timanfaya, but we wanted to do it ourselves. We paid our entry fees and drove up to the car park. Luckily in the morning, it wasn’t too busy. There are a couple of demonstrations to enjoy: someone dropping water into a small borehole and watching steam shoot out a few seconds later (a bit like a geyser), and someone else throwing straw into a shallow pit and watching it catch fire within seconds. These demonstrations, as well as a bus tour around the volcano park, are included in the admission. Molten lava is just a few meters below the ground here, and you get the feeling it wouldn’t take much for the volcano to erupt again!

It was a bit too early for us to eat at the restaurant (everything cooked over the heat of the volcano no less!) so we headed off Northbound.

Playa de Famara

After a bit of a drive cross country, we found ourselves at Playa de Famara. There is a small town here, and a desolate wide open bay that has some fantastic waves. This area is well known for kite surfing and windsurfing, and we saw lots of people have a good old time too.

Since I failed to persuade Amy to have a go at driving, I took us onwards towards the north of the island. We travelled past Teguise, and on towards Haria on the LZ-10. Amy was glad she was in the passenger seat as the roads were narrow here, and snaked up a mountain pass. I’m told the views were stunning, but I had my eyes on the road dodging oncoming tour buses! We did stop to take a couple of pictures though.

Mirador del Rio

Mirador del Rio was the next stop. I’d read great things about this place, and wasn’t disappointed. Mirador del Rio is an architectural creation by César Manrique, who was a local Spanish artist. It offers awesome views over the small island of La Graciosa from indoor and outdoor vantage points. It also has a small path carved into the side of the rock. There is a small café inside, and the views are definitely worth the entrance fee.

We then went to Orzola at the northern tip of Lanzarote. This is a small town with some great local dining options. We grabbed a bite here and watched the ferry depart for La Graciosa. We decided there and then that we’d try this on our next trip, as La Graciosa is reported to be absolutely beautiful.

Caleta del Mojón Blanco/Playa Caleton Blanco

The last stop we had planned was Caleta del Mojon Blanco. This is a beach just off the road in the middle of nowhere, yet seemed to be well known to locals and tourists.

I guess just not well known to us. We parked the car and headed over the lava rocks towards the beach. It was unspoilt beauty here, so we chilled out for a bit. There are no facilities at all here. No shops, toilets, or even sun loungers and brollies. None of this mattered to us though, as it was idyllic.

We then drove back to another cracking beach we missed on the road from Orzola – Playa Caleton Blanco. This is found down a small track from the main road and has its own car park. We stopped here for a swim in the naturally formed lagoon. Unsurprisingly this was pretty busy too! This beach is safe for kids as well, with shallow waters for the most part. The sea is so colourful here too. All you’d need is a small brolly, a couple of towels and a picnic and you’re set for the day!

After dusting the dried sand from us, we jumped back in the car for the home stretch. It was another half hour or so back to Puerto del Carmen on the LZ-1 (another ‘large’ road). We left the car in a side street and walked to our hotel, and dropped the keys back at the hire car company the next morning. Car hire in Lanzarote is something we always do when visiting. It’s just so easy and cheap!

There are bus tours available from the many travel agents in the main resorts that do full island tours, but we took the chance to do our own tour on our own timetable. I’d definitely recommend touring Lanzarote in a car, as the roads are well signposted and fairly quiet. In fact, it’s something we’ll continue to do whenever we return!

Why not check out our other posts about Lanzarote?