What to Do in Lanzarote: The Best Activities on Spain's Volcanic Art Island
Updated: 4 days ago
Lanzarote is the most architecturally coherent island in the Canaries — César Manrique's influence on the island's design is visible everywhere, from the converted volcanic tubes of Jameos del Agua to the building code that prevented high-rises and kept the island's traditional white-and-green aesthetic intact. The Timanfaya volcanic landscape is one of the most genuinely alien environments in Europe. And the Papagayo beaches in the south are among the finest in the Atlantic.
February is 20°C, largely sunny, and quiet. Here's what to book.
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Best for First-Timers: Timanfaya National Park & Fire Mountains Tour
Timanfaya is a volcanic landscape from the 1730s eruptions that covered a third of the island in lava — 300 years later it looks like the moon, and the geothermal heat in the ground is still so intense that chicken is cooked over a natural vent at the park restaurant. The guided bus tour through the park is the main visitor experience (private vehicles are prohibited); it takes about 40 minutes and covers the fire mountains, the camel rides on the lava field, and the geothermal demonstrations.
The park tour is best combined with the southwest coastal route — the lava fields running into the Atlantic at the Golfo lagoon (a collapsed volcanic crater with a green lagoon at the base) and El Hervidero (the sea boiling through lava tubes) are free to visit and among the most dramatic coastal landscapes in Spain.
Tours: Lanzarote: Timanfaya fire mountains & volcanoes guided tour · Lanzarote: south island tour — Timanfaya, Papagayo & salt flats · Browse all Lanzarote tours on GetYourGuide → · Search Viator →
Best for Families & Kids: Jameos del Agua & César Manrique Art-Cave Tour
Jameos del Agua is a volcanic tube that runs under the sea at the northeast tip of Lanzarote, converted by César Manrique into an arts and music space of extraordinary character. The tube contains a subterranean lake inhabited by a blind white crab (Munidopsis polymorpha) found nowhere else on earth, and the cave opens into an outdoor auditorium cut into the lava with views over the Atlantic. The combination of the unique geology, the endemic species, and the Manrique design is one of the more genuinely unusual things you can visit in Spain.
For families: the blind crab in the subterranean lake is the guaranteed hook for children, and the cave architecture holds everyone else. The sound quality in the auditorium is extraordinary — it was designed for it.
Tours: Lanzarote: Jameos del Agua & César Manrique guided art-cave tour · Browse all Lanzarote cultural tours → · Search Viator →
Best if You Only Have a Few Hours: Papagayo Beaches Boat Trip
The Papagayo beaches in the south of Lanzarote — protected coves between headlands of volcanic rock — are the best beaches on the island and among the best in the Canaries. They're accessible by a dirt road from Playa Blanca or by boat. The boat trip from Playa Blanca is the right option: you see the cliffs from the sea, stop at several coves for swimming, and avoid the limited-capacity car park that makes the land route unreliable in peak season. February is as close to a guaranteed clear day as Lanzarote gets.
Tours: Lanzarote: Papagayo beaches boat trip with swimming stops · Browse all Lanzarote beach & boat tours → · Search Viator →
Most Unique: Lanzarote Wine Tasting in the Malvasia Vineyards
Lanzarote's wines are grown in one of the most unusual viticultural landscapes in the world — the vines planted in individual volcanic ash pits (zocos) dug into the lava field, each vine sheltered from the wind by a low curved wall of volcanic stone. The Malvasia grape produces a white wine that has been famous here since the Elizabethan era — Shakespeare's Falstaff drinks Canary wine. The guided bodega tour in the La Geria valley (the main wine area) covers the volcanic viticulture, the production, and a tasting of the current vintage.
Tours: Lanzarote: Malvasia wine tasting in La Geria volcanic vineyards · Browse all Lanzarote wine & food experiences → · Search Viator →
Best Guided Experience: Lanzarote Full-Island César Manrique Tour
César Manrique was Lanzarote's greatest gift to itself — an artist and architect who lobbied for decades to prevent the island from developing the way the rest of the Canaries did, and who created a series of interventions (Jameos del Agua, Fundación César Manrique, Mirador del Río, Cactus Garden, Jardín de Cactus) that turned the island's volcanic landscape into an extended piece of public art. The full-island tour that connects all the Manrique sites gives the island's landscape a coherence and a reading that a random visit to each site separately doesn't provide.
Tours: Lanzarote: César Manrique full-island art & architecture guided tour · Browse all Lanzarote art & culture tours → · Search Viator →
Looking for Somewhere to Stay?
Playa Blanca in the south for Papagayo access. Costa Teguise for a more balanced base with the island's towns accessible. Playa de los Pocillos and Puerto del Carmen for the main resort infrastructure. February everywhere is quiet and reasonably priced. Browse hotels in Lanzarote →
Where to stay: Where to Stay in Lanzarote: The Best Hotels for Papagayo, Families and Every Kind of Trip
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