Lanzarote Volcano Route from Arrecife

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Arrecife

   Arrecife is Lanzarote's capital and not its prettiest town, though it is more interesting than it first looks. It is a working port of nearly sixty thousand people on the island's east coast, with a harbour full of fishing boats and ferries, a small lagoon called the Charco de San Ginés where the boats rest in the shade of white houses, and a long seafront promenade. The name means reef, and the town is indeed ringed with low black rocks, which kept pirates out in the eighteenth century, though not always successfully. Two small forts guard the harbour, among them the Castillo de San Gabriel on an islet linked by a drawbridge, the Puente de las Bolas.

   Read the complete Arrecife write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Arrecife is where the day begins. Next is Teguise.

2. 2. Teguise

   Teguise was the capital of Lanzarote for more than four centuries, until the provincial government moved to the port of Arrecife in 1852, and it has the faded dignity of a city that remembers being important. The old town is a grid of whitewashed houses with green or blue shutters, small plazas and low churches, laid out on a plain in the interior of the island, away from the coast. The reason for the inland position was pirates. In the sixteenth century, raiders from North Africa and Europe regularly descended on the coast, and in 1586 the Algerian corsair Murat Reis sacked Teguise itself, so the island's rulers wisely kept their capital out of sight of the sea.

   Read the complete Teguise write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Teguise comes up about 12 km into the recorded legs. Next is Haria.

3. 3. Haria

   Haría lies in a green valley in the north of Lanzarote, which is a surprise on an island that is mostly black and brown. The valley is full of palm trees, thousands of them, planted over centuries, so that from the hills above, the village looks like a settlement in a North African oasis. The whitewashed houses with flat roofs sit among the palms, and in the middle is a quiet square with a church and a few cafés. It is known as the Valley of a Thousand Palms, and the number is not far from the truth.

   Read the complete Haria write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 29 km into the recorded legs you reach Haria. Next is Mirador del Rio.

4. 4. Mirador del Río

   César Manrique built a viewpoint out of a cliff and made it look as though it had always been there. The Mirador del Río stands on the Risco de Famara, a sheer wall of rock about 475 metres above the sea at the northern end of Lanzarote, and it is half hidden in the hill, a low white building with a curved roof, and round windows that look over the water. From its terrace and glass windows, you see the narrow strait called El Río, the island of La Graciosa lying flat and pale in the blue, and the other small islands of the Chinijo archipelago beyond.

   Read the complete Mirador del Rio write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mirador del Rio, about halfway. Next is Timanfaya.

5. 5. Timanfaya

   Between 1730 and 1736, the earth opened in the middle of Lanzarote and kept pouring out lava for six years. It buried eleven villages, covered a quarter of the island and forced many islanders to leave, and what remains is a landscape of black and red craters, frozen lava rivers and slopes the colour of rust, now preserved as Timanfaya National Park. It was among the largest eruptions in Spain's recorded history, and the Montañas del Fuego, the Fire Mountains, are the scar. Nothing is dead here, exactly, but little grows beyond lichens and a few hardy plants.

   Read the complete Timanfaya write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Timanfaya sits at 79 km, late in the day. Next is Yaiza.

6. 6. Yaiza

   Yaiza is a village that looks as though someone scrubbed it, in the nicest possible way. The houses are white with green shutters, the streets are tidy, and the gardens are full of palms, flowers and succulents, in a landscape that is otherwise black, red and brown. It has won awards for being one of the loveliest villages in Spain, and it owes a good deal of that to the influence of César Manrique, who persuaded the island to keep its architecture simple. The village is quiet, with a church, a small square and a handful of restaurants, and it feels calm after the coast.

   Read the complete Near Yaiza write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 103 km.