If you read nothing else
- Line 60 passes through Yaiza on the Arrecife to Playa Blanca route, and Yaiza is the village closest to the park road.[1]
- Independent entry to Montañas del Fuego can only be bought online and for a specific time slot, so book before you travel.[2]
- The standard adult entrance ticket for Montañas del Fuego costs 30.00 EUR.[3]
- Puerto del Carmen and the park are about 22 km apart directly, with a road distance of about 23.5 km.[4]
- The Timanfaya Visitor Centre in Mancha Blanca gives free access to its exhibition, and it opens Monday to Sunday from 9:00 to 16:00.[5][6]
| By bus and taxi | Short coach tour | Full day tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 30.00 EUR entry[3] | from US$57[7] | from US$86[8] |
| Travel there | Line 60 via Yaiza[1] | Starts in Arrecife | Pickup from 66 locations[8] |
| Time out | Your own schedule | 2.5 - 5 hours[7] | 9 - 10 hours[8] |
| Tickets | Online only, timed slot[2] | Free cancellation 24 hours ahead[7] | Skip the ticket line[8] |
| Good for | Independent travellers | Cruise passengers in Arrecife | Caves and volcanoes in one day |
Tickets for independent entry (without a guided tour) can only be purchased online (they are not available at the ticket office) and for a specific time slot on the official website of the Lanzarote Centres for Art, Culture and Tourism (CACT).
Our verdict on bus, taxi and tour
Travel there
Is There a Bus to Timanfaya National Park?
Public buses on Lanzarote are built around the people who live here, and the routes link the main towns rather than climbing to the crater rim. Line 60 passes through Yaiza on its route between Arrecife and Playa Blanca.[1] Yaiza is the village closest to the southern approach road, which makes it the practical place to leave the bus and cover the last stretch by taxi.
The park itself has no villages, no shops and nowhere to buy a drink among the lava. Timanfaya was declared a National Park by a decree of August 9, 1974, published in the Official State Gazette on September 17, 1974[12], and it covers about 51 square kilometres, or 20 square miles.[13] Practical choices come down to three: your own or hired transport, a coach tour, or a taxi to the entrance with the return arranged in advance.
Distances are smaller than most visitors expect. Puerto del Carmen and Timanfaya National Park are about 22 km apart directly, with a road distance of about 23.5 km.[4] What you pay for in a taxi is the climb inland, the wait while you walk the viewpoints and the ride back down. Settle the whole arrangement with the driver before you set off instead of hoping to find a car at the barrier afterwards.
Public Transport to Timanfaya National Park: What Works
The most reliable car-free plan is a bus into Yaiza followed by a taxi. Line 60 links Arrecife with Playa Blanca and passes through Yaiza on the way.[1] From the village the road turns inland and climbs towards the lava fields, a stretch that is far easier in a vehicle than on foot, particularly in the middle of the day when heat bounces off the black ground.
Ask the driver to drop you in the centre of Yaiza, where you can pick up a taxi, and take a phone number for the return trip. Coverage can be patchy around the park edges, so agree a time and a meeting point before you part company. If you would rather not depend on a single driver, a tour with hotel pickup removes the guesswork entirely.
Allow more time than the map suggests. The entrance is not the end of the journey, because inside the park you join the Route of the Volcanoes, the loop that carries visitors across the lava, and that route has adapted coaches for visitors with reduced mobility.[11] Build in a stop at the visitor centre at Mancha Blanca on the way in or out, where the exhibition explains the ground you are about to cross.
Lava sand and dark rock on the road into the fire mountains
Tickets, Time Slots and the Entry Price
Tickets are the part of a Timanfaya day that catches people out. Tickets for independent entry to Montañas del Fuego can only be purchased online and for a specific time slot.[2] There is no paying at the barrier for a self-guided visit, so book on the official website before you leave the hotel and keep the confirmation on your phone.
The standard adult entrance ticket for Montañas del Fuego costs 30.00 EUR.[3] If you are arriving by bus and taxi, that is the number to add to your transport costs when you weigh the day up against a tour. The tour booked from this site includes skip the ticket line, which helps when several coaches arrive together.[14]
A time slot sets the rhythm of everything else. If you hold one for late morning, the bus and taxi plan has to work backwards from that hour, and the return leg has to fit around it. Choose a slot you can comfortably reach rather than one that leaves no room for a delayed bus, and treat the booking as fixed once it is made, since independent tickets are sold for a set time.[2]
Taxi to Timanfaya National Park from the Resorts
Taxi is the simplest answer for anyone staying in Puerto del Carmen. Puerto del Carmen and Timanfaya National Park are about 22 km apart directly, with a road distance of about 23.5 km.[4] The drive leaves the resort strip behind quickly and climbs into bare volcanic country, so the journey is short by the standards of most holiday islands.
From Playa Blanca and Arrecife the trip is longer, and the bus can do part of the work. Line 60 runs between those two towns and passes through Yaiza, so a bus that far followed by a taxi covers the ground without a car.[1] Cruise passengers docking in Arrecife have another option: Arrecife: Timanfaya and Green Lagoon for Cruise Passengers runs 2.5 - 5 hours and also takes in the Casa Museo y Monumento al Campesino and La Geria.[7]
Whichever resort you start from, treat the return as part of the deal. Ask the driver to come back at an agreed time and keep the arrangement clear before you set off. Shared between a few passengers, a taxi changes the arithmetic of the day and gives you something a fixed coach timetable cannot: you decide when to leave the lava and head back to the coast.
from US$102
The full day coach tour from this site runs 9 hours, collects you from a pickup point and skips the ticket line.[14]
Mancha Blanca, the Visitor Centre and the Park Road
On the road in from the coast you pass through Mancha Blanca, and the visitor centre there is worth an hour of anyone's day. The Timanfaya Visitor Centre in Mancha Blanca gives free access to its exhibition and audiovisual programme, which sets out the story of the eruptions before you see the ground they left behind.[5] It is open Monday to Sunday from 9:00 to 16:00.[6]
The centre explains a landscape stranger than most first-time visitors expect. Several films inspired by other planets have been shot in Timanfaya, among them Enemy Mine, Krull, Mission Stardust, Stranded and Operation Ganymed.[15] The bare cones and ash fields read as another world rather than a holiday island.
Inside the park, the Route of the Volcanoes carries visitors across the lava on park coaches, and those coaches are adapted for visitors with reduced mobility.[11] There are other ways to meet the volcano: the camel ride at the Timanfaya camel station lasts approximately 20 minutes and looks out over the volcanic landscape.[10] Slower again is the Termesana Route, which brings visitors into close contact with the volcano and with the culture of Lanzarote's inhabitants during the 1730-1736 eruptive period.[16]
Guided Tours That Take the Transport Problem Away
If the bus and taxi plan feels like too much juggling, a coach tour turns the whole day into one booking. The tour booked from this site, Lanzarote: Timanfaya Park, Jameos Agua, & Cueva Verdes Tour, lasts 9 hours and runs from pickup points through Timanfaya National Park, Cueva de los Verdes and Jameos del Agua.[14] It has a live guide in English, French, German and Spanish, and you can reserve now and pay later with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.[14]
Pickup is the practical advantage. The tour lists 61 pickup location options and 61 drop-off locations, so there is a fair chance a stop sits within a short walk of your hotel.[14] The listing also includes skip the ticket line, which saves time when a convoy of coaches reaches the entrance at once.[14]
Shorter and cheaper options suit travellers who want the volcano without the caves. Lanzarote: Timanfaya National Park Tour takes 6 hours from US$68, with pickup included and a live guide in English and Spanish.[17] If you are arriving by ship, Arrecife: Timanfaya and Green Lagoon for Cruise Passengers runs 2.5 - 5 hours from US$57 and calls at the Casa Museo y Monumento al Campesino and La Geria.[7]
What to Expect on the Day, and How to Dress
The ground is hot in a way that surprises people. At Islote de Hilario, surface temperatures reach around 250 ºC, and they can even reach more than 600 ºC at 13 m deep.[9] You will not be walking on those surfaces, but the heat rises off the rock, and the wind that crosses the lava can be strong and cool at the same time. A hat, water and a light jacket cover most of it.
Food cooked on the volcano is one of the park's curiosities. El Diablo Restaurant's volcanic oven uses natural heat from the subsoil, where temperatures exceed 600 °C just 15 meters below the surface, and that energy cooks meat and vegetables without fire or electricity, directly on a grill placed over an open cavity in the rock.[18]
Footwear matters more than most people expect. The paths around the viewpoints are short but uneven, and loose ash and small fragments of lava find their way into open shoes. Trainers or walking shoes, a refillable bottle and something windproof will keep you comfortable, and the look back from the road, with the black and orange slopes falling away towards the coast, finishes the day well.
How long the main coach options take
Durations in hours as listed for each GetYourGuide tour:[14][17][19][20]
From prices for coach tours that solve the transport
From prices in US dollars taken from these GetYourGuide listings:[7][8][14][17]
Timing your visit
Getting to Timanfaya
Sort your ticket first
Independent entry to Montañas del Fuego is online only and tied to a time slot, so book before you plan the bus.[2]
Pick your base
Puerto del Carmen sits about 22 km from the park, 23.5 km by road, which makes a taxi or a tour pickup straightforward.[4]
Check the bus to Yaiza
Line 60 passes through Yaiza between Arrecife and Playa Blanca, the closest scheduled stop to the park road.[1]
Arrange the last leg
Agree a price and a return time with a taxi driver in Yaiza before you climb into the lava fields.
Take water and a layer
The ground is hot and the wind is strong, so pack a light jacket, sun cream and sturdy shoes.
Add the visitor centre
Mancha Blanca opens from 9:00 to 16:00 with free access to its exhibition and audiovisual programme.[5][6]
Let a coach do the driving while you watch the volcanoes go by
from US$103Reserve now & pay later
