NATIONAL PARK VISIT

The main area of volcanic activity, from the Montañas del Fuego to the sea, is the Timanfaya National Park, created in 1974 as a natural site of outstanding beauty and spectacular scenery, whose 50 km² are strictly protected. Here are the different ways to visit:

By bus. The entrance fee also entitles you to a half-hour bus tour of around ten kilometers. The bus drives slowly and never stops, and it's impossible to get off. Only through the windows can you see the sea of lava at the foot of Montaña Rajada (350 m), the ash desert of Valle de la Tranquilidad and the red mountains of Fuego (510 m). The park is open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., and the last tour departs at 4 p.m. (✆ +34 928 84 00 57). Visits to the national park are limited to guided, fee-paying group excursions by bus on a short asphalt circuit. It's not impossible that the entrance to the park, on the Yaiza - Tinajo road, is jammed for 1 kilometer with cars and buses queuing up to pay the €20 per person tour fee. From here, 2 kilometers of narrow road, passing at the foot of the foothills of the Massif del Fuego, lead to Islote de Hilario, where a restaurant-mirador named El Diablo has been built to César Manrique's design. The name was chosen because of the infernal temperature under the lava mound, which exceeds 600°C at a depth of ten metres (steaks are grilled in this natural oven, much to the delight of tourists). In front of the restaurant, small chimneys have been dug out, into which water is poured to produce small geysers.

By camel. If you don't want to take the bus, we recommend a camel ride up the Montaña de Timanfaya, 2 km south of the park entrance. This excursion costs €12 per person for a 20-minute ride for two. You get a nice view - but you don't see much - and it's still a tourist trap. Over the years, the price has gone up and the duration has gone down.

BY MOUNTAIN BIKE. To the north, a 4X4, mountain bike or foot trail passes north of the Montaña de Mazo, leading to the Caldera Blanca, arguably the best-preserved crater on the island, which also predates the eruption of 1730. From here, you can follow a path up its yellow slopes to an altitude of over 450 m, from where the view plunges down to a crater 300 m deep and the desert of black sand and pebbles born in 1730.