The Canary Island of Lanzarote - Holiday Walks Guides and Pictures.

Lanzarote Hiking Instructions - walks you can do whilst on holiday on Lanzarote.

Lanzarote does have some excellent holiday walking and hiking possibilities - our walks cover all sorts of terrain from coastal and beach walks to inland in and around the cones and lava fields and going inside (extinct) craters. Apart from our walks menus there are also several photos which might help in planning a driving tour around Lanzarote.

Playa Blanca - Lighthouse - Punta Gorda This walk could be considered a little difficult due to the length (23.5km) especially if the weather is particularly hot but it is basically a flat walk and is circular - the enjoyment apart from that of walking is exploring the rocky inlets, watching these sea and just being out on the tracks.
We started from Playa Dorada beach and walked along the coastline using the promenade as far as the harbour - it should be possible to continue along the coastline but we did find in several places that the path/promenade

was blocked off due to building work which meant diverting off and having to use the roads. Once you get clear of the buildings the track continues along the coast to the lighthouse [N28°51'21 W013°52'21].
From here it's simply a question of continuing along the coast sometimes at first passing newly built villas and houses on your right - but the path is there and open for public use. The coastline is quite rugged and the way the sea crashes onto the rocks is really spectacular in places - there are quite a few small rocky coves/inlets to explore and to take photos. We made our target the mostly derelict but huge concrete mess called the Atlantic del Sol which soon becomes visible - however before you reach this you come across a fairly high stone wall (Punta Gines) and just before this wall - hidden within the rocks - someone has made a stone wind-break circle [N28°53'08 W013°52'50] which is just right for a stop off to have a picnic and/or of course even a nude sun-bathe if you wish. Having walked in and around the gorgeous Atlantic del Sol note the wide track heading directly inland - however continue a little way further along the coast to end up at Punta Gorda - if the sea is rough you can get great views of it crashing into the rocks - and if visibility is good can also see the distant salt pans and even just about El Golfo.

Return back to the hotel and pick up the main dirt road leading directly inland and follow this across the rough ground - there are still loads of previously marked out "roads" and building locations visible all around to show what a huge endeavour this had been intended - however ignore any diversions and simply keep straight ahead as the track goes steadily up a rise to a crest. Several hundred metres before the top of the crest note another track on your right going in the same direction, walk over and join this and continue up the crest on this fresh track. As you top the crest you will see some very large dumper trucks in front of you in the distance - this is a gravel excavation site and is where the track ends - when you get here bear right and continue round to find a main track which the lorries are using - carefully follow this down avoiding getting run over if possible though the lorries do drive very slowly. Part way down the track look to your left and note some red and white marker poles - make your way over to them where you will find a tarmac road.
Turn left along the road (you can fortunately walk off the tarmac surface on a sort of track) - follow this road as it goes up and then round to the right following the base of Montana Roja - note as you go down the road towards Playa Blanca (before the houses start) there is a track on your right which is a way to walk up to the crater. Depending on where you want to end up in Playa Blanca either go straight down the road to the old Main Road or just after the houses start you can turn right at the cross roads and this will lead you down to the harbour.

Playa Blanca - Papagayo coastline This 17.5km walk starts off in Playa Blanca and heads out along the coast now contained within Monumento Natural de Los Ajaches which means the area should be protected from building. The walk visits probably the best beaches on Lanzarote but also manages to take in quite a horrible one - Playa de las Coloradas which is suitably dominated by a huge lump of hotel.From Playa Blanca harbour walk along the sea-front promenade passing Playa Dorada and come to the new marina - this has been well designed with lots of shrubs etc. and pathways which criss-cross small wooden bridges to make it a very pleasant walking area. Continue on the path through houses and then walk up the sloping pavement to the castle - Castilo de las Coloradas. From here the path continues down to the Playas de las Coloradas black stony beach and the lovely view of the monster hotel in front of you. Walk along the beach to the other end and here you have to scramble up the small cliff-side to get back onto the path (we found it easiest to go up on the side immediately against the hotel fence and use that fence as a support.).
From here pick up the cliff path and then literally go to each beach in turn starting with Playa Mujeres - a really lovely beach and well used by nudists. Note most of the beaches along here do not have any facilities - the only exception is one of the furthest beaches along called Papagayo which does have a restaurant. From Papagayo walk on out to the headland and then following the coast you come to Playa de Puerto Muelas which is apparently the official nudist beach though it seems most beaches along this part of the coast can be used by nudists or not depending on personal preference.

What we did note at this beach was that a large area seems to have been set out as if for a camp site but there was no information around about this -- might be worth checking out should you want to go to Lanzarote on a camping holiday.

Continue along the coast as far as you want to and your feet think they want to. There is a nice little barranco at El Pasito which has a small stony beach at the end and lots of shrubs and flowers growing on it's sides; we ended up at another much larger barranco at Baja Complida which was also quite interesting to explore. From here it was time to start back - you can re-trace along the coast but it is quite a long way - instead cut across westwards inland to pick up and then cross a vehicle track - heading back more directly towards Playa Blanca.

Once you can see the horrible hotel at Playas de las Coloradas head for this - just outside the hotel area go round it on the right using a marked path since scrambling down the cliff back onto the black beach is pretty difficult. It is then simple to get back onto the coastal promenade and walk back into town.

Playa Blanca Crater (Montana Roja) Quite a few people who stay at Playa Blanca take a stroll along the coastal path and then divert inland to have a walk up into their "local" crater - you don't need any special clothing usually, just reasonable footwear. Also there are not any particular vertigo implications once up there since the crater is not that high, the path is quite wide and the sides slope easily rather than steeply. Our walk did not go the normal way since on the way back from another walk we noted a track heading up towards the crater and decided to do it this way instead.
This is only about 3.7kms there and back so we decided to walk it one morning as a "leg warmer" before going off to do a much longer walk elsewhere. Take the old road out of Playa Blanca (towards the Salt Pans) but after a short distance take the first (proper) road off to the left going into houses, follow this road on up passing through and by all the houses and then just after the brow of the hill there is a track going off to the left - there is quite a bit of parking available just here - [N28°52'43 W013°51'06].
The walk is quite simply a question of wandering up this nice zig-zag path til you reach the Montana Roja - from here you can then meander round the top lip of the crater and also walk into the centre if you wish. There are good views of Playa Blanca and also the lighthouse and the coasts from the top - also you can see the hills around Femes which might just tempt you to have a harder walk up the (sometimes) visible aerials high above Femes. Return back the same way if your car is parked as above, otherwise if you wish you can walk back down into Playa Blanca by taking the fork to the right - it cannot be missed because their are so many people coming up and down this way.

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Map used: AA Island Series: no.9 - 1:50,000 and with GPS set on WGS 84
Found the AA map aligned nicely using Orzola at the Ferry mark [N29°13'24 W013°27'09] and the base of the Lighthouse at [N28°51'21 W013°52'21]

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