Puerto Chico
in Playa Blanca / Lanzarote

Lanzarote  brown, black or more ?

 

There are what feels like thousands of websites and information about the sights on the island. I'll only mention the most important ones here with names that you should see, whether on a guided bus tour, rented motorbike/scooter or rental car.


All of these sights are signposted and you can now easily navigate there using apps. There is an entrance fee for the sights marked in red. Usually around €8-12, but you get discounts if you combine several.


The fire mountains Montaña del Fuego, Los Hervideros, Jameos del Aqua, Jardín de Cactus, Mirador del Río, Cueva de los Verdes, LagOmar, Fundacion César Manrique, Monumento y Museo de Campesino, El Lago Verde, Salinas de Janubio, Weinbauregion La Geria bis El Griffo, Sonntag Markt Teguise, Stratified City, La Graciosa

A tip: Don't get involved with any private tour guides who want to show you these attractions. These are superficial and usually expensive tours.

The true soul

 of the island lies in the interior. All of the Canary Islands were created by volcanic eruptions and have been reshaped over the millennia. You could even walk to La Graciosa and Fuerteventura during the last ice age.

The Guanches were apparently the first indigenous people to migrate from North Africa in the 10th century. They actually had no idea about shipbuilding and therefore lived in complete isolation. In the 15th century, more and more people from other regions settled on the islands, brought diseases and enslaved many Guanches.

Between 1569 and 1749, many pirate attacks took place on Lanzarote, where many people were abducted as slaves or killed. Teguise was the capital until 1852 and was replaced by Arrecife because it was bigger and had better transport links.

 

See Lanzarote with different eyes

 Once you have seen the sights and the works of art by César Manrique, you can lie on the beaches and relax.

But you can also see Lanzarote from its original side. Then the brown and black suddenly becomes a colorful world of colors.

I can definitely recommend one person: This is Harry Graner, nicknamed "Mash". His website is called: Lanzarote-Feeling. He leads hiking tours with Cordua Koch. With these two very nice people you will experience Lanzarote from a side that hardly anyone knows. Hike on the paths of the Guanches, the indigenous people, discover the background and effort behind wine growing, swim in the natural pools, get to know the plants and animals and, above all, learn details about volcanism that you would not otherwise get explained.

Mash has been hiking the island on foot since 1999 and is still exploring it today. He knows every path and every volcano. He also explains the flora, how and why it grows here and which volcano has special features, why there are many colors and what their origins are. I don't know anyone else who knows so much about the island, the plants and volcanism.
I have already done a few tours with him and can only say that it is becoming addictive to find out more and more about the island's secrets with the two of them. I can highly recommend Lanzarote-Feeling.