How to spend a week in Lanzarote

A week is a lovely amount of time for Lanzarote. It is long enough to see the different sides of the island, the beaches, the volcanoes, the wine country, the quiet north, without ever feeling rushed, and short enough that you do not run out of things worth doing. The island is small, roughly an hour from tip to tip by car, so you never spend half a day travelling to get anywhere.

Here is a loose, unhurried seven days. Treat it as a menu rather than a timetable: swap days around to follow the weather, and leave the gaps in on purpose, because half the joy of this island is the slow bits.

Day one: settle in and find your beach

Do not try to conquer the island on day one. Arrive, find your feet, and spend the first day close to where you are staying. Get your bearings, do a supermarket run, and go and lie on the nearest good beach. If the wind is up, head for the sheltered south and east coast, where the water stays calm. There is a whole guide to picking the right one in the best beaches in Lanzarote, but on day one the nearest decent stretch of sand will do just fine. Watch the sunset, and let the holiday start properly.

Day two: Timanfaya and the fire mountains

Give the volcanoes a full morning while you are fresh. The Timanfaya National Park in the west, the Montañas del Fuego, is the raw heart of the island: a Mars-red landscape of craters and frozen lava where the ground a little below the surface is still hot. The visit is managed to protect it, so you see much of it from a coach with the demonstrations at the top, and it is genuinely unforgettable. Go early to beat the queues and the midday heat. In the afternoon, drift down the west coast to the green lagoon at El Golfo and the crashing lava cliffs of Los Hervideros, and stay for a fish dinner by the water.

Day three: the wine country and a slow lunch

Spend a morning in La Geria, the wine region, where each vine grows in its own hollow of black volcanic ash behind a little curved wall. It is one of the strangest and most beautiful farmed landscapes anywhere, and the local malvasía wine is genuinely good. A leisurely stop at a bodega for a tasting and a long lunch is the whole plan, and it is a perfect day if the weather is doing something you would rather sit out. You can read more about how all this volcanic ground works in Lanzarote’s volcanic landscape.

Day four: do less

Build in a day of doing almost nothing, because you will want it and because the island is best enjoyed unhurried. A beach, a book, a long lunch, a swim, a nap. If you get restless, this is a good, gentle day for something different and outdoors at a walking pace, a kayak, a bike ride down a quiet lane, or a morning on horseback out into the landscape. The point of the day is not to fill it.

Day five: the north

The north of the island has a different, greener, quieter character, and it deserves a full day. Wind up towards the valley of a thousand palms at Haría, the clifftop viewpoint of the Mirador del Río with its view down to the little island of La Graciosa, and the extraordinary lava tubes, the cool underground caves shaped by the artist César Manrique. It is the most scenic drive on the island and a complete change of pace from the resort south.

Day six: a boat to a car-free island

From the north coast, a short ferry crosses to La Graciosa, a tiny island with sandy streets, almost no traffic, and some of the most beautiful, emptiest beaches in the Canaries. Take a picnic, hire a bike or simply walk, and spend the day feeling like you have the place to yourselves. It is the sort of day out that people remember for years, and it is easier to do than most realise.

Day seven: markets, towns and your favourite spot

Save the last day for the things you did not get to and the place you liked enough to go back to. If it is a Sunday, the market in the old town of Teguise is a fine morning. The capital, Arrecife, has an easy waterfront and the pretty Charco de San Ginés. Otherwise, just return to whichever beach or viewpoint won you over, and give it a proper goodbye.

Make it yours

A few things to keep in mind as you shuffle the days around:

• Follow the weather, not the plan. If a morning is grey it usually clears by lunch, so do an indoor or sheltered thing first. If the wind is up, cross to the calm side. There is a whole piece on wet and windy days if you need it.
• You will want a car. Public transport is limited for touring, and the freedom to chase the sun around a small island is worth a lot. See getting around Lanzarote.
• Do not over-schedule. The island rewards slowness. Two big outings and a beach in a day is plenty, and the gaps are where the good holiday actually happens.
• Pack for sun and wind whatever the month. More on that in what to pack for Lanzarote.

Seven days done this way gives you the whole island: fire and water, black lava and golden sand, a busy market and an empty beach, without ever feeling like you spent your holiday rushing. That balance is the thing Lanzarote does better than almost anywhere, and a week is just enough to feel it.