Best Buggy Tour Lanzarote: Guided Volcano Rides Compared

Why Lanzarote is made for buggy tours

Lanzarote is volcanic from end to end, and parts of it look as if the rock was poured last week. The Timanfaya eruption lasted six years and covered 23% of Lanzarote in fresh lava and spatter.^[8] The island is listed as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme, comprising the northernmost island of the Canary Archipelago and the northern islets.^[9] What that means on the ground is black fields, red and ochre cones, ash slopes and pale green vines, all packed into an island you can drive across in a morning. The colours are the giveaway: deep black, rust red, ochre and the odd flash of green where a plant has found a foothold.

A buggy puts you out in that landscape instead of behind glass. You sit low, the engine is loud, and the ground moves under you as the wheels hunt for grip on gravel and broken clinker. Most routes mix surfaced lanes with dirt, so you get the rattle and the dust as well as the wide views. Tracks cross fields of black lava and pass cone after cone, and the Atlantic keeps appearing in the gaps between the ridges. The light is hard, the dust gets everywhere, and it is one of the most direct ways to feel the island under you rather than simply look at it.

The tour to book: Guided Off-Road Volcano Buggy

The Lanzarote: Guided Off-Road Volcano Buggy Tour is the tour booked from this site, and it is the one most travellers compare everything else against. It runs 2 - 3 hours and starts from US$173, with a small group limited to 10 participants.^[1] Guides are live and speak Catalan, English, French and Spanish.^[1] That mix of languages matters if you are travelling with a group that does not share one first language.

Booking is flexible. Reserve now and pay later, and cancel free up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.^[1] Pickup is available: check availability for pickup options when you choose your date.^[1] Starting times appear at the same point, and the whole run takes 2 - 3 hours, which leaves most of the day for the beach, a winery or a walk along the coast.^[1]

Buggy tracks cut across black lava fields below the volcano cones of Lanzarote.

How the other buggy tours compare

If your dates are tight, or you want a different vehicle or a shorter run, Lanzarote has several other buggy listings. The Lanzarote: Guided Can-Am Trail Buggy Tour takes 3 hours and starts from US$196, with a small group available and an English and Spanish speaking instructor.^[3] The Lanzarote: On-Road Guided Buggy Volcano Tour is 2.5 hours from US$207, with a live English and Spanish guide and pickup available.^[4] Both are solid fallbacks when the off-road tour is full.

Bigger groups can look at the Lanzarote: Off road Guided Buggy Volcano Tour (4 / 6 seater), which runs 2 - 3 hours from US$230, uses a live guide who speaks Catalan, English, French, Italian and Spanish, and offers pickup.^[10] For a shorter outing, the Puerto del Carmen: Buggy Adventure lasts 2 hours from US$288 and is limited to 6 participants.^[11] There is also a 3 hour buggy tour with views of the volcano park from US$196, limited to 10 participants.^[12] Compare the duration against the rest of your day before you choose.

Driving rules: age and licence

The driver rules are the part people miss when they book in a hurry. To drive a buggy on this tour, drivers need to be 20 or older, with a driving licence held for two years or more.^[2] Settle who is driving before you pay, and check the licence you plan to use. Bring the physical licence with you rather than a photo on your phone, and keep it somewhere it will not end up coated in dust.

If nobody in your group meets those requirements, the island still has plenty of ways to cross the lava, from guided hikes and coach tours to e-bike routes through the vineyards. Decide on the driver first, then build the rest of the day around it. One more thing worth knowing: Lanzarote currently does not charge a general overnight tourist tax.^[7] What you pay for the buggy is the from-price on the listing plus whatever you spend on the day.

Volcanic scenery around the buggy routes

Peñas del Chache, the tallest mountain on Lanzarote, stands 672 meters (about 2,205 feet) above the sea.^[13] From the low tracks you see it as a dark shoulder on the skyline, and the rest of the view is cones, ash and worked fields. The island's shape is mostly the work of eruptions, and the surface still reads like a fresh scar in places. Wind, salt air and very little rain have left the ground bare in the worst of it. Close to the wheels the surface is a mix of fine ash, sharp clinker and pale dust that lifts in a trail behind you.

Inland, La Geria is known for its volcanic vineyard landscape, where the vines are grown in pits dug in volcanic ash, a centuries-old technique.^[14] The result is a field of shallow bowls with a single green plant in each, which looks strange from a distance and makes sense close up. On the wild south-west coast, Los Hervideros is a stretch of dramatic black lava cliffs where the Atlantic surges into a labyrinth of sea caves and blowholes and appears to boil among the rocks.^[15] Nearby, the El Golfo green lagoon, known as Charco de los Clicos or Green Lagoon, is a Natural Reserve formed where the crater of an extinct volcano submerges into the Atlantic.^[16]

When to go: weather and season

Lanzarote has a warm climate throughout the entire year, with an average annual temperature of about 21ºC.^[5] That is an annual average rather than a promise about your particular week. Pack layers and a windproof top. The island sits in the area of the trade winds, where the wind blows steadily from the north-east all year round, though its speed varies.^[6] On open ground in a buggy you feel that breeze, and it keeps the hottest days manageable.

Lanzarote receives just over 3 million holiday tourists per year, plus a further 500,000 day visitors arriving by cruise ship.^[17] Popular weeks fill early. Book your slot as soon as your flights are fixed if you are travelling in the school holidays or over the winter sun season. There is a plus for the budget too, since Lanzarote currently does not charge a general overnight tourist tax.^[7] Add the buggy from-price to your usual costs and you have the full picture.

Getting there and planning your day

Most visitors fly into Lanzarote Arrecife Airport, and the transfer to the main resorts is short. The distance between Lanzarote Airport and Puerto del Carmen is just 12 km.^[18] The distance from Playa Blanca to Lanzarote Arrecife Airport is 33 km.^[19] Whichever base you choose, plan to be at your meeting point or pickup stop with time to spare, since buggy slots run to a schedule that does not wait.

Cruise passengers docking at the Puerto de los Mármoles are 3 km (1.9 miles) from the city centre.^[20] If you are coming ashore for the day, check your all-aboard time against a tour that runs 2 - 3 hours before you book.^[1] On the day, wear closed shoes, bring water and sunglasses, and keep a light jacket for the wind. Expect to be dusty afterwards, and plan something gentle for the evening.

Booking your buggy tour

1. Pick your tour

   Compare the off-road volcano tour, the Can-Am trail tour and the on-road volcano tour by price, duration and group size.

2. Check the driver rules

   Drivers need to be 20 or older, with a driving licence held for two years or more.^[2]

3. Choose a date and time

   The main tour runs 2 - 3 hours. Check availability to see starting times before you commit.^[1]

4. Book with free cancellation

   Reserve now and pay later, with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.^[1]

5. Confirm your pickup

   Pickup available: check availability for pickup options when you book your date.^[1]

Answers before you go