Can You Take a Buggy on a Plane? Water, Toilets and Photo Stops

• Top choice Off-road volcano buggy from US$173 Duration2 - 3 hours^[1]Rating4.67 from 5,246 reviews^[1]Guide languagesCatalan, English, French, Spanish^[1]Free cancellationCancel up to 24 hours in advance^[1] Check availability
• Can-Am trail buggy from US$196 Duration3 hours^[3]Rating4.54 from 243 reviews^[3]Guide languagesEnglish, Spanish^[3]Free cancellationCancel up to 24 hours in advance^[3] See this tour
• On-road buggy tour from US$207 Duration2.5 hours^[4]Rating4.58 from 627 reviews^[4]Guide languagesEnglish, Spanish^[4]Free cancellationCancel up to 24 hours in advance^[4] See this tour

Meeting Point, Pickup and the First Briefing

Every good buggy ride starts on foot. You meet the guide, sign in, collect a helmet and listen to a short briefing before anyone touches a throttle. The tour is a guided off-road drive in an open buggy with a live guide who speaks Catalan, English, French and Spanish^[1]. It runs 2 - 3 hours, and the starting times appear when you check availability^[1].

Groups are small, limited to 10 participants^[1], and on the track you travel in a line behind the guide. Pickup is available, with the options shown when you check availability^[1]. Making your own way is easy too: Lanzarote Airport is 12 km from Puerto del Carmen^[6] and 33 km from Playa Blanca^[7], and ships dock at the Puerto de los Mármoles, 3 km (1.9 miles) from the centre of Arrecife^[8].

Arrive a few minutes early and use the time well. Ask the guide where the stops fall, how long they last and whether there is anywhere to buy water on the way. The driver rules are specific, so carry your licence: you must be at least 20 years old to drive on this tour, and a valid driving licence held for a minimum of two years is required behind the wheel^[2]. Passengers simply ride and enjoy the view.

Can You Take a Buggy on a Plane? What to Bring

No, and happily you never need to. The buggies belong to the operator and stay on Lanzarote; you book a seat and then drive or ride when you get there. There is no crate, no freight and nothing to check in, and the vehicle stays on the island when your holiday ends.

What you should bring is small and cheap to lose: a refillable bottle of water, a cap that fits under a helmet, sunglasses with a firm grip, sun cream and a soft cloth for lenses and visors. Dust is part of the experience here and it finds every pocket. Leave sandals and open bags at the hotel, and wear trainers or light boots you do not mind getting dirty.

The climate keeps packing simple. Lanzarote has a warm climate throughout the entire year, with an average annual temperature of about 21ºC^[5], and the island sits in the trade winds, where the wind blows steadily from the north east all year round, though its speed varies^[9]. A thin long-sleeved top keeps sun and grit off your arms, and a light windproof layer is welcome on the faster stretches.

A convoy of buggies strung out across the lava, dust hanging in the island wind.

The Drive Out and the First Off-Road Terrain

The first stretch is the loosening-up stretch. You follow the guide in a line, learn how the steering and pedals feel on grit, and find a gap that suits you. Loose volcanic gravel behaves nothing like tarmac, so the opening minutes are for judgement rather than speed.

Then the landscape takes over. Over six years, the Timanfaya eruption covered 23% of Lanzarote in fresh lava and spatter^[10]. Black fields, red cones and pale dust stretch away in every direction. Lanzarote is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, comprising the northernmost island of the Canary Archipelago and the northern islets^[11], and Peñas del Chache, the tallest mountain on the island, stands 672 meters (about 2,205 feet) above the sea^[12].

Vineyards appear in the black soil around La Geria, where the vines are grown in pits dug in volcanic ash, a centuries-old technique that uses the exceptional properties of volcanic ash^[13]. The Can-Am Maverick X3 DS is a two-seat side-by-side vehicle whose engine delivers from 135 hp to 200 hp^[14]. Keep both hands on the wheel and leave a gap so you are not eating the dust of the buggy in front.

Viewpoint Stops and Photo Breaks

Stops are the point of a guided tour. The guide picks places with a view, a safe spot to pull off and room to turn the convoy around, and everyone gets out for a few minutes. It is the natural moment for the photographs most people came for: the line of buggies on the track, the cones behind them and the Atlantic on the horizon.

Photographing the buggies is easy once you know the trick. Get low, shoot along the line of vehicles so the nearest one is large and the rest recede, and let the dust drift through the frame. Midday light flattens black lava, so the best images usually come when the sun sits lower in the sky.

Expect company at the popular pull-offs. Lanzarote receives just over 3 million holiday tourists per year, plus a further 500,000 day visitors arriving by cruise ship^[15], and the best-known viewpoints fill up in the middle of the day. Stay with the group, keep the guide in sight and be ready to move when the convoy does.

Water, Snacks and Refreshments During the Ride

Take more water than you think you need. An open buggy in the sun, with the wind drying your eyes and throat, is thirstier work than it looks, and even a short ride leaves you dusty and parched. A bottle per person plus a spare in the rucksack is sensible, wedged somewhere it cannot roll under the pedals.

Eat before you drive, not during. A heavy meal and a bumpy track are poor companions, and a light snack in the hour before you set off usually sits better. If you are prone to car sickness, mention it to the guide, sit where you feel steadiest and keep your eyes on the horizon rather than on a screen.

Keep it simple. Drink at every stop, top up your bottle at the meeting point, and tuck a few squares of chocolate or a handful of nuts in a pocket for afterwards. Sun bouncing off black lava catches people out, so sip often and use the shade whenever the convoy pauses.

Toilets and Restroom Access on the Route

This is the practical bit nobody puts on a poster. Use the toilet before the briefing, at the meeting point or at your hotel. On an off-road route the stops are short, so ask the guide at the start when the next chance will come, and plan the morning around that answer.

Where a route passes a village, a bar or a visitor centre, a quick stop is sometimes possible, but it is not something to count on and no toilet is worth missing the convoy for. If you are travelling with children, say so when you book and again at the briefing.

Carry tissues and hand gel, and a small bag for rubbish so the tracks stay as you found them. Keep the question simple at the start of the ride: where are the stops, how long is each one, and is there a toilet at any of them. Guides answer that every day.

Cameras, Phones and the Drive Back

Cameras are welcome, with one condition: secure them. A phone in a loose pocket will bounce out, and a camera held in one hand while the other steers is an accident waiting to happen. Use a wrist strap, a neck strap or a proper mount, and zip the device away when the track turns rough.

Shoot at the stops rather than on the move, unless a passenger is doing the filming. Long clips of grit and engine noise are rarely worth watching back. On the way back the light softens, the guide takes a gentler line, and the last stretch often produces the nicest photographs of the day.

Once you are back at base, hand in the helmet, dust yourself down and check your photos while the light is still good. Lanzarote currently does not charge a general overnight tourist tax^[16]. If you want one more volcanic fix, the green lagoon at El Golfo, known as Charco de los Clicos, is a Natural Reserve formed where an extinct volcano crater on the west coast near Yaiza submerges into the Atlantic^[17], and Los Hervideros is a stretch of black lava cliffs on the wild south-west coast where the Atlantic surges into sea caves and blowholes^[18].

How stops work on the ride

1. Book and pick a time

   Reserve now and pay later, and check availability for the starting times on the day you want.^[1]

2. Arrive early

   Get to the meeting point with time to spare, use the toilet, fill your bottle and meet the guide.

3. Listen to the briefing

   Ask where the photo stops fall and how long they last. Drivers must be 20 or over with a licence held two years.^[2]

4. Ride, then stop and shoot

   Stay in convoy, keep a gap and use the stops for photos of the buggies, the cones and the lava.

5. Drink at every stop

   Sip water each time the convoy pauses and keep your bottle wedged where it cannot roll under the pedals.

6. Dust off at the end

   Hand back the helmet, wipe the lens and check your photos before you leave the meeting point.

Answers before you go