Natural Wonders Kids Love on Lanzarote

Lanzarote’s treeless volcanic landscapes may seem barren wastelands, but to travelers who marvel at the forces of nature, this still-simmering island is paradise. One of seven Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago only 80 miles off Africa, Lanzarote is actually the summit of a mid-ocean volcano.

Spain, Canary Islands, Islas Canarias, Lanzarote, Lago de los Clicos © Stillman Rogers

But unlike its island neighbors, on Lanzarote volcanoes are still very much alive. Timanfaya National Park protects the Montanas del Fuego, a landscape so devoid of plants it could be the moon. Montanas del Fuego means mountains of fire and these volcanoes, which last erupted in 1736, are just that. These 18^th-century eruptions left an island filled with natural wonders and other-worldly landscapes that will delight children — and their parents.

Hot Lava Under Foot

Begin at the summit of Islote de Hilario, a volcanic cone, where kids can see just how close the molten lava is to the surface. Park guides demonstrate the power and heat that lies just underfoot, where the temperature reaches 284 degrees F only a few inches below the surface. Dry brush thrown into a hole springs into flame, and water poured down a pipe spurts back out as a geyser of boiling water and steam.

All around is a terrain of jagged rock and volcanic sand, an unearthly landscape of lava hardened as it was spewed out of the mountain, then broken and jostled by hot lava flowing beneath it. The landscape is new, created by repeated volcanic eruptions between 1730 and 1736, when lava and hot ash buried 11 villages.

Lunch Cooked over a Volcano

Outside El Diablo restaurant at the summit, racks of chicken sizzle on a grill over an open barbecue pit, cooked by heat from the volcano core below. The chicken is served in El Diablo. Of course the kids will want to eat lunch of chicken roasted over the fire of a live volcano (and you might like a glass of the local white wine from the La Geria region).

Canary Islands, Islas Canarias, Lanzarote, Spain home of Cesar Manrique © Stillman Rogers

Bus Tour to a Sci-Fi Land

Take the narrated Route of the Volcanoes bus tour (multilingual and free with park admission fee) as it weaves through the bizarre landscape, stopping to show fissures, lava formations and volcanic tubes. These giant tunnels were formed by molten lava and gases trapped beneath the surface crust, which formed as the upper lava cooled more quickly than the lava underneath. It continued to flow into the sea, leaving the remaining shell to harden into brittle, black lava caves. You’ll see more of these hollow tubes, called jameos, elsewhere on Lanzarote. The landscape is one of fantastic swirls and surreal colors, as though some giant stirred colored molten rock with a huge spoon.

Learn about Volcanoes

The best place to learn about the volcanoes, the island’s geology and how it transformed local culture, is at the Museo del Visitante at Mancha Blanca, an outstanding museum that demonstrates the science of vulcanology with a cutaway model of a volcano. Interactive displays include a relief map showing ages and activity of all the volcanoes in the Canary Islands. A viewing platform is built over a typical malpais — the local name for a black lava field.

Lanzarote, Timanfaya National Park, Demo of volcanic © Stillman Rogers

Pick Up Gems on the Beach

Beachcombing often turns up pretty shells and water-polished rocks, but gemstones? When pounding surf broke out one side of a seaside volcanic crater, it left a dramatic cove surrounded by a rocky amphitheater. As the cliffs continue to break away, with them come crystals of green peridot that mix with the coarse sand. Peridots are thought to be fragments of the earth’s mantle — a thin inner layer — carried out in the lava when a volcano erupts. Local jewelry makers drill them to make necklaces sold all over the island.

Collecting a handful on the beach at Charco de los Clicos requires patience and sharp eyes; they are rarely found by just kicking through the sand. Instead, suggest kids look in the band of coarse sand and tiny pebbles at the high-water line, stirring the tiny rocks with their fingers and looking closely for tiny glints of green. Don’t expect to find large peridots — although these are not uncommon — but with sharp eyes they can quickly collect a handful of small ones. They aren’t emeralds, but they’re a nice souvenir of Lanzatote’s natural wonders.