Timanfaya National Park

Timanfaya is the youngest-looking landscape in Spain: between 1730 and 1736, six years of eruptions buried a broad swathe of Lanzarote under ash and lava, and the resulting badland of cinder cones, ropey lava fields and rust-and-ochre craters was declared a national park in 1974 - the Montanas del Fuego, the Fire Mountains. The park covers about 51 square kilometres, the only national park in Spain that is entirely geological, and the last eruption on the island was in 1824. The volcano is dormant but the heat is not gone - 13 metres down the rock is at 100 to 600 degrees: at the Islote de Hilario, rangers pour water into boreholes that erupt seconds later as roaring steam geysers, and dry brush tossed into a pit ignites from the ground's own temperature. To protect the fragile lichen-crusted surfaces, visitors ride the park's coach along the Ruta de los Volcanes, a looping road threaded improbably through the eruption zone; camel trains climb one flank as they have for generations, and the devil emblem designed by Cesar Manrique presides over the whole infernal theatre.

The landscape

• The geothermal demos - water flashing to steam geysers from boreholes.
• The Ruta de los Volcanes - the coach loop through raw eruption country.
• The crater palette - rust, ochre and black cones to every horizon.
• The camel trains - the traditional ride up the volcano's flank.

When to go

Lanzarote's climate makes the park a year-round visit; mornings beat both the coach-tour surge and the heat shimmer. Winter light is the photographer's pick across the red and black cones.

Good to know

You cannot roam here - the fragile surfaces mean the experience is the coach circuit, the demonstrations and the viewpoints, which frustrates hikers expecting trails. Midday brings queues at the entrance in high season. The neighbouring Los Volcanes natural park offers the walkable lava country the national park cannot.

Nearby

El Golfo's green lagoon, the La Geria vineyard country and Cesar Manrique's island works.

Key facts