Lanzarote Highlight Tour

The tour sounds good on paper, but the reality was rushed, unprofessional, superficial and seriously overpriced. We were luckily one of the last pickups in the morning. Other passengers had already been on the bus for more than 50 minutes before the tour even began. It turns out the bus actually starts out carrying people on three separate tours, with groups splitting off at different points during the day. The bus was completely full, with every seat taken. Many families and couples appeared to be split up, and my husband and I could only find separate aisle seats. The guide insisted nobody could swap or change seats. When another couple challenged this, they were told over the loudspeaker: “You pay for a tour, you don’t pay for a seat.” This matters because arguably the only genuinely worthwhile part of the tour is the spectacular 11km drive through Timanfaya National Park. When nobody in your party can properly see out of a window, that’s a fairly fundamental problem. The first stop was a seemingly random village where one group got off to begin a different tour. Next was the Green Lagoon. We were given minimal information about what we were seeing, while the guide spent considerably more time trying to persuade those of us on the South Tour to upgrade to the Grand Tour. Then came the camel park. This was listed as an “optional” fourth stop in the literature but was actually our second main stop. It is only optional in the sense that you can choose not to pay extra for a camel ride. Watching the camels being led repeatedly up and down the same track in the heat, carrying tourists, was thoroughly depressing and easily the lowest point of our holiday. If you don’t want to participate, there is nothing else to do except wait in the car park. Next came the thermal vents, where you wait to watch water being poured down a pipe and returning as steam. Around this point, the guide lost his temper with some guests who had clearly had enough of waiting around and proceeded to lecture the entire bus over the loudspeaker. It was unpleasant and unprofessional. Finally came the 11km drive through the national park. This was spectacular and by far the highlight, but badly marred for us by the very limited view we could get from our aisle seats. Then lunch. I really wish we had called it a day at this point. Something I think everyone should know before booking this tour without bringing their own lunch: you are taken to Restaurante Los Dolores for a €12 all-you-can-eat buffet, including wine. There is nowhere else nearby to eat and numerous other coach tours stop there too. Look it up beforehand and decide whether it’s your thing. Next is the “wine tasting”. This consisted of one small serving of a single wine, perhaps 40–50ml, and only after the guide had attempted to sell us crisps, salt and even pieces of basalt rock. Finally, we were driven to a museum in the middle of nowhere, dropped in the car park and told to wait for another bus to arrive and take us back to our hotels. After about 20 minutes our bus still hadn’t appeared. By then we had no appetite for another lengthy journey stopping at numerous hotels, so we gave up and paid for a taxi back ourselves. There are some extraordinary landscapes on this tour, particularly Timanfaya itself, but the tour does them a disservice. Too much time is spent on pickups, waiting around, commercial stops and upselling, while too little is spent actually explaining or experiencing the places you’ve paid to see. All in all, absolutely not worth it.

I went on the tour of the South Island, with Pablo, (called him Pedros! the whole tour.. at the end he told me 😆) Palbos friend, our bus driver ( his driving was amazing)… was a really interesting person to chat to too-Lanzarote has fascinating history. It was a magical tour of the island, with a brilliant bus driver and tour guide 😊👏

That you're mostly on buses and that several nations are together. Everything is explained in 4 languages.

We very much enjoyed our day, the drive through Timanfaya was breathtaking as was our walk through the Cueva de Los Verdes. Christine, our guide, was attentive and knowledgeable ensuring we got the most from our trip. The lunch was tasty and good value for money. We appreciated the concern shown by the company about accessibility of the attractions to those with limited mobility.

We did the Grand Tour, which is all day. We thoroughly enjoyed it - there’s a lot packed in. Our guide Paul - and driver Manuel - were fab. The landscape is incredible, and it is fascinating to hear the history. We enjoyed our camel ride (gotta be done when you’re here!). The buffet lunch (an optional extra) was great value. Timanfaya was really interesting - seeing the demonstrations, and the grill where they cook food from the underground heat. What we liked best of all though was the stop at Jameos del Agua - never been anywhere like it. There are stairs going up and down, but there is plenty of seated areas to stop and rest. Sat by the pool there is so tranquil, it’s lovely. All in all, a great day out.

+2

We attended the "Lanzarote full South Tour". Pick up was prompt at an agreed location close to hotel, drop off was at our hotel. Overall, we had a fun and engaging day, it was very informative and interesting. We booked with TravelOn, easy to book with TravelOn but customer service chat on the TravelOn app is poor and they dont reply. First minute travel was great however and our tour guide was Antonio, and he made the whole day just wonderful. He is so passionate, funny and has a wealth of knowledge of the island and its history. We rode Camels at an extra charge, got to see the whole of Timanfaya Park with demonstrations. We saw the Grape vine yards (Gerda) and the Emerald lake. Our driver (Cant remember his name) but he was also so kind and wonderful, both of the staff really made the whole day one that was memorable for everyone. There was an offer of a buffet, but we didnt think it was a great choice of food after paying for it €14 each, so I would say take a packed lunch and take snacks and drinks to see you through the day as the visits are prompt due to timings. I would also take a little fan as it can get hot on the bus. In the words of Antonio "Adios Amigos". Thank you for a great day first minute travel!

+1

Unfortunately the commentary was continuous for the entire trip as the guide had to speak in three languages, Spanish, English & German, it was very loud initially, we did ask for the volume to be reduced which it was slightly but still uncomfortable. I’m sure it was for others. We sat with our fingers in our ears at times. It made the trip uncomfortable and not all together enjoyable. The three stops are worth a visit but it was very busy at the Timanfaya NP with vehicles queuing and at Jameos del Agua we had a very long standing queue behind at least three other coach loads of people which reduced the enjoyment once inside due to numbers of people slowly snaking along. The highlight for me was Greens Caves and exploring the lunch stop village. I’m aware you can only travel the NP luna route by coach so organised trips are the only way for this. I wouldn’t recommend this trip unless the commentary can be sorted out. Early on in the trip the French speakers transferred to their own coach, also English is the language of the EU. The guide was excellent throughout and commentary issue apart, she worked extremely hard for our safety and enjoyment.

Make sure you get a seat with a view. The only available seat when I got on the coach was next to a pillar with no window. I spent the whole day unable to see put. The guide was made aware but there was nothing she could do. I felt I'd only had half a trip

Yes it's a long day but we'll worth it. Paul (our guide for the day) knows his stuff, his passion & knowledge of the island clearly shows. Hats off to Manos (hope that's right) our driver - some of those roads especially through Timanfaya were unreal! Lovely stop off for lunch & Mirador del Rio, our last stop, just wow, totally unexpected when you walk through the entrance. Had a great day.

+2

I had a wonderful time on this tour! The tour guide was a very good communicator, shared his knowledge with us throughout the trip and made the experience so worthwhile. The cueva de los verdes and the mirador were probably the most low key but awe inspiring parts of the trip. So glad I did this and would recommend to everyone I know.