Lanzarote

Founded in 1974, the National Park in southwestern Lanzarote covers around 51 square kilometers of lava fields and more than 25 volcanoes, including the Montañas del Fuego. Major eruptions began on September 1, 1730; the last occurred in 1824. Even today, the earth's surface reaches 100 to 120 degrees in some spots. The park administration regulates how and which areas you can visit, and up-to-date information is available from official sources.

César Manrique transformed the collapsed sections of a lava tunnel from the La Corona volcano in the north of the island into an art and culture center; the first areas opened in 1966. An endemic blind crab species, only about one centimeter in size, lives in the underground lagoon. The complex also includes an auditorium in a cave.

The cave is part of an approximately seven-kilometer-long lava tunnel, created about 21,000 years ago by the La Corona volcano, and continuing as the Túnel de la Atlántida for another 1.5 kilometers under the sea. The inhabitants once used it as a hideout from attacks by Barbary corsairs. Today, a tour leads through a section of the tunnel.

The viewpoint designed by César Manrique stands about 470 meters high on a steep cliff in the north of Lanzarote. Through large windows, you gaze across the El Río strait to La Graciosa and the other islands of the Chinijo Archipelago. The building, with its curved forms, blends into the rock; inside, there's a café.

César Manrique lived and worked in this house in Haría until his death in 1992. Today, it is open as a house museum, including his studio. The artist and architect shaped Lanzarote with sites like Jameos del Agua and the Mirador del Río. A visit reveals how he himself lived and worked.