We were recommended this tour and having read the reviews we were looking forward to a good day out, how disappointing it turned out to be. The guide was less than enthusiastic and not very clear, when he was talking he was translating, Spanish, English and German, he literally went from one to the other without pausing so you missed most of what he said.
We were picked up at 8.30 and given a yellow sticker, after an hour and half of picking everyone up, all of whom had also been given stickers of one colour or another, we had to change buses to actually start the tour, hence the colour of the sticker was dependent on which tour you were on. We were told only water could be consumed on the bus, unfortunately on our coach there was a family consisting of 4 adults and 3 children, the adults were already tipsy when they got on and they went on to drink bottles of prosecco, beer and returned from lunch with a bottle of wine all downed while wondering up and down the coach and generally making a nuisance of themselves.
Stop 1 - Timanfaya National Park, this was interesting enough, I saw on one review that not having to queue and bypassing all the cars on the way up was a positive, this is true at this point of the tour! At the top we were ushered out of the coach and to an area where we were given some hot stones, which nearly burnt our hands, we were then moved to another area where they burned some twigs and then to the last bit where they poured some water down a hole and it spewed hot steam back out, all in all this probably took about 10 minutes with about a 5 minute explanation from the guide, this could have been a lot more of an experience if it wasn’t so rushed and you actually had a reasonable narrative with it. We were then given 10 minutes for toilet break and to wonder around, of course the drunk family had gone into the cafe at this point and consumed more alcohol and then held everyone up by being late back to the bus.
Stop 2 - The Timanfaya Luna route, this is basically a one way drive around the volcano, during which there was a prerecorded story which you couldn’t make out due to the poor quality, there was buzzing noise from the speakers as well as the volume of the rowdy family. Zero input from the guide!
On the way to lunch we had to stop in Teguise to let someone off the tour, they’d had enough and decided to make their own way back, I can’t blame them and wish we’d have followed them off!
Stop 3 - Lunch stop (Paid locally €13) this was nice enough, food was tasty and the village lovely.
Stop 4 - Mirador Del Rio, probably the best part of the tour, great views but not worth the 6 hour road trip we’d had to endure to get there.
Stop 5 - Green Caves Lanzarote, these were impressive although just getting off the coach at this point was amazing! This could have been seen in half the time we spent there, again the guide going through the motions and very dull in his delivery.
Stop 6 - Jameos Del Aqua, finally the last stop, we didn’t see any crabs and it was basically a cafe stop.
After the longest day ever we were finally dropped off after 6pm, in short this tour does not have to be a full day, it could be done in less time and still get to see everything, in hindsight we should of hired a car and seen the sights ourselves, it would have taken less time and would have no doubt been a better experience, even if we’d had to queue to get up to the top of the volcano!!
We booked the tour for 2 adults and 2 children aged 7 & 9 and were not disappointed.
Beautiful views, lovely memories for us as a family and of course Radmila the guide & super Carlos the coach driver we’re fantastic. They were so lovely and our children loved them both.
Radmila the tour guide was so accommodating. Making sure everyone had a chance to see everything, making sure we had all eaten. Always happy to help with any issues anyone may have had. Everything she explained in English, she then spoke again straight after in German and Spanish with the same level of enthusiasm.
Would definitely recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I went with my 2 teenage daughters. We were the first pick up. The tourguide started really friendly and asked where we were from. She acclaimed that she speaks 6 laguages and made a really dominant impression.
She explained SHE HATES FRENCH PEOPLE, after I answered that we were from Holland. She explained and explained and thought I liked what she said. I am French and live in Holland, my family is French but i was afraid to tell her because I would ruin the tour. There came 2 French tourists and Radmila asked to keep it between us. My daughters didn’t understand why I didn’t say a thing. I complained to the organization beacuase it ruined my tour. They said they would discus it with supervisors. Never heard a thing anymore.
If you are French, book another tour!