THE GREEN LAGOON

The emerald lagoon at los Clicos / Image: Adobe Stock

This bright green lake fringed by a black sandy beach looks just like something off the set of an old episode of Star Trek, but it’s actually a lagoon that formed in the crater of a volcano which erupted in the 18th century. Although lagoon and ocean are connected by undersea tunnels, the lagoon’s water is so still it invites thick algae, creating this trippy Chartreuse hue. It’s protected by a fence to stop swimmers, but only a real space case would attempt to dive in.

El Golfo

Timanfaya

This totally out-there national park has long been the proving grounds for NASA scientists / Image: Tim E White

When NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, the area it landed on was called Timanfaya, a makeshift runway named in tribute to this national park. Between 1730 and 1736, the island saw near constant volcanic activity, creating a mad Martian landscape that’s served as an invaluable, otherworldly substitute for NASA astronauts and engineers testing kit over the years. The park contains over 25 (mostly dormant) volcanoes, and El Diabolo restaurant, where food is cooked using geothermal heat.

Carretera General Yaisa-Tinajo

Bodegas Rubicón

This eerie moonscape is actually a family-owned winery / Image: Alamy

They may look like pockets of weird vegetation clinging to a bleak, pockmarked earth, but the otherworldly plantations of La Geria are actually very respected vineyards. The story of wine on Lanzarote is a long one, with Shakespeare celebrating the Canaries’ “absolutely penetrating” viticulture. The big eruptions, after Shakespeare’s death of course, covered the vines in ash, but it turns out if you dig these deep round pits the grapes are still fine – actually better-hydrated, and warmer. Bodegas Rubicón is a family-owned operation in the area, producing some of the island’s best bottles.

Carretera Teguise-Yaiza 2, La Geria 

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Jardín de Cactus

The Jardín de Cactus is on point, even after 30 years / Image: Tim E White

Lanzarote’s artiest son, César Manrique, toiled for 20 years to realise his fantasy of an all-cactus botanical enclave. More than any other perfumed garden you’ve visited on your travels, Manrique’s final creation – completed in 1990, just two years before his death – is one hell of a spectacle. Over 1,000 species of outlandish, spiky succulents loom over and around visitors in an exquisitely manicured ex-quarry, like strange triffid monuments from outer space gathering in a rust-coloured amphitheatre.

Calle Brunela 3A

Museo Atlántico

There's a whole world under the sea at this creepy-cool subaquatic museum / Image: @jasondecairestaylor 

You can’t get more transcendentally weird than diving under the sea and encountering nearly 300 humanoid sculptures in various states of decay. Sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor’s Museo Atlántico is Europe’s first underwater museum, and his figures – mostly of normal people, but with some alien trees and strange plant-man hybrids thrown in for a laugh – are made of marine-grade cement, designed to encourage new ecosystems. They’ve been down there since 2017 – so by now it’s basically all little green men.

Calle Lanzarote 1, Playa Blanca

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