Cueva De Los Verdes is a lava tube where you are allowed inside and walk around. All the tours of the lava tube are guided in Spanish and in English. Be prepared to watch your head and to have an incredible experience. We have visited a lot of caves before but this was our first lava tube. 

Cueva De Los Verdes – A one hour experience

There is a sign that says that you are not allowed to enter the Cueva De Los Verdes by yourself – that you need to join a tour. However, we have met people that said that they walked by themselves when there were not many tourists. Each tour has a maximum of 50 people but you don’t have to book in advance since there are always people coming to this place.

In total, Cueva De Los Verdes is made up from seven kilometers of aisles. But during the tour, you are only visiting about one kilometer of those. The rest is either closed off or a part of a volcanic station. Lanzarote oldest station is located here and they are looking for and controlling every movement that the volcanos on the island might have. It is incredible to imagine that this place used to be a ravine!

Verde means green but there is no life here

Verde means green so you might think that this cave is full of green plants and life but that is not the case, Cueva De Los Verdes has no life inside, there are no animals or plants here so no need to worry if you don’t like bats or snakes. The name Verde comes from the “Verdes family” and has nothing to do with the color of the cave. We have visited a real green cave in Jamaica, and this was nothing like that.

The temperature inside the cave is constant all year round and is about 18 – 20 Celsius degrees. Usually, caves are cold and you need a sweater while visiting them but that is not the case at the Cueva De Los Verdes. And this is really nice because then you don’t have to plan your visit and wear the right clothes.

Visiting Cueva De Los Verdes is an adventure

Like I said before, we have visited a lot of caves all over the world and they are all different. In most of them, you need to wear a helmet. Sometimes the helmet is more for show and for the experience that you are doing something special. In Cueva De Los Verdes we didn’t get any helmets and here they would have been justifiable to wear a helmet. At times you need to walk bent over and you also must watch your head at times. No accidents happened during our visit but I believe that there is more than one head that has gotten a bump over the years.

And sure, it is exciting to walk here. At times it is dark and sometimes there is some dramatic music that is played. It all adds to the excitement. What you will see there are different kinds of minerals and a sea of lava. And you are with a guide at all times so you will get all the information you need about this place. You will find out that it was prepared for tourists by Jesus Soto Morales and that it opened in 1964. Information about how the Cueva De Los Verdes was a hiding place for people during the pirate raids. Yes, it is all very interesting!

A concert hall inside the Cueva De Los Verdes

Oh, how I love places that surprise you and finding a small concert hall was a surprise while visiting this place. There was no concert during our visit but there was music coming from the loudspeakers so you could really get the feeling for this place. It felt like there was a man choir hidden in the walls, 40 meters below ground = fantastic!

Here you can sit down and listen more to the guide. We had Isidora Rodriguez as our guide and she was really good. We did notice that the whole experience depends on the guide and if you want a great visit, you can ask for Isidora. I’m not saying that the other guides are not good, but we did see another guide (we stayed behind in the end) and that group had a totally different experience. I can’t say anything else without spoiling a surprise. You will just have to trust us on this one!

Huge surprise at Cueva De Los Verdes

I want to tell you that there is a huge surprise waiting for you at the end of the tour. I will not spoil the surprise because this is a huge thing that will make this place a “Wow moment” and it will probably be the highlight of your tour. Make sure to listen to the instructions that the guide gives you and follow them – if you don’t do that, you will miss out on the experience. The rules are:

• No photography allowed – This is just at a specific point and there is a reason why you are not allowed to take pictures.
• Be quiet – Don’t talk at all because then you will miss out!
• Listen – really listen to the autistics here!
• Be prepared to be amazed!

Even if your guide doesn’t point all of these things out – make sure to follow the rules. We promise that you will not be disappointed.

Information about Cueva De Los Verdes

Address: 35542 Arrieta, Las Palmas, Lanzarote.
Opening hours: Daily 10:00 – 18:00. During wintertime, they close at 17:00.
Entrance fee: 9,50 euros. If you visit after 15.00 o’clock the price is  20% off.
Additional information: Cueva De Los Verdes is part of the CACT Lanzarote. Read more about it at the end of this article.