Motorhome in Lanzarote. Is this possible? Well, sure it is! We took our motorhome to Lanzarote and spent a lovely month on the island. We know all the places and things that might help you out and make your visit by the motorhome pleasant. Because there are a lot of things that we learned when the only camping on the island was closed.

Taking your motorhome to Lanzarote

We have written an article about how we got our motorhome to the island. If you are interested in how to get your motorhome to Lanzarote you can read more here. So once on the island, we were naive enough to think that we “could just go to the camping”. Turned out that it was closed so we had to find other ways – which we did. This article is for everyone that is thinking of traveling through the island by motorhome (or car). We have tried to cover it all. However, if you still have questions, please let us know and we will fill up with information that we might have missed.

These are our experiences – our facts and our knowledge about taking our motorhome to Lanzarote. We drove several times back and forth on the island and talked to both the police and the town council. Lanzarote is such a beautiful island and you can have a great time visiting with your motorhome.

How are the roads in Lanzarote?

Most of the roads are really nice to drive on. They are wide and well-maintained so no problem getting around on the island. And then there are the smaller gravel roads (to some of the beaches) where we held our breath while driving. One example is the Playa de las Malvas beach. In the end, we didn’t think that the risk of driving on such bad roads was worth it because there are other beaches that are much nicer that allow you to drive without fear of getting a flat tire.

Are there any campings in Lanzarote?

The answer is yes (but with modification). There is currently one camping on the island. It’s located in the south part of the island, near Papagayo Beach. However, the camping on the island is only open during the summer. And it is only open for a shorter period so you can’t book a spot, for six months, for example. But during our visit, we heard about a Dutch woman that is working on opening a camping in Lanzarote. When I talked to her, she said that her hopes were to be up and running within seven months so hopefully there will be a new camping open by the end of 2019. It doesn’t seem to have been opened yet sadly (2022).

Is it allowed to wild camp / free camp in Lanzarote?

We spent a lot of time (A LOT OF TIME) getting to the bottom of this. We have talked to the police and we have been to the town hall and talked to several people about this issue. And finally, we have an answer. The answer is yes – and no! So here is the law of the island… There are no written rules on what is allowed and what is not. Well, maybe there are but since there are no options, they can’t say that wild camping is not allowed.

The thing is that you are fine as long as you use your head. There are several great spots that we called our home during our month on the island. If you don’t take up to much space (park over several spots in a crowded parking lot) or if you don’t litter, you will most likely be fine. Our motorhome is a small one – 5,90 meters. This means that we can often squeeze into a parking lot, something that won’t work if the motorhome is bigger. Since there are no campsites (opened) on the island, you are allowed to free camp or park at many places on the island.

Places to stay in Lanzarote

We have stayed in a lot of different places while in Lanzarote. We have been right by the beach one day and in the middle of the city center the next. In the map below, we have marked some spots that we can recommend. All of them are free of charge, except for the parking spot in Arrecife. There you pay xx euros. Sure, you can find free parking spots in Arrecife too but since that’s the capital of the island, we wanted to feel safe leaving the car. The parking is also close to the city center so no worries there.

Our favorite spot in Lanzarote ended up being two places. One was right by the beach in Orzola – this is a true paradise. The other place is the huge parking spot in Costa Teguise which is right by the HD Beach and Spa resort. We spent several days here and it was a close walk into town.

How much does the size of your motorhome matter?

Size matters. It always comes back to the fact that size matters. But in this case, it’s the fact of “the smaller the better” is the way to go. However, it is one of the Canary Islands where you can get away with having a large motorhome because there are several places where you can park that will allow for bigger motorhomes.

But it is a lot easier to find a parking space if you have a smaller motorhome. And at times it will still not help you – like finding a parking space in Arrecife, which is almost impossible. If you can, try to avoid driving in the city center and have that as a general rule – whether your motorhome is big or not!

Where can you fill up fresh water and dump your waste?

So this was something that we struggled with at first. Since the camping was closed, we didn’t know where we could empty our grey water and our toilet. When we asked people, they kept getting us information that turned out false. We are not into “lifting a manhole and dumping our waste there so that has never been an option. However, we found a great place near Arrecife. A gas station where we could fill up on fresh water and dump our grey water and toilet.

You just go to the cashier and pay 3 euros. You will get a key and then you can fix everything with your car. There is also a ramp where you can wash the top of your car and get rid of all sand and dirt from your solar panels.

Information about the gas station:

Name: DISA
Address:C/ Iguazu S/N- Maneje, 35500 Arrecife, Las Palmas, Spanien (Check out the map above)
Price: 3 euros.

Can you drink the water in Lanzarote?

Well, you could but you will probably get sick so the answer should be no here. There are several gas stations where you can fill up on water. Make sure that it says that it’s “portable” water if you want to drink it. And even so, be careful. We always buy our water in stores. They have 8 liters bottles that you can buy and then you know that you can drink them without getting sick.

Getting LPG

If your bottles are prepared for Spain, you will not have any problem filling up your LPG. Most of the main gas stations have LPG. We have bottles that we fill up ourselves and we never had any problems getting LPG or finding a place where we could fill them up. However, we were in contact with another couple that had bought Repsol bottles in Spain and they had a really hard time finding a place that would exchange the bottles for them. We never heard back from them (I messaged them to ask if they had found a place) so we have no idea what happened but hopefully, they found a place!

Here are the places where we got our LPG and everything else:

Name: DISA
Address: Av. de las Palmeras, S/N, 35508 Costa Teguise, Las Palmas, (Check the locations on the map above)

Getting electricity in Lanzarote

Even if most motorhomes today are outfitted with solar panels many still want to connect to electricity when the possibility is given. Unfortunately, when the island’s only camping is closed – you will not be able to find a place where you can plug into electricity. Well, you might be able to find a person that will allow you to connect to their power (maybe from their house) but don’t count on it. You are most likely to be able to have to do without electricity while being in Lanzarote in a motorhome.

Where can we buy groceries and things that are needed in a motorhome?

Like in any country, you can do your grocery shopping in every town or smaller village. Since this is a small island, there are not that many big stores. We often stock up on food and vegetables in Lidl (located in Puerto del Carmen). The price is lower and they have a really big selection. Otherwise, there are Superdino and Hiperdino stores located all over the island. Just check on Google Maps what is close to you.

Where can you do your laundry in Lanzarote?

We never wash our laundry by hand. It is something I both hate to do and at the same time – in my mind, it won’t get as clean as when you wash it in a machine. There are not that many (if any) self-service laundromats in Lanzarote. We drove all over the island but they were all places where you leave your laundry for others to wash. Since we were there for a month, we ended up leaving our laundry in the resort town of Playa Blanca. The place was called “Wash and Tumble Laundry Lanzarote” and it was really bad.

First off, the prices that they had on their website were not the correct ones. It was said that the price for 10 kilograms of laundry would cost xx euros. When we got there, it turned out that since we had both whites and colors, it would be two machines – making it much more expensive. In the end, we got our laundry back and redid all of it when we got to Fuerteventura. It was simply not cleaned. And it is important to point out that we are not picky when it comes to these things. So if you can, don’t spend your hard-earned money at that place. If you have a tip on where to do laundry in Lanzarote, please let us know and we will update this post!

If you want to read more general information about doing laundry in your motorhome, you can do so in a previous post we made.

Apps that might help you with your motorhome in Lanzarote

There are many apps for motorhome owners that they can use to find things such as “where to park” or “where to fill up on LPG”. However, not all of them are used in Lanzarote since there are no spots marked in the apps. We struggled at first but ended up finding some apps that we used during our stay in Lanzarote.