"El Parque Nacional de Timanfaya" (The Timanfaya National Park) with the Fire Mountains is the centrepiece of the south-western part of the island, covered with igneous rocks from an immense volcanic eruption. According to the chronicle of the parochial clergyman Curbelo, this eruption lasted from 1st September, 1730 to 16th April, 1736 with short periods of calmness. The immense sea of lava and the thirty major craters which emerged during this enormous tectonic rupture, are eloquent proof of the magnitude and intensity of the eruption.

The 51,07 square kilometre park area is a varied selection of objects and materials of the most different forms and colours. There are especially to be mentioned: the impressive major cones of bizarre structures; the numerous small volcanoes which emerged from the incandescent lava stream, when the gases imprisoned in its interior poured out violently; the chaotic lava fields full of clinker fragments and rounded stones; the wide plains of igneous rock.

Vegetation is scarce and still in its initial stages. Most striking is the presence of rushes ("Juncus acutus L".); it seems paradoxical that they grow here on this scorched earth apparently in complete lack of water. Very important are the lichens in a variety of shadings, more than 200 different species of which have already been catalogued.

As far as fauna is concerned, there live only a few species of small lizards and different kinds of bird are nesting within the National Park.

The centre of the park is constituted of a surprising accumulation of loose plutonic stones, a hill called "El Islote de Hilario". It was named after the popular figure of Don Hilario who had once taken possession of this hill. On its peak, a restaurant of rather daring modern design and a beautiful view has been built and given the significant name "El Diablo" (The Devil), where the volcanic heat is used for cooking. Beneath this disturbing hill at not too great depths, there must be some remaining magma, the gases of which exhale an intensive geothermal heat that made the park world-famous. This heat is easily detectable when just scratching the earth: at a depth of less than one metre, the temperature is 100 C - and at 10 metres it surpasses the 400 C.

From this strategic point, the so-called "Ruta de los Volcanes" (Circular Tour of the Volcanoes) departs, covering fourteen kilometres.
It passes through the most spectacular and fantastic regions and spots of this tormented district, offering the visitor a unique landscape of awe-inspiring grandeur.

After the Island Administration of Lanzarote had completed the relevant infrastructure for the restaurant and the tour, the park was declared to be a National Park by Governmental Decree of 9th August, 1974.

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