Puerto del Carmen is well-placed for exploring the rest of Lanzarote. The single must-do day is Timanfaya National Park — the surreal, still-warm volcanic landscape created by the 1730s eruptions — best combined with the La Geria wine country en route and lunch at the bodega-restaurant El Chupadero or César Manrique's own El Diablo. To the north, Jameos del Agua and Cueva de los Verdes (both Manrique landmarks built inside lava tunnels) and the Mirador del Río viewpoint can be done as a single long day.
The capital Arrecife is a 15-minute drive and worth half a day for the Castillo de San José (now César Manrique's modern art museum), the seafront and the small old town. The Sunday market at Teguise, the old capital, is the biggest weekly market in the Canaries and worth timing a visit around. For an island hop, ferries run several times daily from Playa Blanca (40 minutes south) to Fuerteventura's Corralejo.
