Is Lanzarote Expensive? What a Holiday Really Costs

The short answer: Lanzarote can be surprisingly affordable — but it depends much more on how you travel than on the island itself.

You can spend heavily on beachfront hotels, taxis and restaurant meals every day, or rent a small house, shop locally, hire a car and experience the island for considerably less.

The useful question isn’t simply “Is Lanzarote expensive?”

It’s what actually costs money here — and what doesn’t.

Lanzarote fine dining does not need to be expensive

ACCOMMODATION MAKES THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE

Accommodation is usually the largest part of the holiday budget.

The resorts offer everything from inexpensive apartments to large hotels and luxury properties. Rural Lanzarote works differently: you’ll find independent houses, fincas and small-scale accommodation scattered through villages and the countryside.

Price alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

A cheaper room in a resort may put restaurants and entertainment within walking distance, while an independent house may give you a kitchen, outdoor space and the possibility of spending evenings at home rather than eating out every night.

For longer stays, that difference can become significant.

EATING OUT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE

Lanzarote has restaurants at almost every price level.

Tourist areas naturally contain plenty of places designed around visitors, but move into the villages and you’ll also find local restaurants, cafés and teleclubs — traditional community establishments where prices are often very reasonable.

You certainly don’t need to eat in a restaurant three times a day.

Buying bread, fruit, cheese, wine and other local products and having breakfast or dinner at home is not only cheaper — for many people it becomes part of the Lanzarote experience.

A RENTAL CAR CAN ACTUALLY SAVE MONEY

This sounds counter-intuitive.

Hiring a car adds another line to the budget, but car rental in Lanzarote is often relatively inexpensive compared with many European destinations.

More importantly, a car changes what becomes possible.

You can shop in larger supermarkets, visit inexpensive local restaurants, explore several places in one day and avoid relying repeatedly on taxis or organised excursions.

For two people travelling independently, the economics can work surprisingly well.

MANY OF LANZAROTE’S BEST EXPERIENCES COST NOTHING

This is where Lanzarote becomes interesting from a budget perspective.

Walking through volcanic landscapes costs nothing.

Watching the sunset costs nothing.

Exploring villages such as Haría, Guatiza or Yaiza costs nothing.

So do coastal walks, viewpoints, swimming from many beaches and simply driving through landscapes that would be an attraction in their own right almost anywhere else.

Some of Lanzarote’s famous cultural and natural attractions charge admission, of course, but you don’t need a paid attraction every day to experience the island.

WHERE YOU STAY CHANGES YOUR DAILY SPENDING

There is another cost that is easy to overlook: the type of holiday your location encourages you to have.

Stay in the centre of a resort and restaurants, bars and shops are constantly around you.

Stay somewhere quieter and the rhythm changes.

You may cook breakfast, spend an afternoon reading by the pool, drive somewhere for a walk and return home for dinner and a bottle of wine on the terrace.

Neither way is better.

But they produce very different spending patterns.

WHAT ABOUT A LONGER STAY?

This is where the calculation becomes even more interesting.

A two-week holiday does not necessarily cost twice as much as a one-week holiday.

Flights and car rental have already been paid for, longer accommodation stays can offer better value, and once people stop behaving as though every day must be filled with attractions and restaurants, daily expenditure often falls.

You start living on the island rather than consuming it.

And Lanzarote is particularly good at that.

SO, IS LANZAROTE EXPENSIVE?

It can be.

But it doesn’t have to be.

If your holiday means a large hotel, restaurant meals every day, taxis, cocktails and organised excursions, the bill can grow quickly.

If you prefer an independent place to stay, a rental car, local restaurants, some meals at home and days spent exploring landscapes and villages, Lanzarote can offer remarkably good value.

Perhaps the biggest advantage is that many of the things that make the island extraordinary aren’t things you have to buy.

OME note: If you’re still deciding how independently you want to travel, read Do You Need a Car in Lanzarote? next. It explains when a rental car is genuinely useful — and when you can comfortably manage without one.