Where to dance on Lanzarote: the real map, venue by venue, and why Sunday changes everything

Let us be straight about it: Lanzarote is not Ibiza, and people who live here count that as a virtue. But you can dance here, very much so — you just need to know where and, above all, which night. Plenty of places open only at weekends, and turning up on a Tuesday to find the shutters down is a classic.

Here is the map.

Puerto del Carmen: the engine

If someone asks 'where do you go out dancing?', the honest answer is: here. It is concentrated in two areas, the Avenida de las Playas and Varadero, by the port.

• Lanzarote Palace, in Varadero — the island's biggest club. It does not get going before 1am, so there is no point arriving at eleven.
• Heineken Bar, Varadero — terrace over the sea. International rock and pop in the evening, after 1am Spanish commercial and reggaeton, with electronic sets on some nights.
• Ruta 66, near Playa Grande — pop and rock classics from the seventies to the nineties, in an American Wild West setting with retro vehicles. This is where you go to sing, not to jump.
• Café la Ola, Avenida de las Playas — pop, funk, techno and chillout, with a pool and lounge area for sunset. You start here; you do not finish here.
• Cervecería San Miguel, Varadero — tapas and a terrace, concerts on the screens. The stop on the way.

Arrecife: where the islanders go

This is the part the tourist sites leave out. At weekends the real nightlife moves to the capital, around the Charco de San Ginés.

• Kokum Club Lounge, near the Charco — open Thursday to Saturday, 11pm to 5am. Terrace, pool tables, stand-up comedy nights, and music from commercial through house and techno.
• Karma Lanzarote — open Friday and Saturday, 8pm to 6am. Three spaces: dance floor, lounge and rooftop. Spanish commercial and pop, techno on special nights.

Playa Blanca: the south

• Swing Disco — 10pm to 6am, every day. Commercial and international, pool tables and a terrace.
• Waikiki Bar, near Playa Dorada — karaoke and cocktails, with Marina Rubicón a short walk away. It closes earlier on Sunday, at midnight.

Costa Teguise: one place, but a good one

• Dickens, near the Paseo Marítimo — Monday to Saturday. Classics from the fifties to the seventies, funk, reggae and British standards, Victorian decor and over forty cocktails. Not a club: a place where the drinks are good and you recognise the music.

The unwritten rules

Nothing happens before 1am. This holds everywhere. Arrive at eleven and you will stand in an empty room wondering whether you got the address wrong.

Sunday is a different island. Kokum and Karma are closed, and several places shut early. If you want to dance on a Sunday, the south and Puerto del Carmen are still your options.

Opening hours shift with the season, and in nightlife they shift faster than anywhere else: check the venue's own channels before you get in the car, especially out of season.

The taxi. Puerto del Carmen to Arrecife is fifteen minutes of road, and at that hour there are checks. Budget for the fare: it costs less than the alternative.