LANZAROTE

Not just the Canary Islands most distinct destination, but the most distinct on this whole list, with relatively recent volcanic activity between 1730 and 1736 shaping the landscape as it looks today. Go for a spin on the buttery tarmac through the scarred Timanfaya National Park, the area most a ected by these eruptions and which makes up a quarter of the island, and you’ll be rewarded with a

ride like no other. While now classed as dormant, you can still feel the heat closely beneath Lanzarote’s surface, none more so at El Diablo restaurant in Timanfaya, which harnesses the furnace below to cook meat on its BBQs.

The island isn’t as mountainous as Tenerife, with the highest point around 2000ft at Peñas del Chache in the mountains of the north, so it’s the flatter roads and the accompanying, often high, winds that make it so popular with triathletes. Rain here is uncommon through the winter – December is usually the wettest month (29.3mm average), but max temperatures average between 20.7 and 22.9 degrees Celsius between December and March, which, with the lower altitude, makes it a safer bet than Tenerife if good weather is your priority.

MUST DO RIDE

This ride takes you up to the Mirador del Rio viewpoint, at the northern tip of the island: tinyurl.com/CPLanzarote

WHERE TO STAY

Club la Santa (clublasanta. co.uk) is a refuge for sports enthusiasts of all types, cyclists particularly. Expect to pay from around £450 for a week’s stay in January.

BIKE SHOP

Club la Santa has bike hire (Cannondale) and workshop. A SuperSix EVO can be hired for 98 euro a week.

FLIGHTS

Fly direct from airports including Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Prices currently start from £67 in January.

STR AVA ESSENTIAL

Orzola – Mirador Distance: 5.79 miles

Average gradient: 5%

KOM: Nicholas Rinaldi (21.50), QOM: Coley Walters (26.19)

“The island isn’t as mountainous as Tenerife, with the highest point around 2000ft at Peñas del Chache in the north”