The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘Visitors have a crop of fabulously creative design hotels to choose from’
Lanzarote, Spain
Over the past few years, Spain’s sun-soaked Canary Islands have emerged as a place for stylish, activity-packed getaways. And Lanzarote – a pioneer in low-impact Spanish tourism, thanks to the early efforts of the local 20th-century artist and environmentalist César Manrique – is leading the way, drawing design-loving travellers away from the coast towards its serene, volcanic interior.
Now, visitors have a crop of fabulously creative design hotels to choose from. They feel worlds apart from the Canaries’ fly-and-flop, winter-sun resorts. Most are set in heritage buildings away from coastal tourism hubs, so you get to explore villages such as palm-dotted Haría (where Manrique lived) or the former capital Teguise, where local artists are busy setting up new galleries.
The latest arrival is César Lanzarote, a solar-powered, 20-room beauty hidden away in La Asomada village offering a lagoon-style pool and modern cuisine. Then there is the heavenly Casa de las Flores, where artwork by owner-designer Gigi de Vidal fills five rooms in a reborn 18th-century mansion. Or head to Lanzarote’s wild northern valleys to stay in an elegantly renovated 1840s casa emblemática at La Casa de los Naranjos.
One of the island’s original luxury beach properties has been given a fresh makeover, too; Costa Teguise’s Salinas hotel is now the adults-only Paradisus Salinas Lanzarote. And on the sunny southern coast, the four-star Barceló Playa Blanca has just landed.
How to do it
César Lanzarote (numasignature.com) has doubles from £620 for two nights; Casa de las Flores (hotelcasadelasflores. es), doubles from £171; La Casa de los Naranjos (lacasadelosnaranjos.com), doubles from £180, all including breakfast. EasyJet fares to Lanzarote start at £55 return from various UK airports.
Isabella Noble is a travel writer based in Barcelona and Málaga. She spends time in Lanzarote every year, always finding a moment for a swim at the island’s magical Punta Mujeres sea pools.