Hotels in Lanzarote

Lanzarote

Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands, an 846-square-kilometre island of black lava fields, white villages and golden beaches lying around 125 kilometres off the coast of Africa. The whole island has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1993, and together with the small Chinijo Archipelago to the north it forms a UNESCO Global Geopark. Its landscape was reshaped by the eruptions of 1730 to 1736, which buried about a quarter of the island under lava and created the fire mountains of Timanfaya National Park, where the ground just below the surface is still hot enough to grill food. The artist and architect César Manrique shaped modern Lanzarote: the Jameos del Agua, the Mirador del Río, the Jardín de Cactus and his former home in Tahíche turn volcanic caves and lava bubbles into architecture, and his campaign against high-rise building keeps the island white and low-rise to this day. Most hotels stand on the sheltered south and east coasts, in the resorts of Playa Blanca, Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise, each with sandy beaches, seafront promenades and a wide choice of family resorts, adults-only hotels and apartments. The south is the sunniest and calmest corner, with the Papagayo coves, the green lagoon of El Golfo and the Los Hervideros cliffs, while the wilder north offers the surf beach of Famara, the palm valley of Haría and the ferry to La Graciosa. In the centre, the vineyards of La Geria grow Malvasía volcánica grapes in hollows dug into the volcanic ash and sheltered by semicircular stone walls, and the old capital Teguise holds a large market every Sunday. The climate is warm and dry all year, with daytime temperatures from around 21 °C in winter to 29 °C in summer and very little rain, which makes the island a classic winter-sun destination. César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport lies just outside the capital Arrecife, less than 20 minutes from Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise and about 35 minutes from Playa Blanca. Whether you want an all-inclusive beach holiday, a surf trip, a wine route or a quiet villa among the volcanoes, hotels in Lanzarote cover every travel style and budget.