‘OUR new Lanzarote Premium initiative offers visitors to Lanzarote a range of amazing and unique experiences,” Paula Muñez López of Turismo Lanzarote tells me at an event in London. Lanzarote Premium for me chimes with issues in tourism on Scottish islands too.
“We also aim – as always on our island – to protect the environment, alongside developing tourism,” adds Paula.
Two months later, I’m on a flight back to Lanzarote on my first foreign trip of 2024. It’s an island I’ve watched develop closely since first visiting in 1994, a little more than a year after the death of César Manrique.
This seminal figure made a mark on me then – I cannot think of a single artistic figure who has had such a lasting impact on any island in the world, an impact that still resonates in initiatives like Lanzarote Premium.
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On the trail of Manrique is the only place to start in this land of vaulting volcanoes, epic skies and thunderous ocean. My guide Ana is a fan: “Manrique was a one-off, a special man who shared his passion for – and determination to protect – Lanzarote with the wider world. He really put us on the map.” Manrique certainly did. Touring the brace of outlandish, beautiful curated homes he left us I see photos of Manrique with everyone from Pablo Picasso to Helmut Kohl.
Manrique’s goal was simple: “To make harmony and beauty.” He warned that “man is a very dangerous animal”, with the potential to destroy the planet. This was years before many people were even taking environmental protection and climate change seriously. Manrique’s practical methods remind me of the Scottish Isles. “He used what he had around him, so a lot of black lava rock and recycling, with a wealth of old ship parts and farming discards woven into his art and architecture,” explains Ana.
Manrique worked on dozens of projects around Lanzarote, given unique access and power by the local mayor, an old school friend who bought into his vision. After working on the island’s first tower hotel, he sensed the danger and helped put into law a ban on any building above six storeys that is still in place today, while fellow Canary Island Tenerife ploughed on with landscape-blighting, sky-scraping hotels.
His projects sweep from elegant restaurants and gorgeous viewpoints, through to reborn forts and striking cacti gardens. His pièce de résistance is the Jameos del Agua. Part of an underground lava flow from the Monte Corona volcano down to the Atlantic, he brilliantly played with the massive natural caves to create subterranean concert venues, cafés, a restaurant and even a brace of dancefloors.
You can still come here on Fridays for a unique nightlife experience. And to check out the brand-new museum using virtual reality headsets and other audio-visual trickery to tell the story of this unique island.
The unique nature of an island with more than 300 volcanoes bursts alive in the Timanfaya National Park – a surreal netherworld more Martian than Spanish, the result of the tumultuous earthquake of 1730-36.
Lunch at Manrique Restaurante El Diablo is essential, after seeing the present-day power of Lanzarote as a guide pours water down a hole only for it to shoot skywards like a geyser. The restaurant is typical Manrique – striking with a binary palette of whitewashed walls and black lava, all smooth natural lines brightened with lashings of flora.
The views from Manrique’s restaurant are sublime, but they are everywhere on Lanzarote as volcanoes loom all around and the cobalt Atlantic is never far away. I head out hiking on the volcanoes with Chico, a local walking guide with K3. “We have a wonderful island for all sorts of hiking and running,” he smiles. “And today on Lanzarote, you can enjoy a premium experience whilst getting active and fit.”
We certainly do, yomping around a volcano as we do on one of Lanzarote’s myriad waymarked trails. Our hike ends eking our way through the distinctive craters that protect the individual vines from the wind and gather moisture in this desert world.
The craters lead us to a brace of wineries. At Stratus, I savour the unique mineral, salty tang of Lanzarote Malvasia Volcánica, delicious with the stunning local produce-laden lunch that accompanies it at a winery that is so much more than a winery. The owners also invest in Lanzarote cheese and other gourmet treats you can buy at their shop.
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My second winery is Vega de Yuco’s Finca Testeina, home to the sensational Yaiza wine – the ones in the gorgeous blue bottles that make for a stunning souvenir. Lanzarote continually innovates. For my “synesthetic tasting”, I don an eye mask and listen to the music an island musician has crafted for the new sparkling wine made using local Diego grape.
This is a seriously fun literal blind tasting, with the salted caramel chocolate halfway through having a glorious effect on the taste too. For dedicated wine tours, check out the excellent Wine Tours Lanzarote.
As I sip a last glass of Malvasia Volcánica, I raise a toast to César Manrique and an island where quality and conservation chime together in the Macaronesian sun.
My hotel balcony peers out over the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura, but right now, I wouldn’t want to be on any other island in the world.
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