Lanzarote
Lanzarote is the most easterly of the Canary Islands and lies just 70 miles off the coast of Saharan Africa. Creating an enviable year round climate that is characterized by extremely low rainfall (on average just 9mm per month) and temperatures that rarely fall below 20c-even in the winter months.
Today, Lanzarote is best known as the Island of Fire, as a result of the world’s longest ever volcanic eruption -lasting six years from 1730. Which covered around one quarter of the island in a layer of lava that today gives parts of Lanzarote the almost primeval appearance of a land just formed -and which is often likened to the surface of the moon.
For such a small island Lanzarote is big on attractions. Offering visitors much more than just beautiful beaches and volcanic vistas alone. Thanks in no small part to the efforts of the island born artist and architect Cesar Manrique. Who not only fought to save Lanzarote from the sort of over-development that has blighted other sunspots. But who also created some of the most unique tourist attractions imaginable-such as the Jameos Del Agua and the Mirador Del Rio.
As a result Lanzarote was declared a UNESCO protected biosphere in 1994. The first island in the world to enjoy such status.
Lanzarote also boasts enormous natural beauty and great contrasts in scenery. From the and lava fields and spent cones of the Timanfaya National Park in the South of the island, through to the green and verdant Valley of a Thousand Palms in the North. And as the island is so manageably small it is easy to hire a car and discover Lanzarote’s many delights.
