In July 1974, as Lanzarote’s tourist industry began to boom, The Daily Telegraph magazine had an interview with the celebrated lanzaroteño artist and environmentalist César Manrique, headlined ‘Building a Paradise in the Ruins of Hell’. Walking barefoot through his home in Tahíche, Manrique shared his vision of wanting “the tourist to find a beautiful, and not a destroyed, island.” The article is on display in his former home, a design and architectural masterpiece that is now a museum, in the village of Haría.
Today, Lanzarote – the easternmost of Spain’s sunny Canary Islands, 90 kilometers off the coast of southern Morocco – has largely escaped the serious construction of overtourism in the more heavily built-up Canary Islands. The windswept, volcano-studded island has its own soft, artsy energy. Much of this is down to Manrique’s pioneering stance on sustainability and the tremendous legacy he has left behind at a local level. Now, fifty years after that interview, the island once labeled ‘Lanzagrotty’ is putting itself on the map as a place for stylish escapes with a focus on responsible travel.
Although there is certainly development on Lanzarote (mostly around the resorts of Playa Blanca, Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise), the buildings here are generally low-rise and whitewashed, with sky blue or grass green accents, depending on whether they are located by the Atlantic Ocean or a further island. There is still only one skyscraper on the entire island. Concerns were raised last year about rising tourism, with Lanzarote receiving a record number of almost 3.18 million visitors and making international headlines when former president María Dolores Corujo said it should aim to attract higher-spending tourists. But there are also many local businesses that keep Manrique’s vision of sustainable tourism alive.
This includes a wave of creative, responsibly designed, small-scale hotels, which I have seen flourish on many recent visits to this otherworldly island. Lanzarote’s finest places to stay now consist of carefully restored heritage buildings transformed into boutique-style retreats with a touch of Manrique-influenced, Lanzarote-inspired flavor – from cacti-filled gardens to dramatic windows framing the volcano-strewn landscape.
The latest addition is the dreamy César Lanzarote, created by Numa Signature, the popular team that was also behind the fantastic opening of Amagatay in Menorca in 2023. As I drive along a dusty path just 10 minutes away from Lanzarote airport, I see row after row of low-lying vines hidden between circular lava stone walls. Then a white wall finca with bright green doors and shutters looms. This solar powered, 20 room finca is a delight in Lanzarote’s traditional architecture, combining bold volcanic stone with corridors leading to a central plant-filled courtyard. It was once owned by Manrique’s father, Gumersindo, before it became a school.
Designer Virginia Nieto has channeled Lanzarote’s wonderfully rich natural palette into an instantly soothing retreat in a world of lush greenery. Oversized plant pots, custom fabrics and palm woven chairs mingle with original wooden beams and stone arches in an enticing fusion of textures; some rooms have a bath built into the wall, in local style. At the front, the ocean-view rooms open onto an expansive terrace overlooking a sand-colored pool designed in Manrique’s signature lagoon style, surrounded by white and black striped sunbeds in similar volcanic cocoons to all those striking vines. Even the wavy ceramic tableware is locally crafted by Timijota Studio from Tinajo.
During a late terrace dinner at the on-site restaurant César – with creative Canarian menus devised by chef Juanjo López of Madrid sensation La Tasquita de Enfrente – I learn that most of the ingredients are organically grown here on site. Others come from local producers, including award-winning Finca de Uga cheeses and La Santa’s famously delicious prawns. Creamy avocados arrived cilantro-laced mojo and fresh lime, while delicious wines from Tenerife and Lanzarote flowed under the expert guidance of sommelier Cristina Pardo.
“Lanzarote is a destination we always wanted to go to because of its authenticity and César Manrique’s footprint in the essence of the island,” says Álvaro Sasiambarrena of Numa Signature. “It is an island that has everything: climate, culture, tradition and gastronomy.”
And wherever you go, it’s impossible to escape the unique way Manrique encouraged people to see, understand and protect the island’s lava-shaped landscapes. Just a 20-minute drive from César Lanzarote, the conical hills give way to a sea of solidified lava where the artist created another house, Taro de Tahíche, after returning from New York. He lived here for twenty years in the seventies and eighties. It’s an extraordinary place, with atmospheric lounges and pool gardens built in naturally formed lava bubbles and an upper floor inspired by Lanzarote’s rural architecture, all now transformed into the unmissable Fundación César Manrique gallery (0034 928 843 138; fcmanrique.org).
Half an hour west, in the heart of Timanfaya National Park, the circular El Diablo restaurant (cactlanzarote.com), designed by Manrique in 1970, overlooks 32 square kilometers of strictly protected lunar land created by eruptions dating back to the 18th century. and 19th century. . On the island’s wild north coast, the Jameos del Agua (cactlanzarote.com) is Manrique’s reinterpretation – what he called an “intervention” – of a lava tunnel, with its own bar, restaurant and lagoon pool.
In the northern village of Haría, I wander through the palm-shaded house that became the artist’s last home from 1988 until he died in a car accident in 1992. Today protected as the Casa Museo César Manrique (0034 928 843 138; fcmanrique .org), the Casa del Palmeral (Palm Grove House) was built from a crumbling farmhouse. Manrique installed bathrooms full of greenery and added a studio, where he reportedly painted every day. It’s easy to see how Manrique (and many others) fell for this soothing place known as the Valley of a Thousand Palms.
So it’s no surprise that one of the island’s other serene new spots is just a stone’s throw away, near the mural-filled market of Haría. La Casa de los Naranjos has breathed new life into a 19th-century mansion that still retains its original doorways, beams and more (0034 628 938 942; lacasadelosnaranjos.com). And in nearby Teguise – the art-loving former capital of Lanzarote – Gigi de Vidal and Óscar Cubillo spent four years restoring an 18th-century house into their five-room boutique hotel Casa de las Flores (0034 615 688 590; hotelcasadelasflores.es).
Then there’s the heavenly Álava Suites (0034 681 248 631; alavasuites.com), a Costa Teguise retreat with just six rooms created by María Álava, who also co-founded the slow-fashion label Álava Brand, created in Lanzarote. Or you can escape to Buenavista Lanzarote’s undulating La Geria wine region (0034 606 935 753; buenavistalanzarote.es), where breakfast baskets are delivered to your door.
Lanzarote’s now thriving food scene also has its own local produce-based advantage. On weekends, people flock to long-running spots like Casa de la Playa (0034 928 173 339), a hugely popular beachfront restaurant in Arrieta, where papas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes), grilled cherne fish and fried Lanzarote goat cheese. Energetic new cuisines are also part of the picture, for example Munsoo (0034 928 399 805, munsoo.es), near the wave-washed beach of Famara, where a stylish crowd gathers for slow-food brunches.
Back on César Lanzarote, a blazing pink evening sky appears over the island’s southern peaks, neighboring Fuerteventura and the shimmering Atlantic Ocean. With the pastel light and fluttering palm branches reflecting in the lagoon pool, I feel like I have this entire moon-like island to myself – and it’s still incredibly beautiful.
Essentials
Isabella Noble was a guest at César Lanzarote (0034 928 877 676; numasignature.com), which offers double deals from £338 including breakfast