Hotel Cesar Lanzarote

The island chose the colours at César Lanzarote: green shutters on white walls, and black lava for the ground they stand on. The house belonged to the Manrique family and stands in La Asomada, inland in the wine country of La Geria, where the vines grow in pits in the volcanic soil behind low stone walls. From the house the land falls away past the volcanoes to the Atlantic. Of the twenty rooms, the ones with a terrace and sea views in their names are the ones to ask for. The heated pool curves between palms and cacti, crossed by a small arched bridge, so that getting from one lounger to another needs no swimming at all.

Recommended for couples who came to Lanzarote for its volcanoes rather than its beaches, which are ten minutes' drive away at Puerto del Carmen for anyone who changes their mind; nobody under sixteen stays. The trails of Los Volcanes Natural Park start on the doorstep, and the hotel arranges guided mountain biking and rides on horseback through the volcanic landscape, or yoga and then brunch for a slower morning. Massages are given in the aljibes, the stone cisterns in which Lanzarote stored its rain, and with barely 200 litres of it falling on each square metre in a year, they were never short of room. The Sunset Bar César serves only those staying, and faces the sunset, over the volcanoes and down to the sea. Dinner is at César Restaurant, where Gonzalo Calzadilla's tasting menu sets out to cook Lanzarote's memory, the Atlantic, the garden and the volcanic landscape, which between them account for most of the view.