Secrets Lanzarote Resort & Spa

Hesperia, which owns the building and had run it as the Hesperia Lanzarote, spent about €10 million on a full renovation and reopened it in December 2019 as Secrets Lanzarote, the second Secrets resort in Europe. It stands in Cortijo Viejo, on the western edge of Puerto Calero, a low white resort whose wings wrap gardens and pool terraces stepping down to a rocky shore. It is for adults only, over 18, with 335 rooms. The hotel sells it all-inclusive under the Unlimited-Luxury name, with breakfast and half-board rates as well.

Every room has a furnished balcony or terrace and a rain shower. The doubles are 30 m² and differ by view: the entry Double comes with whichever view is free, from the gardens to the mountains inland, the Pool View over the pools, the Ocean View out to the Atlantic. Junior Suites are 37 m² and Suites 60 m². The 125 Preferred Club rooms add a concierge, a private pool and solarium and The Lounge, a poolside bar for club guests, and the swim-up rooms and suites open from the terrace into a pool. After booking, the hotel lets you choose the exact room on its own platform.

The spa is the reason to come. The hydrotherapy circuit sits indoors in an arcaded hall of stone-clad pillars: a 14 m dynamic pool, Jacuzzis, a sauna, a steam bath, invigorating showers and an ice fountain, then tea on a private terrace. Ten treatment rooms work with Natura Bissé, and the menu runs from couples' massages and Tibetan bowls to a body ritual with Lanzarote's volcanic lava and aloe vera. It opens daily from 10:00 to 20:00, booked through the hotel's app. Outside are four heated pools, one of them kept for the club, and there are six restaurants, none needing a reservation: the World Café buffet, Barefoot Grill by the pool, Oceana for seafood, Portofino, the Bluewater Grill and Gohan for sushi, plus a piano bar with live music.

The trade is twofold. Every spa service, the circuit included, costs extra and is paid when you book it, whatever your board: the circuit is €30 for an hour, €70 for a day or €95 for your whole stay. And there is no beach: the nearest sand, Playa Quemada, is 42 minutes on foot, and Puerto del Carmen's Playa Grande 13 minutes by car. Book it for a quiet, adults-only week of pools, spa and long dinners, take the €95 stay pass for the circuit, and hire a car for Timanfaya and the Papagayo beaches.