Where to stay in Lanzarote: the resort coast, the windy east or the quiet interior, area by area

Puerto del Carmen grew from La Tiñosa, a fishing village, into the tourist area with the most places to stay on the island. Its seafront road, the Avenida de las Playas, runs past golden-sand beaches with calm water: Playa Chica, Playa Grande, Los Pocillos and Matagorda. Playa Grande, the main one, is 1,190 metres of sand with lifeguards and sunbeds, marked free of wind by the tourist board.

From Playa Grande, Playa Chica is 10 minutes on foot and the old harbour at La Tiñosa 16. Line 161 from the airport reaches the Apart. Caletón Blanco stop, 6 minutes' walk from the beach, in 18 minutes, and lines 2 and 3 run to Arrecife and Costa Teguise. By road, off-peak, the airport is 14 minutes.

The cost: the board rates Playa Grande as busy, and the nightlife runs along the Avenida and around the harbour.

Hotel Fariones, the island's first beach hotel, opened in 1966 and reopened as a five-star in 2020 after a full renovation, stands on the point at the western end of Playa Grande: a couple's beach week, from about €295 for two with breakfast in June, when its entry room needs seven nights. La Isla y el Mar, 81 adults-only suites in a 1970s complex rebuilt in 2015 behind volcanic stone, steps down the hill above, from about €260; Playa Chica is ten minutes downhill.

Playa Blanca is the town at the southern tip, facing Fuerteventura. A seafront promenade links its beaches, all listed by the tourist board with calm water: Playa Blanca in the centre, Flamingo to the west and Playa Dorada to the east, 350 metres of fine white sand. Marina Rubicón closes the promenade to the east, and beyond it, in the Monumento Natural de Los Ajaches, lie the Papagayo coves, white sand and calm water, €3 a car at the gate, by card only.

From the church in the centre, Playa Dorada is 9 minutes on foot, the bus station 10 and Marina Rubicón 25. Line 161 links the airport and the bus station in 47 minutes, the direct 162-D, eight times a day, in 20 by the timetable, and the town's line 30 runs every half hour. By road, off-peak, Playa Mujeres in Papagayo is 12 minutes and the airport 32.

The cost: busy beaches, and the north is far: the Fundación César Manrique is 40 minutes by road.

Princesa Yaiza, the family pick on Playa Dorada, has Capitan Park and supervised clubs to age 13, from about €230 for two with breakfast in June, with four nights minimum on most rooms outside July and August. Barceló Playa Blanca, for pool days, opened in December 2023 around an infinity pool about 140 metres end to end, starts at about €185 with breakfast; Playa Dorada is 13 minutes' walk.

Puerto Calero is a marina, not a town: a harbour of yachts and boat trips west of Puerto del Carmen, with a promenade of shops and restaurants that the tourist board recommends for a stroll. There is no beach in the marina; the nearest to the west, Playa Quemada, is 310 metres of pebbles with no public transport.

From the marina, the Puerto Calero bus stop is 12 minutes on foot: line 24 runs to Puerto del Carmen and Arrecife, line 25 to Costa Teguise, and line 161 from the airport calls in 25 minutes. By road, off-peak, Playa Grande in Puerto del Carmen is 11 minutes, the Islote de Hilario in Timanfaya 29 and the Papagayo beaches 32.

The cost: no sand on the doorstep, and quiet evenings at the marina.

Secrets Lanzarote is ours here, at the western edge above a rocky shore, 14 minutes' walk from the marina promenade and 18 minutes from the airport by road. It is an adults-only resort for guests of 18 and over, centred on an indoor hydrotherapy hall and four heated pools, from about €200 for two with breakfast in June. The spa circuit and every treatment cost extra on every board. It suits a couple on a spa week, with a hire car.

Costa Teguise, on the east coast north of Arrecife, is one of the island's main tourist centres. Las Cucharas, its main beach, is 640 metres of fine golden sand with lifeguards and a promenade. The water is calm, but the tourist board marks the beach as windy and calls it one of the windsurfers' favourites. The Pueblo Marinero, its central square, has restaurants and live music at night.

From Las Cucharas, the Pueblo Marinero is 6 minutes on foot and Playa Bastián 12. Line 1 runs to Arrecife and line 3 to Puerto del Carmen. By road, off-peak, the Fundación César Manrique is 12 minutes, the Charco de San Ginés in Arrecife 13 and the airport 18.

The cost: a breeze on the sand, a beach the board rates as busy, and the music around the Pueblo Marinero.

Paradisus Salinas Lanzarote is ours here, its gardens opening onto the shore, with Las Cucharas 3 minutes' walk along the front. Inside Fernando Higueras's building of 1973 to 1977 are César Manrique's atrium gardens, murals and lagoon pool, protected at the highest grade in Teguise's municipal catalogue. It is adults only, 16 and over, and all-inclusive only, from about €425 for two in June, with a four-night minimum on some dates.

Arrecife, the capital since the second half of the 19th century, is the island's administrative and commercial centre: a working town, not a resort. Its beach, Playa del Reducto, is 500 metres of golden sand with calm water, sheltered by a reef that shows at low tide. The first fishing settlement grew up around the Charco de San Ginés, a seawater lagoon remodelled to a César Manrique design and ringed with bars and restaurants.

From the middle of Playa del Reducto, El Almacén, the arts centre, is 14 minutes on foot, the Castillo de San Gabriel 23, the Charco 24 and the bus station 25. Line 22 on weekdays and line 23 at weekends run to the airport, 6 minutes by road off-peak; the Fundación César Manrique is 9.

The cost: a city's traffic, no resort grounds, and a beach shared with the people who live here.

Hotel Lancelot, ours here, faces the eastern end of the beach across a promenade, 16 minutes' walk from the Charco and 7 minutes from the airport by road. It opened in 1969; its rooftop pool is walled with porthole windows and looks over the town. Doubles start at about €100 a night in June, the least of our ten, with breakfast on some rates. Lower rooms hear the road.

La Geria is the wine country in the middle of the island. Its vines grow in pits dug in the volcanic lapilli, which holds the moisture; it is a protected landscape of tracks and small roads, with bodegas along the way where you can taste the local wine. There is no beach and no street life, and nothing practical is in walking distance, so plan on a car.

From Hotel César Lanzarote at La Asomada, off-peak, Bodega La Geria is 9 minutes by road, the marina at Puerto Calero 10, Playa Grande in Puerto del Carmen 12, the Timanfaya visitor centre at Mancha Blanca 18 and the airport 13.

The cost: no sand, no evening stroll to a choice of restaurants, and a drive for every outing.

Hotel César Lanzarote is ours here: 20 rooms for guests of 16 and over in a former Manrique family house at La Asomada, beside La Geria rather than above it, with a revived vineyard on the estate and a pool looking down to the coast. Breakfast is on every rate, two nights is the minimum on almost every date, and rooms start at about €340 for two in June; the entry room looks at the volcano, not the sea.

Teguise was Lanzarote's capital from the first half of the 15th century until 1852, and its historic centre, a protected historic-artistic ensemble, is a town of paved streets, churches, convents and manor houses. The Castillo de Santa Bárbara, on the Guanapay volcano above it, holds a museum of piracy. Every Sunday from 9:00 to 14:00 one of the most popular markets in the Canary Islands fills the old quarter, and the bars carry on with live music after it.

From the Plaza de la Constitución, the convent of San Francisco is 4 minutes on foot and the Castillo de Santa Bárbara 25, uphill. Buses 7 and 10 run from Arrecife. By road, off-peak, the Fundación César Manrique is 9 minutes, Famara beach 13 and Las Cucharas 20; the airport is 21 from Palacio Ico.

The cost: no beach and no pool in town, and market crowds on Sundays.

Hotel Boutique Palacio Ico is ours here: nine rooms around a courtyard in a manor house of around 1690, three minutes from the church, whose bells reach the courtyard. Its restaurant, recommended by MICHELIN, serves dinner Monday to Friday. Rooms start at about €195 for two in June, with a two or three-night minimum; check whether breakfast is in your rate. It suits a couple touring by car.

Haría is the village of the Valle de las Mil Palmeras, the valley of a thousand palms, where the tourist board says a microclimate supports plants found nowhere else in the archipelago. César Manrique spent his last years here, and his house opened in 2013 as the Casa-Museo César Manrique. A market of crafts and organic produce fills the main square on Saturday mornings, and nearby, the Volcán de la Corona, 609 metres, has a walk to its crater.

From the Plaza León y Castillo, the Casa-Museo is 12 minutes on foot. Buses 7, 7-D and 8 run from Arrecife, but nothing runs direct from the airport, 35 minutes away by road off-peak. By road, Playa de la Garita at Arrieta is 9 minutes, the Jameos del Agua 12 and the Mirador del Río 15.

The cost: the nearest beach is a drive, the Papagayo coves are about 70 minutes away, and evenings are village-quiet.

La Casa de los Naranjos is ours here: eight rooms in a 19th-century manor a few streets west of the square and 8 minutes' walk from Manrique's house, from about €275 for two with breakfast in June, two nights minimum. There is no pool for now, and expansion works are under way. It suits couples and walkers.