The Canary Islands are Europe´s only genuine winter sun destination. At just four hours flying time from the UK these seven specks of Spain enjoy temperatures in excess of 20C all year round. Thanks to their location just 70 miles off the coast of Africa.

The most easterly of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote, is home to a population of around 127,000 people and is a unique melting pot of African, European and South American influences. Thanks to its historic position as a staging post between the Old World and the New.

Such is Lanzarote´s popularity that over one million British and Irish tourists are expected to visit the island during the course of the year. Thanks in part to the fact that flights to Lanzarote are just a manageable four hours in duration. With plenty of operators competing for custom, so keeping prices affordable. And with new operators such as Kiss Flights also entering the market.

This buoyant tourist market has helped to keep demand for cheap flights to Lanzarote relatively stable. And whilst most of the leading estate agents on the island have registered more price discounted property coming onto the market over the last six months Lanzarote has experienced none of the sharp falls currently evident in the UK.

Much of Lanzarote´s appeal to the British and Irish markets lies in the fact that the island offers more than just sunshine alone. Like the other Canary Islands the lifestyle here is enviable – with the majority of time spent outdoors enjoying the islands volcanic scenery, great beaches and unique cultural attractions.

The fact that Lanzarote remains largely unspoiled is attributable to the works and efforts of an island born artist called Cesar Manrique. Who was studying in New York when package tourism first started to take off in Spain and hurried home to protect his beloved Lanzarote from over development.

Thanks to Manrique´s efforts – and his many friends in high places on the island government – the island authorities banned such blights as advertising hoardings and high rise buildings. And worked with Manrique to ensure that the main tourist resorts were well contained and relatively unobtrusive.

Manrique´s other main initiative was to create a unique set of tourist attractions on the island that essentially fused art with nature. Such as the creation of an underground grotto at the collapsed lava tube now known as the Jamoes del Agua. And the artist’s own house in Tahiche, fashioned out of five underground volcanic bubbles.