This guest post has been written by Nick Ball, editor of Lanzarote Guidebook, the free tourist guide to Lanzarote.

Lanzarote is the most easterly of the Canary Islands.  The seven specks of Spain which are located off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean.  The archipelago has long had something of a reputation as a package tourist destination.  Not unjustifiably so –  as this is the second most visited region in Spain after Catalonia.

Yet the Canaries are not all birds of a feather.  As whilst the bigger islands such as Tenerife have long since been buried beneath a sea of hotels and apartment complexes little Lanzarote has managed to remain relatively unspoiled.

High rise buildings were banned during the 1970´s – along with advertising hoardings.  Whilst the three main tourist resorts of Playa Blanca, Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise are all well contained.  Leaving the bulk of the island much as nature intended.

This is just as well – as Lanzarote boasts some of the most surreal scenery in the world.  The island was rocked by a series of huge volcanic eruptions during the 1730´s and again in 1824.  Which remodelled the south of Lanzarote, wiping out villages, destroying farmland and carpeting hundreds of kilometres of land in lava.  Creating a twisted new terrain in its wake that is often likened to the surface of the moon – and which is now Lanzarote´s most popular tourist attraction.

Elsewhere on the island these arid, volcanic vistas give way to more verdant scenery.  Especially in the north of the island in and around the aptly named Valley of 1000 Palms.  Here locals used to follow a tradition of planting a Canarian palm tree for every new born child.  Creating a breathtaking sight reminiscent of an African oasis – as the crowns of countless giant palms sway gently in the breeze.