Hotel César Lanzarote - A Family Farmhouse Reborn On The Volcano's Edge

On the inland slopes above Lanzarote's south coast, in the small village of La Asomada, a farmhouse that once belonged to the family of artist César Manrique has become one of the island's more interesting places to stay. Hotel César Lanzarote opened in 2023 with just 20 rooms, a restored on-site vineyard, and enough solar power and desalination capacity to run mostly off-grid.

It's adults-only (16 and over), but – unusually for a hotel this considered – dogs are welcome too. Recognition has followed fast: a place on the Telegraph's list of the world's 50 greatest hotels in 2024, and a Best Boutique Gastronomic Hotel award for the Canary Islands in 2025. It's part of the ANNUA Signature Hotels collection.

Volcanoes On One Side, Ocean On The Other

The hotel sits just outside La Asomada, about a 10-minute drive inland from Lanzarote's southern coastline, on ground that straddles Los Volcanoes Natural Park and the La Geria wine region. From the front terrace, the view rolls out across volcano-studded land toward the Atlantic and, on a clear day, neighboring Fuerteventura.

Puerto del Carmen, the nearest beach town, is a short drive away, though the setting here is deliberately rural and quiet. La Geria's Malvasía vineyards are about 10 minutes by car; Timanfaya National Park, the old capital Teguise, and the Fundación César Manrique gallery are each roughly 20 minutes away. The island's quieter north is about 40 minutes' drive, and you can reach the sand at Famara or Papagayo within half an hour.

This stretch of the island is also where the Ironman Lanzarote triathlon has been held every year since 1992 – a race considered such tough preparation that competitors often use it as a warm-up for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.

From Family Farmhouse To Boutique Hotel

Before it was a hotel, the building was the home of Gumersindo Manrique, father of the celebrated Lanzarote artist and environmentalist César Manrique, and one of the rooms is named in his honor. In between, it spent years as a school. Architect Antonio Zamora led the conversion, keeping the original layout largely intact – courtyards, old water cisterns and whitewashed walls all survive – while building in lime, stone and timber to keep the material palette close to what was already there.

Outside, the grounds borrow their logic from La Geria's traditional vineyard farming: wind shelters, stone terraces and dry-stone walls organize the gardens the way they'd organize a vineyard. The hotel restored the estate's old Malvasía vineyards and has started making its own wine, aged in earthenware jars and French oak barrels; production started small, around 1,200 bottles, with an eventual target above 40,000 bottles a year.

Newly planted olive trees should eventually supply the kitchen with its own oil, too. Solar panels and a desalination plant run much of the property, and produce comes largely from Finca Machinda, a nearby organic farm that also works to keep old local varieties – Lanzarote onions and dryland pumpkins among them – in cultivation. The building is two stories with an elevator, and one room is adapted for guests with disabilities.

Interior designer Virginia Nieto handled everything inside, working in a green-and-white Mediterranean palette with linen, stone and local ceramics, and doors and windows painted the same bright green found across the island – originally leftover paint from local fishermen's boats.

César Restaurant

The hotel's restaurant, César, works from Atlantic seafood and produce grown in the island's volcanic soil, turning it into contemporary plates: La Santa carabinero prawns with lime mojo, flame-grilled octopus with jable sweet potato, and slow-braised goat cannelloni made with Don Nicolás cheese.

It's open to outside visitors as well as hotel guests, though it's worth booking ahead, and there's a full vegetarian and vegan menu alongside the seafood-led one.

Sunset Bar César

This is the spot for golden hour: cocktails and shared plates on a terrace where the volcanic interior and the Atlantic light meet at day's end. It's reserved for hotel guests, there's no need to book.

Pool Restaurant

By the pool, the Pool Restaurant keeps things simpler – light plates and drinks built around slow afternoons spent moving between the water, the garden and the terrace.

The Rooms & Suites

All 20 rooms were designed by Virginia Nieto, and while no two are decorated quite the same way, they share a material language: cement-tile or bamboo flooring, bathrooms finished in softly polished cement, plants throughout, and cotton towels embroidered with the hotel's green logo. Nespresso machines and Eight & Bob toiletries come as standard across every category below; what actually separates one room from the next is size, view and outdoor space.

Double Room

The entry-level category is 25 square meters (269 square feet), with a queen bed, volcano views, and its own terrace. It's a straightforward way into the hotel without giving up the outdoor space or the view.

Double Room with Volcano Views

A step up in size at 30 square meters (323 square feet), still with a queen bed and volcano views, but each room in this category is individually decorated rather than following a repeated layout.

Superior Room

Also 30 square meters (323 square feet), with a queen bed and volcano views, and – like the category above – individually designed. The difference is there's no terrace attached.

Superior Room with Terrace

The same 30 square meters (323 square feet), queen bed and volcano views as the Superior Room, but with a terrace added.

Superior Room with Terrace and Sea Views

Still 30 square meters (323 square feet) with a queen bed, but this category adds a private terrace with views that take in both the sea and the volcanoes.

Junior Suite with Terrace and Sea Views

At 40 square meters (431 square feet), with a queen bed, a bathtub, sea-and-volcano views and a 10-square-meter (108-square-foot) terrace, the Junior Suite comes in two different design layouts, though the space and views stay consistent between them.

Suite with Terrace and Volcano Views

This category jumps to 45 square meters (484 square feet) with a king bed and volcano views, paired with a 40-square-meter (431-square-foot) private terrace – nearly as large as the room that opens onto it.

Master Suite

The top category has the smallest indoor footprint among the suites, at 30 square meters (323 square feet), but the largest terrace by far.

60 square meters (646 square feet) of private outdoor space, plus a king bed, a bathtub, and views that take in the sea and the volcanoes together.

Massages In The Old Cisterns

Massages are available by appointment, and some take place in the hotel's aljibes – the property's original stone water cisterns, preserved from its days as a farmhouse and repurposed into quiet, enclosed spaces for treatments.

The Pool And Grounds

The pool is the estate's centerpiece: an organically shaped saltwater pool set into the volcanic rock, designed to extend visually toward the Atlantic and closer in feel to a natural lagoon than a standard hotel pool. A stone bridge crosses the middle of it, and the shallow end is built to mimic a natural shoreline, making it easy to access.

Around it, hammocks are arranged in semicircles that echo the dry-stone walls used across the island to shield vineyards from the wind. The grounds are large enough for walks through olive groves and orchards, and an outdoor gym faces the Atlantic if you'd rather work out with a view than without one.

The hotel lends out electric bikes for exploring the island, there's an 18-hole golf course nearby, and staff can arrange trekking, mountain biking, horseback riding and water sports beyond the property line.