The islands lie 1,150km off the coast of Spain but only 100km from Morocco. The Canarians say that geographically they are African, culturally they are European, their nationality is Spanish, but their heart is in America, referring to the fact that Latin America was originally colonised mainly by island people. They may be politically and administratively Spanish but culturally and geographically they have very much their own personality.

Las Islas Canarias consist of seven main islands, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, la Gomera, La Palma and Hierro. The islands share an eternal spring climate but they differ dramatically from each other. Exploring the Canaries you move from sub-tropical vegetation to volcanic semi-desert, from verdant cliffs and gorges to sand dunes by the seashore.

Herodotus called them the Garden of Hesperides, Homer, the Elysian Fields and Pliny the Fortunate isles. Some historians even say that the legendary continent Atlantis was located here. It was on La Palma that Christopher Columbus stopped to take on his final provisions before setting off to discover the New World in 1492.

Contrary to the belief that Gran Canaria gets its name from the chirruping little yellow song bird, the island was called Insularia Canaria in Latin, Island of Dogs, after the fierce hunting dogs found there when Juba, King of Mauritania, paid a visit.

Despite its name, Gran Canaria is only the third largest in the archipelago and isn't even the size of London. It was described as a 'miniature continent' by Canarian journalist Fray Lesco because of its diversity of climate. In winter you can walk in the snow-capped mountains of La Cumbre in the middle of the island and a few kilometres away bask on sun-soaked beaches. It was once the department store between Spain and America, and now the island's capital, Las Palmas, is the busiest cruise port in the Canaries.

Of the nine national parks in Spain the Canary Islands has four of them. On Las Palmas itself forty-three percent of the island is protected area. As you drive into the interior, dipping through rugged mountain terrain, great tracts of greenery open up in front of you.

From the 'continent in miniature' to the strange volcanic landscape of Lanzarote, the easternmost Canary Island and almost equidistant between Gran Canaria and Africa. In 1730 Lanzarote experienced one of the world's greatest volcanic eruptions, lasting six years, burying more than twenty villages and leaving the island with a unique landscape, more of a moonscape really, that from a distance looks like new and unevenly turned earth.

This is most evident in the dramatic Timanfaya National Park where over one hundred craters display tones of ochre and grey to a backdrop of the piercingly blue Atlantic in the distance. As you take a ride through the surreal landscape you feel as if you wouldn't be surprised to see Neil Armstrong step out from behind a rock in a big white bubble moon suite.

As a way of encouraging visitors to explore the island, the local government established the Rural Tourism Association of Lanzarote, and is actively encouraging a new type of tourism on the island, which includes equestrian tourism, bicycle tourism, walking holidays and discovering the local cuisine.

Tenerife is the largest and most populated of the Islas Canarias, and tourists have been visiting the island from as far back as 1890. These days the resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americanas are the most popular for those simply looking for a relaxing beach holiday, but Puerto de la Cruz, the second largest city on the island has been famous as a spa centre since the end of the 19th century. It also has the stunning Lago Martianez, a series of seawater pools conceived by the Canary artist Cesar Manrique which blends the local architecture with the exotic vegetation of the volcanic coast, and nearby Loro Park is tropical garden with the largest collection of parrots in the world.

Fuerteventura is the 'beach island', with more sand dunes and sandy beaches than any other island in the Canaries. It's a surfers, windsurfers and divers heaven, and every year hundreds of water sports fanatics descend on the island during July, when it hosts the P.W.A world windsurfing speed and slalom event at Sotavento in the south.

La Gomera, La Palma and Hierro are where you go to simply enjoy the Canaries at their most relaxed and original; passing the days and evenings slowly and contentedly, away from tourist bustle.

So whatever you want from your holiday, the Canaries has it – all year round!