A volcanic archipelago, where each island has sustainable secrets that bubble rather beautifully below the surface of mass tourism. All small islands, you feel as if you have discovered another world when you hike through the volcanic vineyards of Lanzarote, Tenerife’s magnificent Teide National Park, the barrancos or gorges of La Palma, or the cloud forests of La Gomera – an island where whales love to hide in the mists too sometimes, and then pop out to dance and delight. Add the wilderness feel of El Hierro into the mix, and you have an explosion of exquisiteness that feels more like something out of a South American landscape, but so much closer to home and always hot.

This Canary Islands travel guide aims to show off the bounties of those travel companies that have swum against the flow of mass tourism for years, flown the flag of Canaries culture and helped protect some of Europe’s most precious island landscapes.

Sometimes it is hard to convince people that the Canary Islands have anything more to offer than charter flights, cheap beer and chips. But once you have walked the cloud forests of La Gomera, surfed at sunset on Lanzarote’s Famara Beach, trekked through the volcanic voluptuousness of El Hierro or the rich, subtropical laurisilva forests of Tenerife, you will start to see why people keep coming back here again and again. As do the whales. And people have been listening to their songs for generations, so we should trust their wisdom in such matters.