Five unexpected cultural gems you can find in the Canaries

Where: Lanzarote 

There’s every chance that when you step off your ship in Lanzarote, you won’t have the foggiest about César Manrique – but you’ll leave the island knowing him like a close friend. Best known as an artist and sculptor, you won’t just find Manrique’s stuff in museums: it’s everywhere... in squares, parks, even on roundabouts. And his home in Haría is the best place to get to grips with his work, a gorgeous, well-preserved pad that shows off all the best bits of Manrique’s style while giving you serious house envy.

Where: Tenerife

Pyramids aren’t just an Egyptian thing, you know. Tenerife has its very own Pyramids of Güímar (pronounced gwi-mar), six structures made out of lava stone that are really quite mysterious. Discovered in the 1990s, historians think that they were probably built in the 1800s and... well, that’s about it. Told you, mysterious! They’re surrounded by beautiful, expansive gardens and you can visit an insightful museum which explains how the discovery took place. 

Where: Fuerteventura

You season your food with it, but how much do you really know about salt? Well, prepare for a trip through its uses, history and even cultural value at Fuerteventura’s Museo de la Sal (yes, it’s the Salt Museum). Sat next to Salinas del Carmen, the only saltworks on the island still in operation, museum entry also includes a suggested route through the salt pans. Once you’ve seen how the grains are produced in front of your very eyes, you’ll never look at condiments the same way again.

Where: La Palma 

The Canaries have countless exquisite diving sites, but none are quite so captivating as the Sunken Crosses of Malpique, an underwater graveyard of 40 crosses that lies 20 metres below sea level off the south coast of La Palma. The coral-covered crosses, which form a UNESCO biosphere reserve, commemorate a group of missionaries thrown overboard by pirates in the 1500s. These days, they make for a particularly eerie, thoughtful dive site. For more of this sort of underwater exploration in the Canaries, there’s also the Museo Atlántico in Lanzarote, an entire sculpture park beneath the waves.

Where: Gran Canaria 

The Canaries haven’t always been inhabited by the Spanish. Before them, there was an Indigenous population known as the Guanches that had been around far, far longer. In fact, it is thought that they may have arrived in the region in the first millennium BC. And it’s those pre-colonial peoples that the Museo Canario in Gran Canaria aims to ensure are never forgotten, with a vast collection that features everything from ceramics and stamps to archaeological remains. The most popular room is the display of mummies, but save time to explore Vegueta old town, where the museum is situated. Located in Gran Canaria’s capital city of Las Palmas, it’s also, rather conveniently, just a few steps from your cruise terminal.