Where to stay in the Canary Islands: the best islands and resorts

Tenerife is the Canaries' heavyweight, dominated by Mount Teide, the highest mountain in Spain. The south is dry, sunny and lined with resorts: Costa Adeje is polished and family-friendly, with the five-star Bahía del Duque and the Iberostar Anthelia facing Fañabé Beach; Playa de las Americas is home to the Golden Mile and the island's liveliest nights; Los Cristianos is a friendly old fishing town.

The north is greener, cloudier and more traditional. Puerto de la Cruz, an old-school resort with black-sand beaches and seawater pools, is home to the luxurious Botánico, set in tropical gardens with views of the Orotava Valley and Teide. Santa Cruz, the capital, has a proper city feel and the golden beach of Las Teresitas nearby.

Gran Canaria is often called a continent in miniature, with pine-clad mountains in the middle, desert-like dunes in the south and a real city in the north. The south is resort country: the Maspalomas dunes roll down to the sea next to the landmark lighthouse, Playa del Inglés is loud, fun and famous for its nightlife, and Meloneras is the smart, upmarket end of the coast.

The adults-only Riu Palace Maspalomas sits among the dunes and gardens, and the Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia is a byword for quiet luxury. Puerto Rico and Amadores, on the sheltered south-west coast, are sunny and family-friendly, with resorts like Servatur Puerto Azul on the cliffs. In Las Palmas, the historic Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway hotel opened in 1890, is close to Las Canteras, one of Europe's great city beaches.

Lanzarote looks like nowhere else: black volcanic fields, vines growing in hollows of ash, and low white houses with green or blue shutters. The artist César Manrique helped keep high-rises at bay, and his lava-cave homes and gardens are among the island's sights, along with the fire mountains of Timanfaya National Park.

Puerto del Carmen is the main resort, with a long promenade and Hotel Fariones in its lush garden by the sea. Playa Blanca, in the south, is calmer, with the Princesa Yaiza across from Playa Dorada and the Papagayo beaches nearby. The adults-only Secrets Lanzarote is in the marina village of Puerto Calero, and Costa Teguise, on the east coast, has the striking Paradisus Salinas by the sea.

If beaches are the point, Fuerteventura wins. Its coastline is lined with immense stretches of white and golden sand, the trade winds make it a magnet for windsurfers and kitesurfers, and the interior is a bare, sculptural landscape of brown hills. It is quieter than its neighbours, and less built up.

Corralejo, in the north, sits beside a natural park of sand dunes, with views across to Lobos and Lanzarote; the luxurious Secrets Bahía Real is by the sea. Costa Calma and the Sotavento beaches in the south have turquoise lagoons and hotels like R2 Pájara Beach. Morro Jable, on the Jandía peninsula, has a 25 km beach on the doorstep of the Iberostar Waves Playa Gaviotas, and Caleta de Fuste, near the airport, suits families with resorts like the Barceló Fuerteventura Castillo.

La Palma calls itself La Isla Bonita, and the name fits. It is steep and lush, with the vast Caldera de Taburiente National Park at its heart and an observatory on its highest ridge, thanks to some of the clearest night skies in the world. Walkers come for the trails; nobody comes for nightlife.

La Palma Princess is a big resort in the sunny south-west, surrounded by banana plantations, with seven pools. The adults-only Esencia de La Palma is close by in Fuencaliente. On the east coast, the H10 Taburiente Playa is a short drive from Santa Cruz de La Palma, the island's handsome little capital, and the Parador de la Palma has a pool and gardens.

La Gomera is a small, round island of deep ravines and terraced valleys, with the ancient laurel forest of Garajonay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at its top. Its people even have a whistled language, Silbo Gomero, for talking across the gorges. The ferry from Los Cristianos in Tenerife makes it an easy escape.

The Parador de La Gomera is a colonial-style hotel near the beach in San Sebastián, the capital. Hotel Jardín Tecina is a much-loved resort on the south coast, and Bancal sits on a cliff with views of Tenerife and Mount Teide. Valle Gran Rey, on the west coast, is a laid-back valley of beaches and sunsets, where Hotel Gran Rey is just 40 metres from the sand.