Cesar Manrique Foundation

Go down from the white house and you are inside the lava. The lower floor is a chain of rooms built into volcanic bubbles, joined by passages through black rock, with daylight falling in through openings overhead. Manrique lived here, and the bubbles were made for living in: a sitting room, a pool, plants reaching up towards the light.

Above ground the building follows the island's traditional architecture, whitewashed and low, with the lava field outside the windows. Two collections hang in the rooms. One is Manrique's own work; the other is the contemporary art he owned, mostly by artists of his generation. Video screenings run continuously on his life and on what he did for Lanzarote.

• Allow one to two hours for the house, the two collections and the bubble rooms below.
• There is a café, a gift shop and toilets on site.
• Entrance fees go towards the upkeep and protection of Manrique's sites on the island.
• The Lagomar Museum (Museo Lagomar), another house shaped into rock, makes a natural second stop after this one.

The foundation stands at Tahíche, in the municipality of Teguise, beside the road junction that carries Manrique's name. Drivers have a free visitor car park with plenty of space about 90 m away, on asphalt, and there is street parking as well. The nearest bus stop, Cruce César Manrique, is about 260 m away in a straight line, so the last stretch on foot is a walk of a few hundred metres along the road. An information board stands by the entrance.

Best: mid-afternoon, arriving with the hour or two the visit needs still left before closing. Avoid: late morning, when coach tours on the island circuit tend to arrive. The bubble rooms and passages are narrow, and they feel very different with a handful of people in them than with a tour group.