Punta Mujeres Natural Pools

On a calm day people sit along the steps and lower themselves into clear seawater held in a basin of black lava, with the open Atlantic just beyond the rock rim. The water is clear and cold; in February it takes your breath.

The pools belong to the village seafront. A sea wall runs past them, and the houses along it stand so close to the water that high seas pound against them. When the swell is up, the pools fill and churn, swimming is off, and the walk along the sea wall becomes the reason to come: spray, noise and a row of front doors facing straight into the ocean.

• Check the tide and swell first. The pools range from shin-deep water of about 30 cm to brimming and choppy with waves breaking in.
• No toilets at the pools and none nearby, and no drinking water. Bring your own.
• The bare lava gives no shade. Bring a hat and sun cream for a long stay.
• The water is cold in winter. Come prepared for a short, bracing swim in February.

The pools sit on the seafront of Punta Mujeres, in the north-east of Lanzarote. Two unpaved car parks lie about 95 m and 174 m away in a straight line, and there is street parking too. The Punta Mujeres bus stop is about 80 m away. From the car or the bus, the pools open straight off the promenade that follows the sea wall. Wear shoes you can get wet: volcanic rock is sharp underfoot.

Best: a calm day with a low swell, early in the morning, when the sun comes up over the sea in front of the pools.

Avoid: days of high seas, and the middle of the day in summer.

Rough water fills the pools and makes swimming dangerous, and the bare black rock holds the midday heat with no shade anywhere.