César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport — San Bartolomé, Spain

Lanzarote owes much of its distinctive volcanic-white architecture and protected landscapes to César Manrique, the artist and architect whose name now graces the island's airport and whose influence shaped building codes across the Canary Islands. Serving the municipality of San Bartolomé near the island's center, the airport sits just 46 feet above sea level and leans on one runway to handle a heavy seasonal load of European charter and low-cost traffic, particularly from the UK, Germany, and mainland Spain. Manrique campaigned throughout his life against high-rise development and advertising billboards on Lanzarote, arguing that tourism should adapt to the island's stark volcanic terrain rather than the other way around, and much of the island still reflects that philosophy today. Lanzarote's landscape, shaped by volcanic eruptions in the 18th century that buried a third of the island in lava, draws visitors specifically for its otherworldly terrain at sites like Timanfaya National Park. Airport traffic swells dramatically in winter as northern Europeans seek the Canary Islands' mild year-round climate, then eases somewhat in shoulder seasons. Few island airports anywhere carry such a direct link to a single artistic vision for how a place should look and grow.