Suppose you were a TV film-maker adapting a niche fantasy fiction book series or video game that features a monster-hunter beset by wolves, vampires and assorted nasties. Eastern Europe is lined up to supply the forests and castles. But where should you go to find the wildest, most primitive locations?

The answer, the producers of cult series The Witcher decided last year, was the popular holiday island of Gran Canaria. On the face of it, that might sound to you like a mad choice. After all, you wouldnt expect to stumble across medieval warriors, bards or princesses in the burger bars and infinity pools of the commercialised south.

But, visiting the island shortly after filming ended, I soon discovered that behind and beyond its coastal tourist resorts Gran Canaria harbours an amazingly diverse and evocative volcanic landscape. Rich in history and mystery, its tantalisingly lost in time. If youre looking ahead to snatching some Canarian sunshine post-lockdown, and plan to self-cater or are doubtful about spending too many days cooped up in a big hotel complex, its a perfect place to explore. Especially if you happen to be a film buff.

Gran Canaria has attracted scores of film-makers over the decades. Its photogenic in its own right, of course, but its also a location scouts dream when it comes to evoking alternative time-zones, countries or cultures. The film crews for The Witcher rolled up in March 2019. Inspired by news of the shoot, I hit the movie trail a month later on a mission to experience the islands chameleon magic at first-hand.

I awarded myself an A-listers head start, and began my adventure in the souths super-glamorous Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia, an exclusive garden enclave with just 54 rooms. (Previous guests include Bruce Springsteen, the manager confided to me proudly. Oh and your Mary Berry, he added. Though presumably not travelling together, I reflected. Now, that would have made a film-and-a-half.)

Just an hour into my visit and 330 yards from the hotel grounds I found myself on the western edge of one of Gran Canarias most-photographed marvels. The magnificent shifting dunes of Maspalomas are one-and-a-half square miles of undulating golden sand whipped into drifts and ridges by winnowing winds. A huddle of bored camels had been assembled to offer rides to tourists, but the dunes are easily walkable and I trekked happily inland into silence. With only blue skies and shimmering sands for company, it was mesmerisingly surreal like stepping into a melting Salvador Dali painting.

A dramatic pursuit across the Maspalomas dunes was one of the earliest scenes filmed for The Witcher. But the most distinctive filming locations of the nine-day shoot drew on landscapes that are still imbued with the spirit of Gran Canarias aboriginal settlers, a race of cave-dwellers who are thought to have arrived in the Canary Islands from the Berber regions of North Africa over 2,000 years ago.

In the north-west of the island, the remains of ancient burial sites and troglodyte villages still linger around the town of Galdr (a former capital) and rural Agaete. I spent a heady morning soaking up the scent of thick curtains of pinewoods in the Tamadaba massif (another filming location), before repairing to the areas wild and rocky beaches the antithesis of the well-manicured south. In the pleasantly scruffy fishing village of Sardina del Norte I sipped a bracing cortado coffee that was intermittently doused in sea-spray as breakers slapped over the jetty. A marmalade cat had sensibly taken up residence beneath a half-upturned boat.

The following day, I headed for the core of the island, its heritage heartland of sharp-toothed volcanoes and knife-edge ravines with walls still studded with cave-houses. Unmissably dominant are the islands twin symbols the majestic volcanic chimney Roque Nublo (Cloud Rock) and the aboriginals sacred mountain, Roque Bentayga. The drive was breathtaking, as the road spiralled upwards from the yellow-broom slopes of Barranco de Fataga into what felt like a petrified forest of tree and stone.

Misty layers of rock formations were massed against the horizon like jigsaw pieces. I pulled up at a pleasant picnic area, drowsy with birds and bees. A group of birdwatchers with binoculars were heading up the mountain footpath, clutching leaflets depicting the islands rare blue chaffinch. Above them, 90 minutes away on foot, rust-red Roque Nublo was wreathed in swirling cloud. Sometimes it was visible, sometimes it vanished. I was well and truly bewitched.

Then it was time for something completely different a visit to the islands capital. Cosmopolitan Las Palmas definitely isnt monster-slayer territory. But its no stranger to film crews, and I was ready now for a bit of clean-cut nostalgia courtesy of 1964s Wonderful Life (starring Cliff Richard and the Shadows). Although most of this musical romp was shot in the south, the opening scenes were filmed in Las Palmass Puerto de la Luz, so thats where I headed first. Strolling along the quayside where our heroes pursued a tartan-clad Susan Hampshire, I was struck by how similar parts of the palm-studded waterfront still looked to the 1960s footage.

The port was proving to be an unexpected delight. I lingered over a bowl of albndigas (spicy meatballs) at one of the tapas bars in the atmospheric fin-de-sicle Mercado del Puerto, a bustling wrought-iron market hall piled high with traffic-light peppers and papayas the size of rugby balls. Buzzing with chattering locals on lunch-breaks from nearby office blocks, their jackets and ties heaped on stools, it felt wonderfully non-touristy.

Just minutes away from the market hall were the ritzy caf-lined promenades of Playas de las Canteras, the two miles of buttery town beach that are Las Palmass equivalent of Copacabana. When Gregory Peck filmed scenes for Moby Dick (1956) here, he and director John Huston stayed at the nearby Santa Catalina Hotel, the citys most famous celebrity hideaway now recently reopened after a years closure for refurbishment.

But I wasnt on a whale trail right now. Instead, I wandered south to the jewel in Las Palmass crown the narrow cobbled alleyways and hidden courtyards of its old quarter, Vegueta, and the gracious neoclassical squares and buildings of adjacent Triana. Steeped in history, Veguetas balconied houses have provided the backdrop for many a period movie. In May 2016, Triana even switched continents. Its main square, Plaza de Cairasco, was covered in sand, and became Casablanca in the Second World War for the Hollywood thriller Allied, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard.

Vegueta was enchanting. I spent an absorbing couple of hours exploring art galleries, Santa Ana cathedral and the fine colonial mansion, Casa de Coln, that houses a museum dedicated to Christopher Columbus. Yet it was the little mysteries and surprises that fascinated me the most. Near the Guiniguada theatre, on the corner of Calle la Pelota, I came across a fairy-tale three-storey house turreted with enclosed balconies of glass and wrought iron. It looked as though there could be a story behind it and sure enough, I discovered that there was.

In 1889, deeply depressed by the death of his mother and fearing he might never write music again, the composer Camille Saint-Sans fled life in the Parisian spotlight to hide away for the winter in Las Palmas. He registered at a hotel under a pseudonym. One evening, walking out in the streets of Vegueta with a music teacher hed met, he heard the strains of his own Danse Macabre drifting from a window. It turned out that the talented pianist was 19 year-old Candelaria Navarro Sigala, his new friends pupil. Hearing her play, Saint-Sans was inspired to write again and he dedicated his new composition, Valse Canariote, to her.

The house that I was gazing at was built for Candelaria in 1901, after her marriage. By then, Saint-Sans had become a firm family friend. Candelaria played her grand piano there until her death in 1945, and for some years the composer continued to visit her. I pictured him, an honoured guest sitting at one of those exquisite birdcage windows while his muse played on, older but still beautiful to him. Someone should make a film about it.

Linda Cookson travelled as the guest of Sovereign Luxury Travel (01293 832459; sovereign.com) which will offer seven nights in the Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia from 1,599pp, B&B, after the hotel reopens on Sept 12. Prices are based on two sharing, including flights from Gatwick (with security fast passes and access to No1 Lounge) and private resort transfers. For July or August breaks with Sovereign, seven nights B&B in a different five-star hotel starts at 899pp, including flights and private transfers.

Airlines have resumed flights to Gran Canaria from UK airports. Given the current uncertainties, check cancellation policies of airlines and operators you book with to make sure you are happy with how flexible they are about last-minute changes.

Gran Canarias airport is 11 miles south of Las Palmas and around 16 miles north of the main resorts of the south. Bus lines 60 and 90 go north from the airport to Las Palmas (20 mins/2); lines 66 and 90 head south to main resorts and Maspalomas (40 mins/3.50).

Local car hire specialists Cicar (cicar.com) and Cabrera Medina (cabreramedina.com) offer seven days hire from around 95.

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The otherworldy Spanish island that's a hit with movie buffs - Telegraph.co.uk