Top 10 Lighthouses in The Canary Islands
The Canary Islands, seven volcanic islands off the northwest coast of Africa, have occupied a pivotal position in Atlantic maritime history since the age of European exploration. Lying at roughly 28° North, in the zone of the reliable northeast trade winds, they served as the principal departure point for Christopher Columbus's first three voyages to the Americas and remained a critical staging post for the Spanish and Portuguese transoceanic routes for four centuries. The hazards they present to mariners are considerable: sheer volcanic cliffs drop abruptly into deep water, strong tidal currents flow among the islands, and the lava formations that extend in shallow submarine platforms around several of the islands have claimed numerous vessels. The Spanish lighthouse authority (originally PGE, subsequently Puertos del Estado) built a systematic network of towers from the mid-nineteenth century onward, and the resulting lighthouses — from the elegant octagonal tower at Maspalomas to the dramatically sited towers on El Hierro — reflect both the strategic importance of the islands and the volcanic grandeur of their settings.
1. Maspalomas Lighthouse, Gran Canaria
The Maspalomas Lighthouse at the southern tip of Gran Canaria is one of the most recognisable maritime landmarks in the Atlantic, its white cylindrical tower — rising 55 metres above sea level, with the tower itself about 50 metres tall — visible from the approach to the island from virtually any direction. Built in 1890 by the Spanish engineer Jaime Font Escolá, the tower marks the southernmost point of Gran Canaria and the edge of the massive submarine plateau that extends south of the cape, creating dangerous shoal water for vessels rounding the island. The light character is a group flashing white with a range of 23 nautical miles, and it remains one of the primary reference lights for vessels making landfall from the mid-Atlantic or approaching from the African coast. Maspalomas today is surrounded by the famous sand dunes and beach resort of the same name; the lighthouse stands at the end of a promenade along the dune edge and is freely accessible. The tower interior is not open, but the surrounding coastal walk past the lighthouse to the beach is enormously popular.
2. Faro de Fuencaliente, La Palma
La Palma, the northwestern Canary Island, is the steepest island in the world relative to its surface area, and its southern cape at Fuencaliente drops in extraordinary basalt sea cliffs into very deep water. The lighthouse at Fuencaliente — actually two adjacent towers, an older 1880 structure and a 1985 replacement — marks the southern tip of La Palma and the convergence of the Atlantic currents that flow around the island's southern flank. The older tower, now decommissioned, stands as a heritage structure alongside its working replacement; together they create one of the most distinctive lighthouse silhouettes in the Canaries. The site gained particular fame in 2021 when the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted and lava flows reached the sea just north of the lighthouse, adding new land to La Palma's southern tip and creating a lava delta visible from the lighthouse headland. The road to Fuencaliente passes through vineyards of the Malvasía grape cultivated in volcanic lapilli — among the most dramatic wine landscapes in Spain.
3. Punta de Anaga Lighthouse, Tenerife
The Anaga Peninsula in the northeast of Tenerife is one of the oldest geological formations in the Canary Islands, a rugged massif of deeply eroded ridges and ravines rising above sheer sea cliffs. The lighthouse at Punta de Anaga marks the extreme northeastern tip of Tenerife, the first landfall for vessels arriving from the Strait of Gibraltar or the Iberian coast, and a critical mark for the ferry traffic between Tenerife and the islands of La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. The tower was built in 1897 and is accessible only via a long, winding road through the Anaga Rural Park — a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of laurisilva cloud forest that is one of the finest surviving patches of this ancient Atlantic forest type. The lighthouse position above sheer cliffs above the sea, reached through a landscape of extraordinary botanical richness, makes Punta de Anaga one of the most rewarding lighthouse excursions in the Canaries.
4. Faro de Orchilla, El Hierro
El Hierro is the westernmost and smallest of the Canary Islands, and its westernmost point — the Orchilla cape — was designated by Ptolemy and used in European cartography as the prime meridian (0° longitude) from the sixteenth century until the Greenwich Meridian was internationally agreed in 1884. The lighthouse at Punta de Orchilla stands on this historically significant cape, a modern white tower that marks the western extremity of the Spanish Canary Islands and the edge of the last island of the European Atlantic world before the open ocean. The tower, rebuilt in the twentieth century, displays a flashing white light with a range of around 24 nautical miles, and its position at the junction of the Canary Current and the northeast trades makes Orchilla a significant waypoint for sailing vessels departing toward the Caribbean. El Hierro itself is the most volcanic and least touristically developed of the Canaries, with a geothermal energy system that supplies the island with 100% renewable electricity.
5. Punta Martino Lighthouse, Lanzarote
Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, lies only about 130 kilometres from the African coast, and its lighthouse at Punta Martino on the island's northwestern coast marks the passage between Lanzarote and the islands of La Graciosa and the Chinijo Archipelago — a narrow and current-prone strait. Lanzarote's volcanic landscape, dominated by the malpaís lava fields of Timanfaya and the artist Cesar Manrique's distinctive architecture integrated into volcanic formations, provides a dramatic backdrop for its coastal lights. The island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and its lighthouse infrastructure reflects the heavy maritime traffic between Lanzarote's Las Palmas approach and the ferry routes to the African coast at Tarfaya.
6. Rasca Lighthouse, Tenerife
At the southern tip of Tenerife, the Rasca Lighthouse marks the cape below the Teide volcano and guides vessels navigating the passage between Tenerife and the island of La Gomera. The Rasca light stands on a headland of recent volcanic lava and guards the approach to Los Cristianos, now one of the busiest ferry ports in the Canaries with high-speed services to La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro operating daily. The surrounding area is a protected natural reserve for the Loggerhead turtle nesting beach at La Tejita, making Rasca one of the more ecologically significant lighthouse headlands in the archipelago.
7. Isleta Lighthouse, Gran Canaria
The Isleta Lighthouse at the northern tip of Gran Canaria marks the headland just east of Las Palmas, the largest city and main commercial port of the Canary Islands. The tower guides vessels around the rocky peninsula of La Isleta — a geologically distinct older volcanic formation attached to the main island by a sand isthmus — and into the approaches to Las Palmas harbour. Las Palmas has been a critical Atlantic port since the colonial era, and Columbus provisioned his fleet here before his first Atlantic crossing. The Isleta light is within a Spanish military zone and not accessible to the public, but it is visible from the Las Canteras beach promenade, one of Gran Canaria's urban beaches.
8. Punta de Jandia Lighthouse, Fuerteventura
At the southern tip of Fuerteventura — the long, arid island of sandy plains and magnificent beaches that is the most African in character of the Canaries — the Jandia Lighthouse marks the southernmost point of the island and the edge of the Jandia Peninsula Natural Park. The tower guides vessels rounding the cape, where the Atlantic swell from the southwest meets the trade-wind-driven sea from the northeast in a frequently rough confluence. The Jandia Peninsula is a protected natural area and the surrounding beach at Cofete, below dramatic mountain cliffs, is one of the most isolated and atmospheric beaches in the Canaries; the lighthouse sits above this wild landscape.
9. Punta del Hidalgo Lighthouse, Tenerife
The lighthouse at Punta del Hidalgo at the northeastern tip of Tenerife, below the Anaga massif and above the rocky coastline where the trade wind clouds habitually pile against the mountain barrier, marks a headland of considerable navigational importance. The point is subject to strong swell from the northeast in winter, and the lighthouse serves both the coastal traffic and the small fishing boats from the village of Punta del Hidalgo that work this stretch of the Tenerife coast. The village below the lighthouse is a quiet fishing settlement largely bypassed by Tenerife's mass tourism, and the combination of the lighthouse, the rocky coast and the cloud-forest mountains above makes it an unusually authentic Canarian landscape.
10. Punta Restinga Lighthouse, El Hierro
At the southern tip of El Hierro, the Punta Restinga Lighthouse marks the southernmost point of the Canary Islands and the geographic end of Spain's Atlantic territory. The small village of La Restinga below the lighthouse is the departure point for diving the Mar de las Calmas — 'Sea of Calms' — one of the finest dive sites in the Atlantic, where the volcanic submarine geology creates unique habitats for cuttlefish, angel sharks and extraordinary lava tube formations. The lighthouse marks the edge of this marine reserve and guides the small fishing fleet from La Restinga, which operates in waters subject to significant underwater volcanic activity. The 2011-12 underwater eruption near La Restinga left submarine lava formations visible on dive excursions from the village.
Practical Information
The Canary Islands are served by frequent flights from mainland Europe, and the inter-island ferry network is excellent. Gran Canaria (Maspalomas) and Tenerife (Anaga, Rasca, del Hidalgo) are the most accessible lighthouse islands, with well-maintained roads reaching all the major capes. El Hierro requires a ferry from Tenerife and offers the most dramatic and least-touristic lighthouse settings; La Palma's Fuencaliente, still partly reshaped by the 2021 eruption, is one of the most geologically compelling lighthouse sites in Europe. The best visiting conditions are from October to April, when the heat is moderate and the trade wind is not at its most persistent. Open the map plots the full network of lights across the seven islands and the minor Canary islets.