You’re looking for them. Most people are. You open up a map of Spain, eyes drifting toward the Mediterranean, scanning the coast of Barcelona or maybe down toward Malaga. You won't find them there. To actually see where are the Canary Islands on a map, you have to look about 1,000 miles further south, tucked away in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a common mistake, honestly. Because they belong to Spain, our brains want to put them near Spain. In reality, these islands are geographically part of Africa, sitting just off the coast of Morocco and the Western Sahara.
The confusion usually starts with weather reports on Spanish television. For decades, map makers have used a "cut-out" box. They place the islands in a tiny square right next to the Gulf of Cádiz so they fit on the screen. This has single-handedly ruined everyone's sense of geography. If you look at a real, unedited satellite view, the archipelago looks like a handful of volcanic crumbs scattered just 62 miles (100 km) off the African coastline. They are roughly at the same latitude as Florida or the Sahara Desert, which explains why you can wear a t-shirt there in the middle of January.
The Coordinates and the "African" Reality
Let’s get technical for a second. The Canary Islands sit between $27^\circ$ and $29^\circ$ North latitude. If you follow that line east, you’re hitting the middle of the desert. To the west? You’re looking at nothing but blue water until you hit the Bahamas or Florida. It’s a weird spot. Geologically, they are oceanic islands, which basically means they rose from the sea floor due to volcanic hotspots rather than breaking off a continent.
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are the "old" islands. They’ve been around for about 20 million years, which is why they look more eroded and desert-like. As you move west across the map toward Tenerife, La Gomera, and finally El Hierro, the islands get younger. El Hierro is only about 1.1 million years old. That’s a blink of an eye in geological time. Because of this age gap, finding where are the Canary Islands on a map tells you a story of the Earth moving over a stationary magma plume. The tectonic plate moved, the volcano stayed put, and boom—you get a chain of islands.
📖 Related: New Buffalo Michigan Weather: What Most People Get Wrong
Why the Map Placement Matters for Your Flight
Ever wondered why the flight from London to Gran Canaria takes over four hours while a flight to Madrid takes two? It’s because you’re crossing an entire climate zone. When you look at the islands on a global scale, they act as a gateway. They are the northernmost tip of Macaronesia, a group of archipelagos that includes the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde.
Being in this specific spot in the Atlantic puts them right in the path of the "Trade Winds." These are the winds that cooling the islands down. Without them, the Canaries would basically be an extension of the Sahara—uninhabitable and scorching. Instead, the cool ocean currents and these winds create what locals call the "eternal spring." It’s sort of a meteorological miracle. If the islands were just a hundred miles further north or south, the entire ecosystem would collapse.
✨ Don't miss: Dauphin Island Weather 10 Day: Why Most People Get It Wrong
Finding the Individual Islands
If you’re staring at a map right now, you’ll see seven main islands (well, eight if you count the tiny La Graciosa).
- Lanzarote is the one furthest to the northeast. It looks like a moonscape.
- Fuerteventura is right next to it, boasting the longest beaches. It’s so close to Africa that Saharan dust—the Calima—frequently blows over and turns the sky orange.
- Gran Canaria is the big circular one in the middle. It’s often called a "miniature continent" because you can find snowy mountains in the center and sand dunes in the south.
- Tenerife is the largest, shaped roughly like a triangle. It’s dominated by Mount Teide, which is actually the highest point in all of Spain.
- La Gomera, La Palma, and El Hierro are the smaller, greener dots to the west.
People often miss the fact that these islands aren't just "near" Africa; they are perched on the African Tectonic Plate. While they are politically European and use the Euro, you’re technically visiting a different continent when you land.
The History of Being "Lost" on the Map
Ancient Greeks used to call them the Fortunate Isles. They thought this was the end of the world. In the era before GPS, finding where are the Canary Islands on a map was a matter of life and death for sailors. Christopher Columbus used the islands as his final jumping-off point before heading into the unknown in 1492. He stopped in La Gomera to restock. Why? Because the winds at that specific latitude were the only things strong enough to push his ships across the Atlantic.
Even today, there’s a bit of a dispute about their "place." Because they are an outermost region of the European Union, they have special tax status. They aren't in the VAT area. This is why you can still find "duty-free" shops everywhere in the airports. They are a bridge between three continents: Europe (politically), Africa (geographically), and the Americas (historically and linguistically). The Spanish spoken there sounds way more like the Spanish in Cuba or Venezuela than the Spanish in Madrid.
Don't Trust the Inset Box
Next time you see a map of Europe and the Canaries are in a little box near Portugal, remember that's a lie of convenience. If the map were drawn to scale, the islands would be off the bottom of the page. This distance is why the islands have such a unique identity. They aren't just a "beach version" of Spain. They are a volcanic outpost.
👉 See also: EZ Pass Rental Car Fees: How to Avoid Getting Scammed at the Toll Booth
The depth of the water between the islands is staggering. We’re talking thousands of meters deep. This creates a playground for whales and dolphins, making it one of the best spots on the planet for marine biology. If you look at a bathymetric map (which shows the depth of the ocean floor), you’ll see that the islands are actually massive underwater mountains. Most of the mountain is hidden under the waves. What we see as "islands" are just the peaks.
Actionable Steps for Locating and Visiting
- Use Digital Maps Properly: When using Google Maps, don't just search "Canary Islands." Search for "Santa Cruz de Tenerife" or "Las Palmas" and then zoom out. This gives you a much better perspective of the distance from the African coast versus the Spanish mainland.
- Check the Time Zone: This is the easiest way to remember they aren't on the mainland. The Canaries are always one hour behind mainland Spain (GMT/WET). They share the same time zone as London and Lisbon.
- Plan for the Calima: Since you now know how close they are to the Sahara, check the weather for "dust events" if you have asthma. These happen when the wind blows directly from the east.
- Inter-Island Travel: Because they are spread out, don't try to "day trip" from Lanzarote to El Hierro. Look at the map—they are hundreds of miles apart. Stick to neighboring islands like Lanzarote and Fuerteventura or Tenerife and La Gomera.
- Look Beyond the Beach: Since the map shows you're in a volcanic zone, visit the national parks like Timanfaya or Teide. The geography is the whole point of the trip.
Understanding the location changes how you pack, how you travel, and how you perceive the culture. You aren't just going to "South Spain." You are heading to a volcanic archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic, closer to the Sahara than to the Mediterranean. Pack a sweater for the mountain altitudes and sunscreen for that intense African sun. Both will be necessary on the same day.