You’ve flown the Velum a hundred times. You’ve sat through that cutscene where English Dave and Keinemusik are partying while you’re trying to sneak past a guard with a cone of vision the size of a flashlight. But if you actually look at the map in Grand Theft Auto Online, the question of where is Cayo Perico gets a little... weird.
One minute you’re at the Diamond Casino in Los Santos, and the next, you’re in a tropical paradise that looks like it belongs in a different game entirely. Honestly, it basically does. Most of the trees and birds are actually assets reused from Red Dead Redemption 2’s Guarma.
If you’re looking for a pin on a real-world map, you won’t find "Cayo Perico" listed in any atlas. It’s a fictional creation by Rockstar Games. However, the lore and the geography tell two very different stories about where this place actually sits on the globe.
The In-Game Location: Caribbean or California?
According to the game's dialogue, Cayo Perico is located in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Colombia. Miguel Madrazo tells you this explicitly during the heist intro at The Music Locker. It makes sense for the vibe—private island, drug lord, palm trees, and a massive compound that screams "narcotrafficker chic."
But if you look at the technical side of the game, things get funny.
When you’re actually playing the heist and you swim too far away from the island, the game's UI will sometimes pop up and say your location is "San Andreas." That’s because, in the game's engine, Cayo Perico is tucked away in the same world space as Los Santos. It’s sitting out in the ocean, usually southeast of the Port of South Los Santos (Terminal).
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If you’re in a public lobby and someone is doing a Business Battle on the aircraft carrier, you can sometimes see the carrier’s silhouette from the Cayo Perico shoreline. This happens because Rockstar basically "hides" the main Los Santos map while you’re on the island, but the two locations are technically neighbors in the game's code.
The Rockstar Headquarters Easter Egg
There’s a legendary bit of trivia involving the coordinates for the island. During the heist planning cutscenes on your Kosatka submarine, you might catch a glimpse of some numbers: 55.9533° N, 3.1883° W.
If you plug those into Google Maps, you aren't going to find a tropical island. You’ll find yourself in Edinburgh, Scotland. Specifically, you’ll be looking at the offices of Rockstar North. It’s a classic developer wink, basically saying the island's "real" location is the desk where it was designed.
The Real-Life Inspiration: Norman’s Cay
While the island is fictional, it isn't just a random clump of dirt. It’s heavily based on Norman’s Cay in the Bahamas.
Back in the late 1970s and early 80s, Norman’s Cay was the headquarters for Carlos Lehder, a co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. Just like El Rubio’s island, Norman’s Cay had a private airstrip, heavily armed guards, and was the primary transit point for cocaine moving from Colombia into the United States.
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The parallels are almost identical:
- The Airstrip: The runway on Cayo Perico looks strikingly similar to the one on Norman’s Cay, right down to the proximity to the water.
- The Sunken Plane: If you’ve scouted the waters around the island, you’ve seen the crashed planes. Norman's Cay famously has a sunken Curtiss C-46 Commando in shallow water that is now a popular snorkeling spot.
- The Party Vibe: Carlos Lehder was known for throwing wild, drug-fueled parties on his island, much like the beach party where you first meet El Rubio.
Why the Shape Looks Familiar
If you’ve ever looked at a map of the Caribbean and felt a sense of déjà vu, it’s because Cayo Perico’s physical shape is borrowed from an island called Canouan.
Canouan is a small island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Rockstar’s designers basically took the map of Canouan, flipped it upside down, and mirrored it. If you compare the two side-by-side, the coastline is a dead ringer.
The compound itself, though, isn't from the Bahamas or the Grenadines. The sprawling, high-walled villa of Juan Strickler (El Rubio) is inspired by Hacienda Nápoles, the legendary estate of Pablo Escobar in Colombia. The "Welcome" sign you see when entering the compound area is a direct reference to the airplane archway at Escobar's real-life ranch.
How to Actually Get There (The Hard Way)
In the world of GTA Online, you can’t just hop in a Buzzard and fly to Cayo Perico in free-roam mode. It’s a "separate" instance. To get there, you have to:
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- Buy a Kosatka Submarine from Warstock Cache & Carry.
- Meet Miguel Madrazo at The Music Locker.
- Start the heist prep to fly the Velum to the island for the "Scope Out" mission.
Once you’ve completed the heist for the first time, you can return to the island’s beach party at any time by going to the VIP charter at LSIA. You won’t be able to explore the whole island, but you can hang out at the dance floor and listen to the DJs.
Practical Insights for the Modern Heister
Since the heist was released, Rockstar has tweaked the "location" and mechanics several times. It remains the most profitable solo activity in the game, but the guards have become much more sensitive to dead bodies and noise.
If you’re heading there to make some quick millions, remember that the island’s "geography" is your best weapon. The drainage pipe behind the compound (accessible via a Longfin or Kosatka entry) remains the most efficient way in. It bypasses the need to worry about where the island is and focuses on getting you right into the vault.
Cayo Perico is a weird mix of Bahamian history, Scottish coordinates, and Colombian drug lore. It’s a place that doesn't exist, yet feels real because every piece of it is stolen from a very dark, very real history of the Caribbean.
To master the island, your next move should be focusing on the Drainage Pipe entry point during your next scope-out; it is the only way to consistently hit the compound without dealing with the airstrip guards. You'll need to swim to the back of the mansion (the south side) and dive deep to find the grate.