Maspalomas Lighthouse

Local name: Faro de Maspalomas

Blue-grey stone lighthouse from 1890 at the edge of the Maspalomas Dunes, with a crafts museum and viewing deck

Maspalomas Lighthouse is an active lighthouse at Punta de Maspalomas, the southern point of Gran Canaria, standing at one end of Maspalomas Beach next to the dune field. Engineer Juan León y Castillo drew up the project in 1884, the works ran until 1889, and the light was first lit on 1 February 1890. At 56 m it is the tallest masonry lighthouse in the Canary Islands. It was declared a Property of Cultural Interest in 2005, and the keeper's building at its foot reopened to the public in 2019 after ten years of closure.

Lighthouse

Entrance: Free; the museum inside costs nothing to enter.
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance and parking. Toilets are on the museum's ground floor; the viewing deck is about three floors up.
Parking: Paid car parks about 140 m away in a straight line, with wheelchair-accessible spaces.
Difficulty: No real approach: the car parks are about 140 m away and the tower stands on a public square. Inside, the viewing deck is about three floors up.
Transport: Bus to the Faro de Maspalomas stops (platforms 4 and 6), about 450 m away in a straight line.
Hours: The museum opens every day; the outside of the tower can be seen from the public square at any hour.
Address: Faro de Maspalomas, Pl. del Faro, 15, 35100 Maspalomas, Las Palmas, Spain

What makes it special

After dark the lantern throws one slow white flash and then two more, a group every thirteen seconds, with a range of 19 nautical miles out to sea. By day the tower is the landmark of the whole resort: a tapering column of blue-grey stone at the end of Maspalomas Beach (Playa de Maspalomas), with the sand of the Maspalomas Dunes (Dunas de Maspalomas) running away behind it. It has been working since 1890 and is now fully automated.

The two-storey keeper's building on its north side is laid out around a Canarian patio, with a tea-wood balcony over the entrance. When it reopened in 2019, it was fitted out with an exhibition of rural crafts from Gran Canaria, everyday objects up to the mid-20th century and a doll's house from 1930 with seventeen rooms. The viewing deck about three floors up looks out over the sea and the dunes, with the tower rising straight above you.

Good to know

The top of the tower is closed to visitors; the viewing deck about three floors up is as high as you go.
The museum has toilets on the ground floor and a gift shop. Free public toilets stand about 140 m from the tower.
There is no drinking fountain nearby: bring water or buy it at the cafés on the promenade.
Bars, restaurants and shops line the promenade on both sides of the lighthouse, some of them firmly upmarket.

Getting there

Two bus stops named Faro de Maspalomas sit about 450 m in a straight line from the tower. Drivers have paid car parks about 140 m away, with wheelchair-accessible spaces. Whichever way you come, the tower is the thing to steer by: it stands over the low buildings around the square and shows from far along the shore.

On foot, Maspalomas Beach leads to the lighthouse from the Playa del Inglés side, with the dunes on one hand and the sea on the other. The sand has no shade, so on a hot day set out early and carry water. The promenade towards Meloneras continues west from the square, lined with restaurants and shops.

Best time to visit

Best: late afternoon into sunset, or early morning.

Avoid: the middle of a hot day, if you plan to walk in along the beach.

Sunset is the hour the square gathers to watch, early morning leaves the promenade and the sand by the tower quiet, and at midday the open beach has no shade at all.

Sun & daylight

BeachNational Park

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Soria Reservoir