Best Sunsets in Fuerteventura: 5 Spots and What Time to Go

We watch the sunset on every island we go to. In Fuerteventura we managed it nearly every evening of five days, and the boys started asking about it before dinner — which is the point at which you know a habit has taken.

It’s free, it takes twenty minutes, and it fits around whatever else you’d planned. Here’s where to go, what time to be there, and the one place everybody told us to see that we ran out of days for.

What time does the sun set in Fuerteventura?

The Canary Islands are one hour behind mainland Spain — all year, not just in summer. If you’re flying in from Barcelona or Madrid, everything happens an hour “earlier” than your body expects, sunset included.

When	Sunset
Mid-February	18:46
Late April	20:27
Mid-June	20:56
21 June — the latest of the year	20:57
Mid-August	20:37
Late October, before the clocks change	around 19:15
Late October, after the clocks change	18:16

Watch the last week of October. The clocks go back on the final Sunday and sunset drops by an hour overnight — from just after seven to just after six. At half term that reshapes every evening of your trip.

Get there half an hour early. The colour before the sun reaches the water is usually better than the moment itself, and at most of these places you need that time to park and walk in.

1. Faro del Tostón, El Cotillo — the best of the lot

This was our first proper sunset of the trip — we’d arrived too late on the first night to see anything.

Follow the dirt road north out of El Cotillo for about five kilometres and you reach Faro del Tostón, at Punta Ballena, on the island’s extreme north-western point. The lighthouse dates from 1897 and there is nothing around it but low scrub, black rock and the Atlantic.

It’s worth going during the day as well — the lighthouse houses the Museo de la Pesca Tradicional, the traditional fishing museum, open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–17:00. It has a reputation for opening only intermittently, so phone 928 858 998 before you drive out for the museum specifically. For the sunset it doesn’t matter — the coast is the point.

What made it: the clouds. Fuerteventura has moving cloud almost constantly, and it turns a sunset from a colour into something that keeps changing for twenty minutes.

2. El Cotillo beach and the lagoons

Same stretch of coast, five kilometres south, and a completely different evening.

El Cotillo has the lagoons — shallow natural pools of clear turquoise water held behind rock and reef — and at low tide with the sun going down they turn into a series of mirrors. We walked and took what felt like a thousand photographs and none of them were as good as being there.

This one works better with small children than the lighthouse does, because there is somewhere for them to paddle while you watch, and the village is a few minutes away for dinner afterwards.

An honest note on how we got here: that day we’d driven almost two hours south to see the long turquoise beaches of the Sotavento coast. We’d been told to stay down there for sunset at Cofete. At the last minute we decided we didn’t want to drive back in the dark with two tired children, so we crossed the island and came to El Cotillo instead. No regrets — but if you are basing yourself in the north, know that the south is a two-hour commitment each way.

3. The Corralejo dunes

We didn’t plan this one either.

We’d gone to Corralejo beach to watch the kitesurfers, and they were good enough that we stayed far too long and lost the window to get anywhere else. So we drove a few minutes further and found the Parque Natural de las Dunas de Corralejo instead.

The dunes run through a protected coastal strip of 2.5 by 10.5 kilometres covering 2,668.7 hectares in the north-east of the island. The northern half is the dune field — the southern half is volcanic landscape — so head for the northern end, off the road between Corralejo and the Grandes Playas hotels.

Walking on it at sunset, with the sand going through your toes and the light going orange behind the dunes, is the single most Fuerteventura thing we did. The boys ran until they fell over.

Best for children of any spot on this list — there is nothing to fall off and nothing to be careful about.

4. Corralejo beach

Worth its own mention because it is the easy option. Calm water, the town immediately behind it, somewhere to eat within a hundred metres, and Isla de Lobos sitting out in the strait catching the last of the light.

If you have a pushchair, a toddler who has had enough, or no interest in driving anywhere, this is the one.

5. Cofete — the one we didn’t do

We never got there, and it’s the thing I’d change.

Cofete is on the wild western side of the Jandía peninsula in the far south-west, inside a nature reserve, reached by a long unpaved mountain road. Everyone we spoke to on the island told us to go. We left it for next time and then ran out of days.

If you are staying anywhere in the south, do it. If you are in the north, be honest with yourself about the drive — from Lajares it is the better part of two and a half hours each way, most of it before you reach the track.

Why Fuerteventura’s sunsets are worth planning around

Fuerteventura is the driest and windiest of the Canary Islands and it is also, to my eye, the most striking. The island sits 97 km off the coast of north-west Africa, and the landscape shows it — volcanic black rock against turquoise water, almost no vegetation, and a sky that does the whole thing on its own.

At sunset those black rocks and that turquoise water sit under orange, red and purple, and because there is so little between you and the horizon almost anywhere on the island, you get the full show rather than a slice of it.

And the clouds keep moving. That was the thing none of us expected.

More Fuerteventura

• Fuerteventura with kids: best areas, beaches and things to do
• Pierre & Vacances Origo Mare — our honest villa review
• Top 10 things to do with kids in Lanzarote
• Top 10 places to visit in Tenerife

Fuerteventura sunsets: your questions answered

What time does the sun set in Fuerteventura?

Sunset is around 18:46 in mid-February, 20:27 in late April, 20:56 in mid-June and 20:37 in mid-August. The latest sunset of the year is 20:57 on 21 June. Remember that the Canary Islands are one hour behind mainland Spain all year round, so if you are flying in from Barcelona or Madrid everything happens an hour earlier than you expect.

Where is the best place to watch the sunset in Fuerteventura?

Faro del Tostón, the lighthouse about five kilometres north of El Cotillo at Punta Ballena on the island’s extreme north-western point. There is nothing around it but low scrub, black rock and the Atlantic. The El Cotillo lagoons a few kilometres south are the better choice with small children, because there is somewhere for them to paddle and the village is close for dinner afterwards.

Which Fuerteventura sunset spot is best with small children?

The Corralejo sand dunes. There is nothing to fall off and nothing to be careful about, so children can run while you watch. Head for the northern end of the park, off the road between Corralejo and the Grandes Playas hotels, because only the northern half of the park is dune field. Corralejo town beach is the easiest option of all if you have a pushchair, with restaurants immediately behind it.

Is Cofete worth it for sunset?

Everyone we met on the island said so, and we never managed it. Cofete is on the wild western side of the Jandía peninsula in the far south-west, inside a nature reserve and reached by a long unpaved mountain road. If you are staying in the south it is an easy recommendation. From the north it is the better part of two and a half hours each way, most of it before you even reach the track.

How early should you arrive for sunset in Fuerteventura?

About thirty minutes. The colour in the half hour before the sun reaches the water is usually better than the moment itself, and at most of these places you need that time to park and walk in.

Do the clocks change in the Canary Islands?

Yes, and it catches people out at half term. The clocks go back on the last Sunday of October, which drops sunset by a full hour overnight — from just after seven to just after six. The Canaries are on Western European Time, one hour behind mainland Spain, in both summer and winter.

Can you see the sunset from the Corralejo dunes?

Yes, and it is the most memorable one on the island. The Parque Natural de las Dunas de Corralejo covers 2,668.7 hectares in a strip measuring 2.5 by 10.5 kilometres in the north-east. Walking on the sand as the light goes orange behind the dunes is the closest thing to being in a desert beside the sea.

Is there a lighthouse museum at El Cotillo?

Yes. Faro del Tostón dates from 1897 and houses the Museo de la Pesca Tradicional, the traditional fishing museum, open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. It has a reputation for opening only intermittently, so phone 928 858 998 before making the drive if the museum is your reason for going. For the sunset it makes no difference.