Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in La Oliva

What to see and do in La Oliva (Fuerteventura, Las Palmas): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

2 Villages · 3 Monuments · 2 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of La Oliva

Towns near La Oliva

What to see in Puerto del Rosario 15 km · 5 places
What to see in Antigua 24 km · 9 places
What to see in Betancuria 25 km · 6 places

Spain › Canary Islands › Las Palmas › Fuerteventura › La Oliva

What to see and do in La Oliva

La Oliva
Village
A municipality in northern Fuerteventura founded around 1500 by settlers from Betancuria, among them the Hernández brothers. In 1742 it became the seat of the island's military command under Colonel Melchor de Cabrera Béthencourt, and between 1834 and 1860 it was the island's capital, before the seat moved to Puerto de Cabras.
Casa de los Coroneles
Monument
Built in the 17th century and extended in the 18th by the Cabrera Béthencourt family, it was the residence and seat of military, judicial, political and economic power for the colonels who governed Fuerteventura between the 18th and 19th centuries. Built in Canarian-Andalusian style, its north façade displays sixteen windows with wooden balconies.
Montaña de Tindaya
Monument
A mountain some 400 metres high formed by a quartz-trachyte dome, held sacred by the ancient Majos: it preserves more than 300 podomorphic (foot-shaped) carvings oriented towards Mount Teide, on Tenerife, and towards Gran Canaria. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) and a Monumento Natural (Natural Monument), it was the site where sculptor Eduardo Chillida planned in 1993 a large work hollowed out of its interior, a project that, after 26 years of opposition from environmentalists and archaeologists, was definitively abandoned in 2019.
Parque Natural de Corralejo
Nature
A protected area since 1994 covering more than 2,600 hectares in the north of Fuerteventura, famous for containing the most extensive sand dunes in the Canary Islands, formed from the breakdown of shells and other marine remains.
Islote de Lobos
Nature
A volcanic island of 4.68 km² in the La Bocaina strait, between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, named after the now-vanished colony of sea lions ("lobos marinos") that once lived there. Protected as a natural area since 1982, it was reclassified in 1994 as the Parque Natural del Islote de Lobos, separate from the Corralejo park, and is also a Special Protection Area for Birds.
Corralejo
Village
A former fishing village in the north of La Oliva, with population documented since the mid-19th century, which was radically transformed from the 1970s onward to become the second most populous settlement on Fuerteventura and the main port linking the island with Lanzarote.
Torre del Tostón
Monument
A circular defensive tower built around 1700 by the engineer Claudio de L'Isle, on the ruins of the castle of Rico Roque raised by Jean de Bethencourt, to protect the port of El Cotillo from Barbary, English and French attacks. Declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico, the heritage designation used in Spain between 1931 and 1985, in 1949.