CanaryMaps is live
Every island is on the map, ten locations on each are free to look at, and here is what that does and does not mean.
After a long stretch of driving, walking, checking and re-checking, CanaryMaps is open. Every island is on it, and you can start looking without paying anything.
Here is what that actually means, and what it does not.
What is on it
Close to a thousand locations across all seven islands, each one placed by hand rather than scraped from somewhere else. Every location has verified coordinates for the spot itself rather than the nearest village, photographs, a short description of what it is, and one tap through to whichever maps app you already use.
They fall into twelve categories: beaches, hidden beaches, viewpoints, natural pools, hiking, geology, culture and history, waterfalls, surfing, kitesurfing, sunsets, and abandoned places. The categories exist because "somewhere nice" is not a plan. Most days you know roughly what you want, and filtering to it is faster than scrolling past everything else.
You can look before you pay
Every island opens with ten locations, free, with an account and nothing else. They are picked to spread across the categories rather than clustering in one corner of the island, so what you see is a fair sample of what is there.
There is no countdown on it and it does not turn into a paid plan when you are not looking. It simply stays free. If you want the rest of an island, you unlock that island.
What it costs
Unlocking starts at €4.99 a month for a single island, and you can take more than one, in which case the price of each comes down. There is a yearly option and a one-off lifetime option at the same step. You can cancel a subscription from your account page in a click.
What it is not
It is not a review site, and it is not trying to be. There are no rankings, no scores out of ten, no "top 10 things you must do". Some of these places will be exactly your kind of afternoon and some will not, and a black sand cove at the bottom of a footpath is a different proposition in February than it is in August.
What we can tell you is where a place is, what it looks like, how far you will walk, and what to expect when you get there. Whether it is worth it is genuinely your call.
A word about the places themselves
A lot of what is on the map is quiet, and some of it is quiet because almost nobody goes. That is worth protecting.
Before the map opens you will be asked to agree to five short things, and they are not legal boilerplate. Go at your own risk, because some of these locations involve cliffs, drops, unmarked paths and no phone signal. Leave a place as you found it. Do not disturb wildlife or walk off the path into nesting areas and laurel forest floor. Follow local rules, and remember that a lot of this land is private or is somebody's village. Keep quiet places quiet.
The islands have been generous with what they hold. The least we can do is not spoil it.
Where to start
Open the map, choose an island, and look at the free preview. If the ten locations on it are the kind of thing you were hoping for, the other several hundred on that island are the same idea.
