The 7 shades of colour of Fuerteventura’s sand

May 26, 2025

Fuerteventura offers a multitude of magnificent beaches with practically unlimited sand color varieties.

A beautiful, varied panorama and all on one island.

Almost all color ranges are found, ranging from white, gray, brown, gold, yellow, black.

These colors multiply infinitely influenced by other factors such as the thickness of the grains, dust or pebbles, organic remains, shells and everything that the ocean brings.

The sun and clouds also influence the color range, depending on the time of day the beaches can change in shade.

In Fuerteventura there are beaches with:

White Sand

They say it is the whitest sand in the Canary Islands, in some places it looks like snow. It is irregular and dense. It is the product of tropical fish that feed on coral. The stomach of these fish crushes the coral and discards it in the form of sand. A single fish can produce one ton of sand.

Black Sand

A very heavy sand in which there are olivine crystals which is a volcanic stone, quite precious, with a dark greenish color. In summer, the sea brings golden sand that covers the black surface and changes the appearance of this beach.

Golden Sand

This sand does not only come from the Sahara desert through the strong wind, as is commonly believed, but also from the bottom of the sea, in fact, it is possible to find remains of crushed shells. It has a beige color that characterizes the beautiful Dunes of Corralejo (protected natural park).

Yellow Sand The sand originates from the erosion of the rock present on this site, which gives it an intense yellow-orange color.

Brown Sand

In many parts of the island, you will find beaches with brown tones. In particular, there is one in the center of Fuerteventura composed of artificial sand, a dust unique in the whole island. This beach was formed with sand brought directly from the Sahara desert.

Gray Sand It is a soft gray and fine sand that rises even with very little wind. It ranges from ash gray to dark gray when wet. It was extracted from the bottom of the sea to fill the beach.

Multicolored sand

The sand contains yellow, black, and golden grains, and can also contain red, orange, and white shells. All this makes the sand of these beaches look multicolored.