Dating in Canary Islands: How to Meet People Beyond Your Small Town

Canary Islands has about 2.2 million people and 88 municipalities, and many of them are small: 27 (31%) have fewer than 5,000 people, and 1 have fewer than 1,000. If you live in a small one, you already know what dating close to home looks like: you've met most of the single people you'd consider, or you know someone who has.

This page is for everyone in those towns. It covers why the big dating apps make a small town's dating pool even smaller, how Amarbis lets you meet people across all of Canary Islands instead, and, further down, every municipality in Canary Islands by province.

Canary Islands by town size

Size of place	Places	People
Under 1,000	1	811
1,000 to 4,999	26	80,000
5,000 to 24,999	42	574,000
25,000 or more	19	1.6 million

The typical municipality in Canary Islands has about 9,400 people. Its 19 places of 25,000 or more, led by Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (381,000), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (209,000) and San Cristóbal de La Laguna (160,000), are home to about 1.6 million of the region's 2.2 million people; everyone else lives in the smaller towns and the countryside.

Why dating close to home runs out in small-town Canary Islands

Dating apps that sort by distance start with the people nearest you. In a small town in Canary Islands that's a short list, and it doesn't take long to see all of it. A few examples:

Frontera (about 4,500 people): 2 other municipalities with 7,200 people between them within 50 km, and the nearest place of 25,000 or more is Adeje, 132 km away.

The point stands across Canary Islands: a distance-ranked app fills a small-town deck with the same few faces, and the bigger pools are a long way off.

Why the nearest city is out of reach on the big apps

Dating in a small town is hard, and meeting someone in the nearest city can be harder. Many dating apps lean on distance to decide who you see, and Tinuiti's analysis of Tinder's algorithm says proximity is a key factor in who it shows you. When someone in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or Santa Cruz de Tenerife opens a distance-ranked app, the people who live near them come first. You live farther away, so you land behind their neighbours in their deck, whatever your photos and profile say.

That's the small-town problem twice over: at home you keep seeing the same people, and in the city you're barely seen.

How Amarbis is different

You choose your region

On Amarbis you choose the region you meet people from instead of being limited to whoever lives closest. Choose Canary Islands and your pool is the whole region, about 2.2 million people, whether you live in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or a village of a few hundred. A member in a town of 1,000 has the same region-wide pool as a member in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Ranking isn't based on distance

On Amarbis, ranking isn't based on distance. Choose Canary Islands as your region and the person you'd like to meet in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria isn't shown their next-door neighbour ahead of you because of where you live. It's the opposite of the proximity problem above, and it matters most to the people the big apps leave behind.

No distance limits, and the whole world if you want it

Amarbis has no distance limits, so you aren't limited to Canary Islands either. You can widen your region to the neighbouring regions or meet someone in another country: Amarbis is an international dating app, the app speaks more than 50 languages, and built-in chat translation helps when you don't share one. The km only matter once you both want to meet.

Real people, reviewed by real people

Every member has a real face photo, photos are screened before anyone sees them, and every profile on Amarbis is reviewed by a real person. When your local pool is small, every fake or abandoned profile takes up a bigger share of what you see, so that review step is worth more in a small town than in a big city.

Free to join

Joining is free, with no credit card. The free plan gives you 25 likes a day and unlimited messaging with your matches, so you can find out whether Amarbis works for your town before you pay anything. See plans and pricing for what the paid plans add.

How to start from a small town in Canary Islands

Sign up free and build a profile that sounds like you: a clear photo of your face and one specific thing about life in your town. Our profile tips show what works.
Set your region to Canary Islands, or wider if you like.
Message first. One good question about where someone lives works better than "hey", and a conversation can start long before anyone plans a trip.
When you both want to meet, pick a public place about halfway, tell a friend where you're going, and follow our safe-meeting checklist.

Built by someone from a small town

Amarbis's founder, Nick, is from Boardman, Oregon, a small American town of about 4,500 people. The small-town dating problem on this page is one he knows first-hand: a deck full of people you already know, and a nearby city that ranks its own neighbours ahead of you. Amarbis is built so that where you live in Canary Islands doesn't decide who you can meet.

Every municipality in Canary Islands

All 88 municipalities in Canary Islands by province. Wherever yours is on this list, everything on this page applies to you: choose Canary Islands as your region on Amarbis and every place below is in your pool.

El Hierro

El Pinar de El Hierro: 2,027 people
Frontera: 4,483 people
Valverde: 5,149 people

Fuerteventura

Antigua: 13,513 people
Betancuria: 811 people
La Oliva: 29,174 people
Puerto del Rosario: 43,493 people
Pájara: 21,130 people
Tuineje: 16,031 people

Gran Canaria

Agaete: 5,593 people
Agüimes: 32,797 people
Artenara: 1,036 people
Arucas: 38,655 people
Firgas: 7,701 people
Gáldar: 24,728 people
Ingenio: 32,356 people
La Aldea de San Nicolás: 7,523 people
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: 380,863 people
Mogán: 20,938 people
Moya: 7,887 people
San Bartolomé de Tirajana: 54,668 people
Santa Brígida: 18,598 people
Santa Lucía de Tirajana: 76,418 people
Santa María de Guía de Gran Canaria: 13,971 people
Tejeda: 1,846 people
Telde: 103,240 people
Teror: 12,831 people
Valleseco: 3,766 people
Valsequillo de Gran Canaria: 9,693 people
Vega de San Mateo: 7,785 people

La Gomera

Agulo: 1,123 people
Alajeró: 2,066 people
Hermigua: 1,943 people
San Sebastián de la Gomera: 9,584 people
Valle Gran Rey: 4,705 people
Vallehermoso: 2,940 people

La Palma

Barlovento: 1,992 people
Breña Alta: 7,315 people
Breña Baja: 5,966 people
El Paso: 7,972 people
Fuencaliente de la Palma: 1,849 people
Garafía: 1,949 people
Los Llanos de Aridane: 20,375 people
Puntagorda: 2,380 people
Puntallana: 2,612 people
San Andrés y Sauces: 4,301 people
Santa Cruz de la Palma: 15,522 people
Tazacorte: 4,535 people
Tijarafe: 2,632 people
Villa de Mazo: 4,938 people

Lanzarote

Arrecife: 64,735 people
Haría: 5,543 people
San Bartolomé: 19,443 people
Teguise: 23,788 people
Tinajo: 6,725 people
Tías: 21,296 people
Yaiza: 17,268 people

Tenerife

Adeje: 50,523 people
Arafo: 5,760 people
Arico: 9,049 people
Arona: 86,497 people
Buenavista del Norte: 4,720 people
Candelaria: 28,876 people
El Rosario: 17,905 people
El Sauzal: 9,161 people
El Tanque: 2,810 people
Fasnia: 2,991 people
Garachico: 4,975 people
Granadilla de Abona: 55,505 people
Guía de Isora: 22,478 people
Güímar: 21,558 people
Icod de los Vinos: 24,117 people
La Guancha: 5,562 people
La Matanza de Acentejo: 9,114 people
La Orotava: 42,667 people
La Victoria de Acentejo: 9,223 people
Los Realejos: 37,543 people
Los Silos: 4,677 people
Puerto de la Cruz: 31,396 people
San Cristóbal de La Laguna: 159,576 people
San Juan de la Rambla: 4,939 people
San Miguel de Abona: 23,007 people
Santa Cruz de Tenerife: 208,906 people
Santa Úrsula: 15,282 people
Santiago del Teide: 12,072 people
Tacoronte: 24,701 people
Tegueste: 11,375 people
Vilaflor de Chasna: 1,850 people

Frequently asked questions

What is the best dating app for small towns in Canary Islands?

We think it's Amarbis. You choose the region you meet people from, so a small town in Canary Islands gets the same region-wide pool as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; ranking isn't based on distance; there are no distance limits; every profile is reviewed by a real person; and joining is free.

Why do I keep seeing the same people on dating apps in my town?

Many dating apps lean on distance to decide who you see, and in a small town the closest people are a short list. Tinuiti's analysis of Tinder's algorithm says proximity is a key factor, which is why a small-town deck fills with the same neighbours. On Amarbis you choose your region, so your pool isn't limited to your postcode.

Can I meet people from all over Canary Islands?

Yes. Choose Canary Islands as your region and you meet people across the region, from wherever you live, without being ranked behind someone's neighbours.

Can I meet people outside Canary Islands?

Yes. Amarbis has no distance limits, so you can widen your region or meet someone in another country, with built-in chat translation when you don't share a language. Start with the international dating guide.

Is Amarbis free?

Yes. Joining is free, with no credit card, and the free plan includes 25 likes a day and unlimited messaging with your matches. Create your profile.

More regions in Spain

See every state, province and region. New here? Read why Amarbis is the best dating app for small towns.

More from Amarbis

Population figures: Eurostat GISCO, local administrative units (LAU 2023) population figures; region total: sum of the municipalities below (Eurostat LAU 2023). Figures are for whole municipalities, which include the countryside around the main town. Distances are straight-line between town locations, so road distances are longer.