The Canary Islands have been placed on Fodor's No List for 2026, with the travel guide saying the archipelago should be reconsidered for visiting next year. Lanzarote and the rest of the Spanish islands are being singled out because overtourism has become the main force behind the warning.

The move lands after the Canary Islands Tourism Observatory reported a record 18.4 million visitors in 2025, almost 3.5% more than the year before. That surge has fed a backlash that has been building for years, and it has now put pressure on the region's appeal as a sun-and-sea destination.

Protests and marches against uncontrolled tourism swept across the archipelago in 2024, and large-scale demonstrations followed in May 2025, when worried locals carried banners saying the Canaries have a limit. The complaints were not abstract. Protesters pointed to collapsing infrastructure, a shortage of affordable housing and water supplies that are already under strain.

Fodor's said those problems are being made worse by rising arrival numbers, with housing costs in key Canarian towns having skyrocketed in recent years and traffic jams becoming part of daily life. The guide also said the islands are facing loss of biodiversity and historic water shortages, a point echoed by a Global Water Partnership report that recognizes long-running water stress across the region.

The housing squeeze has become one of the clearest fault lines. The source says non-licensed holiday rentals could account for almost a third of the whole market in the Canaries, reducing the stock available to residents and pushing rents higher in places that are already under pressure. That has made the tourism debate feel less like a policy argument and more like a fight over who the islands are for.

The Canary Islands are part of Spain and sit off the coast of Northwest Africa, with Tenerife's Mount Teide, white-sand beaches in Fuerteventura, one of Europe's sunniest climates, volcanic wine-growing regions, local cuisine and world-class surf among their biggest draws. They are also not alone on Fodor's No List for 2026, which includes other destinations in Spain and elsewhere, but the message for the islands is the sharpest yet: their popularity is now colliding with the limits of the place itself.