GTA 5 Map Guide: Los Santos, Blaine County and GTA V Locations

The GTA 5 map covers the fictional state of San Andreas: the sprawling city of Los Santos in the south and the deserts, forests and small towns of the countryside beyond the hills. This GTA 5 map guide walks you through every major region, how large the world really is, how it compares with GTA 6, and exactly where to find the military base, Fort Zancudo.

It’s the same world on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. If you came here from our GTA V apk page, note that Rockstar has not released the game for phones, so everything below refers to the official computer and console versions.

GTA 5 Map Overview: Los Santos and Blaine County

Grand Theft Auto V is set in 2013 in a state inspired by Southern California. The whole world is open from the start, so once the opening missions are done you can drive, fly or swim anywhere you like. It splits into two halves:

• Los Santos – the urban south, modelled on Los Angeles, where most story missions and businesses are based.
• Blaine County – the rural half: desert, farmland, mountains, forests and a long coastline.

Between them sit the Vinewood Hills, the Tongva Hills and the Great Chaparral, so the drive from the beaches to the desert takes you through very different scenery. Mount Chiliad, near the top of the state, is the highest point.

Los Santos districts

• Downtown and Pillbox Hill: skyscrapers, banks and the Maze Bank Tower, the tallest building in the game.
• Vinewood and Vinewood Hills: the Hollywood-style district, with the famous Vinewood sign and the Galileo Observatory.
• Rockford Hills: the rich neighbourhood where Michael’s mansion sits.
• Del Perro and Vespucci: the beaches, the pier with its Ferris wheel and the canals.
• South Los Santos: Strawberry, Davis and Chamberlain Hills, including Franklin’s first home and Grove Street.
• The airport and the port: Los Santos International Airport, the docks and the industrial south.

Countryside Towns and Landmarks on the GTA 5 Map

• Sandy Shores: a run-down desert town by the Alamo Sea and Trevor’s home base, with a small airfield.
• Grand Senora Desert: long empty highways, open desert and the old airplane graveyard.
• Grapeseed: a quiet farming community east of Mount Chiliad.
• Paleto Bay: a small town at the far tip of the state, home to the Blaine County Savings Bank.
• Mount Chiliad: the highest peak, with a cable car to the top and great parachute jumps.
• Mount Josiah and Lago Zancudo: the swamp and mountain area on the west side, next to the military base.

Real-world inspirations

Many parts of the Los Santos map mirror real places in and around Los Angeles:

• Vinewood is Hollywood, complete with its own hillside sign.
• Rockford Hills is based on Beverly Hills.
• Del Perro echoes Santa Monica and its pier.
• Vespucci Beach and its canals are modelled on Venice Beach.
• The Alamo Sea is inspired by California’s Salton Sea.

North Yankton and the Cayo Perico Map

The story opens with a short prologue in snowy North Yankton, a separate area you can’t return to in story mode. GTA Online later added Cayo Perico, a private island reached in the 2020 heist update. Neither is part of the main state, so both sit on separate maps; the Cayo Perico map is worth learning if you play GTA Online heists.

Famous and Hidden Places to Explore

• Del Perro Pier: the beachfront pier with its Ferris wheel and roller coaster.
• Galileo Observatory: a hilltop viewpoint over the whole city, near the Vinewood sign.
• Bolingbroke Penitentiary: the state prison in the desert, target of the Prison Break heist in GTA Online.
• Humane Labs and Research: a secret lab on the east coast.
• Altruist Cult Camp: a hidden camp in the hills of the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness.
• Kortz Center: the hilltop museum on the western edge of Los Santos, inspired by the Getty Center.

How Large Is the GTA 5 World? Size and GTA 6 Comparison

Rockstar has never published an official figure in square kilometres. The most careful numbers come from community researchers at GTAdb, who measured the game world in several ways:

That’s why you’ll see very different numbers online: it depends on whether the ocean is counted. Either way, it was the largest world in the series when the game came out in 2013, and it still feels huge because of how much detail is packed in, including a full underwater area to explore.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set in the state of Leonida, centred on Vice City and inspired by Florida. Rockstar has confirmed a launch on 19 November 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it hasn’t announced an official size, so every comparison right now is a pre-release estimate. On GTAdb’s land-only figures, Leonida is roughly 1.7 times larger than San Andreas.

GTA 5 Military Base Location: Fort Zancudo

Fort Zancudo is the only military base in the game. You’ll find it on the west side of the countryside, beside the Lago Zancudo swamp and at the foot of Mount Josiah. The Zancudo River runs along its southern edge, and Route 1 (the Great Ocean Highway) passes under the main runway through a tunnel. In game coordinates it sits at about X -2047, Y 3132.

The base is a restricted area, so getting in is dangerous:

• Air traffic control warns you by radio if you fly into its airspace.
• Leaving after a warning, or shooting at the base, gives you a two-star wanted level.
• Staying over the base after the warnings raises it to four stars, and P-996 LAZER jets attack with missiles.
• On the ground, soldiers, Rhino tanks and guarded checkpoints protect the two entrances.

On the GTA 5 map it’s marked only by its runways and fences, with no icon. Players go there for the LAZER fighter jet and the tanks. Want an easier time inside? The wanted level and invincibility GTA 5 cheats help in story mode, though some are blocked during missions.

Tips for Using the In-Game Map

• Set a waypoint. Open the pause menu, pick a spot and the GPS draws the route on your mini-map.
• Use the legend. The key lists shops, missions, garages and activities so you can find locations fast.
• Each character has a home area. Michael starts in Rockford Hills, Franklin in South Los Santos and Trevor in Sandy Shores, so switching drops you in different parts of the world.
• Fly to cover distance. A plane or helicopter crosses from Paleto Bay to the airport in a few minutes.
• Explore the ocean. Shipwrecks, sunken planes and hidden collectibles sit under the water off the coast.

Those three starting points match the three leads of the story. Our guide to the GTA 5 characters covers who they are and how to switch between them.

Frequently Asked Questions

GTA5APK.mobile is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Screenshots © Rockstar Games. Size figures are community measurements from GTAdb; Rockstar has not published official sizes for GTA V or GTA VI.