GTA Online's Cayo Perico Island: Location, heist, trivia, and more

December 15th, for all GTA Online fans, was a date that they had been looking forward to for the better part of 2020. Rockstar unveiled their plans for future content towards the start of the year, and the update scheduled for later in the year piqued the player base's interest to no end.

The second update, which now players know as the Cayo Perico Heist, was built up to be the biggest ever update to GTA Online. So far, it does seem like more content is on its way to the game, and the one that is currently available is also fairly interesting.

The single biggest addition to GTA Online comes in the form of the entirely new location on the map, the Cayo Perico Island.

Note: Players must complete the Cayo Perico Heist as a Leader in order to visit the island's beach party area along with friends in the game.

Everything to know about the Cayo Perico Island in GTA Online

Cayo Perico's map on the Kostaka Submarine (Image via GTA Wiki Fandom)

To start the heist in GTA Online, players must first visit Miguel Madrazo in the new nightclub, The Music Locker. After which, players will be able to buy a Kosatka Submarine.

Players will be met by a new character named Pavel and be briefed about his prized submarine. Through Kosatka's control panel, players will have to register as a CEO/President and begin the setup for Cayo Perico Heist in GTA Online.

The submarine will be the player's only way to approach the Cayo Perico Island for the heist. The island is off the coast of Los Santos and is not reachable through conventional means such as boats or planes.

While the island cannot be visited in its entirety during Freemode, GTA Online does allow the player to return to the location's beach party area post-Heist completion.

Apart from being the private compound of notorious drug lord El Rubio, the island is also a prime hotspot for beachside rave marathons. This makes it the perfect spot to hang out with friends and crew in GTA Online after completing the Heist.

The exact location of Cayo Perico cannot be determined as players are met with a loading screen when picking the destination off of the control panel in the submarine.

While GTA Online's first map expansion might not actually be a complete map in Freemode, it is still a step in the right direction for Rockstar for the future of the game with regards to content updates.

Trivia

(source: gta wiki)

• Cayo Perico translates from Spanish as "Parakeet Island." Perico also means "cocaine," mocking the fact that the island has a cocaine farm.
• The welcome sign on the island is likely based on the main entrance of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar's Hacienda Nápoles estate.
• Vehicles on the island carry San Andreas license plates, likely because they were brought over from there by El Rubio.