Juniperus turbinata has a native distribution from Macaronesia throughout the Mediterranean to the Arabian Peninsula. It is known from southwestern and southeastern Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands and Madeira, and parts of western Asia and the Arabian Peninsula (Cyprus, the east Aegean Islands, Lebanon and Syria, the region of Palestine, the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia). It favours soils that are composed of sand, Cambrian limestone or volcanic rock.