Car Hire Canary Islands: Airports, Drives and Tips

If you are on a package to Playa de las Américas or Puerto del Carmen and mostly want the pool and the beach, probably not. Transfers from the airports are short, and Siam Park, one of Tenerife's best-known days out, is right by Playa de las Américas.

The case for a car grows as soon as you look beyond the resort strip. On Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz, home to Loro Parque, Lago Martiánez and the Castillo de San Felipe, is 37 minutes from Tenerife South, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with Playa de Las Teresitas and the Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, lies on the other side of the island. On Gran Canaria, Palmitos Park and the Maspalomas Lighthouse sit around the southern resorts, while on Fuerteventura Cofete is reached from the Costa Calma end of the island. Car rental in the Canaries turns those into easy day trips rather than coach excursions.

The simplest place to collect is the airport you land at, as all four main gateways have direct flights from the UK. Lanzarote (ACE) is five minutes from Arrecife, six from Puerto del Carmen and ten from Costa Teguise. Tenerife South (TFS) is 14 minutes from Playa de las Américas, 15 from Adeje, 30 from Los Gigantes and 37 from Puerto de la Cruz.

Gran Canaria (LPA) is seven minutes from Telde and 24 from Maspalomas. Fuerteventura (FUE) is a little further from its resorts: 27 minutes to Corralejo and 42 to Costa Calma. If you would rather settle in first, you can also hire for just a few days from your resort mid-holiday; compare the options for car hire in the Canaries side by side on this page.

Remember that each island is a separate drive: a car hired on Tenerife stays on Tenerife unless you take a ferry. The ferry ports in the facts are Corralejo on Fuerteventura, and Playa Blanca and Arrecife on Lanzarote, and Corralejo is also where boats leave for the uninhabited volcanic Lobos Island. If you plan an island hop by car, check with the hire company before booking whether its cars may go on board.

Summer is dry and warm, with almost no rain in July and highs of around 28°C in August at Adeje, so air conditioning is worth having. Winter brings a few more showers, with up to six rain days in February, but daytime highs stay around 20 to 21°C. Allow extra time for longer runs such as Tenerife South to Puerto de la Cruz, and for visits to protected areas like the Barranco del Infierno above Adeje, where parking near the start can fill early.

Look first at the fuel policy. Full-to-full, where you collect with a full tank and return it full, is usually the fairest arrangement; pre-paid fuel means paying for a tank you may not empty on short island drives. Next, read what the excess is and decide whether to take cover for it, either from the hire company or a separate policy bought before you travel.

If you are travelling with children, book child seats at the same time as the car rather than at the desk, especially in school holidays when demand rises across the Canary Islands. Anyone hoping for cheap car rental in the Canary Islands should compare the full price including fuel, excess and extras rather than the headline rate, and the live comparison on this page lets you do exactly that.