Car Hire Costa Adeje: Pick-Up, Driving and Booking Tips

Honestly, not for every day. Costa Adeje runs straight into Playa de las Américas, about a mile away, and the big draws are close together: Aqualand Costa Adeje and Playa del Duque are roughly a mile off, Siam Park around a mile, Golf Las Américas about 2 miles and Monkey Park around 3. With a transfer of barely a quarter of an hour from Tenerife South, many package holidaymakers manage perfectly well without wheels.

Where car rental in Costa Adeje makes sense is for a few days of exploring. Barranco del Infierno is about 4 miles inland at Adeje, Playa de Ajabo around 4 miles up the coast, and the Malpaís de la Rasca reserve, Castillo de La Rasca and Punta Rasca Lighthouse sit 5 to 6 miles away. La Arenita, at about 7 miles, is the furthest beach on our list. Many visitors book two or three days of car hire rather than the whole fortnight.

Tenerife South (TFS) is the obvious choice: it has direct flights from the UK and is 14 minutes from Playa de las Américas and 15 minutes from Adeje. Collecting at the airport means you can skip the transfer coach and drive straight to your hotel, which suits families with luggage and car seats to juggle.

Tenerife North (TFN) is around 48 minutes from Adeje and 53 minutes from Playa de las Américas, and it has no direct UK flights, so it only matters if you are connecting from elsewhere. If you prefer to rent a car in Costa Adeje itself for just part of your stay, look for pick-up points in the resort or in neighbouring Playa de las Américas; the live comparison on this page shows which suppliers serve each location.

Distances in this corner of Tenerife are short, so most trips from the resort take minutes rather than hours. Los Cristianos, with its ferry port and Playa de Los Cristianos, is only about a mile away, while Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the other side of the island, is roughly 38 miles by road. Driving is on the right, so allow yourself a few minutes in the airport car park to settle in before joining the traffic.

The weather rarely gets in the way. Adeje sees almost no rain from April to August, with July recording no rain days at all, and daytime highs sit between 20°C and 28°C through the year. The wettest months are February and March, with five or six rainy days, so keep an eye out for slick roads then. Hot summer afternoons, when highs reach 28°C in August, are a good reason to choose a car with reliable air conditioning.

Choose a full-to-full fuel policy where you can: you collect the car with a full tank and return it full, paying only for what you use. With most drives here being short hops along the coast, pre-paid fuel deals rarely work in your favour.

Check the insurance excess before you book. Standard cover often leaves you liable for a sizeable sum if the car is scratched, so decide in advance whether to buy excess cover from the supplier or arrange a standalone policy at home. Families should reserve child seats at the time of booking rather than hoping for one at the desk, especially in the school holidays when demand is highest.

Whether you are after car hire for Adeje, Tenerife, or a pick-up at the airport, the comparison on this page lets you set suppliers side by side before you commit.