Car Hire Fuerteventura: Airport Pick-Up and Driving Guide

If your plan is a week by the pool in Caleta de Fuste or Corralejo, a package transfer will get you there and you may never miss a car. The island is long, though, and its best-known sights are far from where most British travellers stay. Corralejo lies around 28 miles from the island's centre, and the Punta Jandía Lighthouse around 35 miles in the opposite direction, so the north and the far south are a serious distance apart.

A car opens up the days that buses and organised tours make awkward: Betancuria, the old inland village with its Parque Rural de Betancuria; the Torre del Tostón and Tostón Lighthouse near El Cotillo; the archaeological site at Poblado de La Atalayita; and the wide, empty beach at Cofete beyond Jandía Natural Park. Car rental in Fuerteventura is really about freedom to reach these at your own pace.

Many visitors hire for just part of their stay, two or three days in the middle of a fortnight, rather than the whole trip. That works well if you are based in a resort with plenty within walking distance.

Most people choose car hire at Fuerteventura airport, collecting on arrival at FUE and dropping off before the flight home. The airport is close to the island's main towns: Puerto del Rosario is about 5 minutes away, La Oliva 16 minutes, Betancuría 17 minutes and Tuineje 20 minutes. Picking up here means you skip the transfer coach altogether and drive straight to your hotel.

The Fuerteventura airport car rental companies range from desks in the terminal to firms that meet you nearby, and the comparison on this page lists them side by side so you can weigh terms as well as price. If you prefer to settle in first, resort pick-ups are worth checking in Corralejo, Caleta de Fuste, Costa Calma and Jandía, where most visitors stay.

Distances look modest on a map but add up across the length of the island. A day linking Corralejo Natural Park and the dunes near the north coast with Betancuria inland is very manageable; a round trip from Corralejo to the Morro Jable and Punta Jandía lighthouses in the far south is a full day and best planned with an early start.

Inland routes into the Parque Rural de Betancuria feel quite different from the coastal roads, with villages such as La Oliva and Pájara set back from the sea. Allow extra time there and around Malpaís de la Arena, and keep water in the car, as the climate is dry and summer highs reach 28°C in August.

Lobos Island, off Corralejo, cannot be reached by car; you would park in Corralejo, which has its own ferry port. Ferry links also run towards Playa Blanca and Arrecife on Lanzarote, so check your rental terms before planning to take a hire car off the island.

Cheap car hire in Fuerteventura is usually about the terms as much as the headline rate. Look for a full-to-full fuel policy, where you collect and return the car with a full tank, rather than paying upfront for fuel you may not use. Read what the excess is and whether you want cover to reduce it, either from the rental desk or arranged separately before you travel.

If you are travelling with children, book child seats at the same time as the car, especially in school holidays when demand from British families is high across the island. Arriving at FUE during busy weeks is smoother if everything is confirmed in advance.

The comparison on this page shows live car-hire prices, so you can check cheap car rental in Fuerteventura alongside the conditions that come with each offer before you commit.