Car Hire Lanzarote: Airport Pick-Up, Driving Notes and Tips

If you plan to stay put in Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca or Costa Teguise and spend the week between pool and beach, you can manage without one. Lanzarote is a compact island and the airport transfer is short, so a car is not essential for getting to your hotel.

The case for car rental on Lanzarote is everything else. The island's headline sights sit in different corners: Timanfaya National Park out towards El Golfo on the west coast, the Jardín de Cactus at Guatiza in the north-east, the Fundación César Manrique at Nazaret, the Fortress of Saint Barbara above Teguise, and the inland village of Haría further north. Seeing several of them in a day, at your own pace, is far easier with your own wheels than with organised excursions.

A car also helps with beaches. Playa de los Pocillos and Playa de Matagorda near Puerto del Carmen and Tías, or Playa del Jablillo and Playa de los Charcos at Costa Teguise, are easy to hop between when you are not tied to a timetable.

For most British travellers, car hire at Lanzarote Airport is the obvious choice. ACE is the island's only airport, it has direct flights from the UK, and it lies so close to the main towns that you will be at Tías in about 4 minutes, Arrecife or San Bartolomé in about 5 and Puerto del Carmen in about 6. Collecting at the terminal means no taxi and no second trip.

If you only want a car for a couple of days mid-holiday, it can make sense to pick up in or near your resort instead. Arrecife, the island's capital and largest town, is the natural alternative, and the main resorts of Puerto del Carmen, Playa Blanca and Costa Teguise are where most visitors base themselves. The comparison on this page lets you check both airport and local pick-up options side by side.

Distances are short. Measured from the middle of the island, Puerto del Carmen is roughly 7 miles away, Costa Teguise about 8, Haría about 11 and El Golfo about 12, so even a loop taking in the west coast and the north stays comfortably within a day. The Lanzarote Aeronautical Museum near Tías and the Cueva de los Naturalistas at San Bartolomé are close enough to the airport to fit in on arrival or departure day.

The weather is on your side. Records from Puerto del Carmen show very little rain at any time of year, with a single rainy day typical in most summer months and only a handful even in February and March. Daytime highs run from about 21°C in winter to 29°C in August, so keep water in the car and park in shade where you can on visits to Timanfaya or Los Volcanes Natural Park, where the volcanic landscape offers little cover.

Lanzarote has ferry ports at Arrecife and Playa Blanca, and Corralejo is also listed as a nearby crossing. If you are tempted by a hop to another island, check your rental terms first, as taking a hire car on a ferry is not always permitted.

If you are hunting for cheap car hire on Lanzarote, the headline daily rate is only part of the picture. Look for a full-to-full fuel policy, where you collect the car with a full tank and return it full, so you pay only for the fuel you use. Check the excess carefully too: decide before you travel whether to take the provider's own cover or arrange your own excess insurance, and make sure you understand what the deposit on your card will be.

Travelling with children? Book child seats or boosters at the same time as the car rather than hoping for one at the desk, especially in the school holidays when families fill the island. Photograph the car at collection, note any marks on the paperwork, and keep your flight number on the booking so the desk knows if you are delayed.

The live comparison on this page shows car rental at Lanzarote Airport and in the resorts together, so you can weigh price against fuel policy, excess and pick-up location in one place.