Where a car can be handed over in Tenerife
Every place on Tenerife where a hire car is handed over or delivered, what each one actually offers, and whether you meet the car there or it comes to you.
Prices are in euros. The deposit and the cancellation terms are shown on each car before you book.
There are two ways to be given a car on this island and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. At the two airports you are met in the arrival area, which is the named handover place and the whole of the description available: no desk, no counter, no numbered bay. Everywhere else the car is brought to the address you give inside that town.
Puerto de la Cruz is the single exception, and the only town on Tenerife with named predetermined points: a free parking area, the Parque Taoro car park and the Guaguas bus station. Those are meeting places rather than counters. If being able to say in advance exactly where you will be standing matters to you, that is the place it is possible.
Almost every point can be chosen as a drop-off as well as a pick-up. Choosing one as your pick-up opens the search on it; choosing a different one as the drop-off makes the rental one-way, with any charge shown against the price on each car. Golf del Sur and Guía de Isora take cars in one direction only, so they appear in the pick-up list and not in the drop-off list.
Two kinds of place, and why the difference matters
An airport point and a town point are not the same product with a different address on it. At Tenerife South and Tenerife North the place is the arrival area, and that is both the name in the booking system and the whole of the description: somebody meets you there with the keys and the paperwork, and there is no desk, no counter and no office to walk to. If the flight is late, the number you gave at booking is what the arrangement runs on: the conditions require it to be reachable the day before pick-up and throughout the rental.
A town point is the opposite arrangement. The car comes to you, at an address you name inside that town, at a time agreed when you book. Nothing is standing ready in a car park; the meeting is made rather than found. That is the better answer if you are arriving by taxi, by ferry or by bus, and the worse one if you want the keys in your hand before you have left the terminal building, which is the whole of the choice between the two.
How does delivery to an address actually work?
You give an address when you book and somebody meets you there. It can be a hotel entrance, an apartment block, a villa or a car park gate, and the useful version is the one a driver can actually stop at rather than the one printed on the booking, which is not always the same address.
Whether the delivery is included in the price or charged for is decided by the supplier who owns the car rather than by the town. The figure sits on the listing, before you pay, and some cars carry none at all. The paperwork at the kerb is the same paperwork as at an airport: the licence card itself in the main driver's name, the payment card in that same name, the deposit, and a walk round the car before the keys change hands.
The one town where you can name the spot
Puerto de la Cruz is the exception on this island, and the reason is administrative rather than scenic. It is the only town with named, predetermined points in the booking system: a free parking area, the Parque Taoro car park and the Guaguas bus station. All of them are meeting places rather than counters, and delivery to an address is offered there as well, so the named points are an extra option rather than a restriction.
Which of them suits you is a question of where you are sleeping. Parque Taoro is the one to choose from the hill above the centre, because walking down to the harbour with a suitcase and back up without a car is a poor start to a week. The bus station is the natural one if you are arriving in town by bus. The free parking point is the plainest of them and the easiest to describe to a taxi driver.
Can I leave the car somewhere other than where I collected it?
Usually, yes. Almost every point on the island can be chosen at the end of a rental as well as at the start. Choose one as the pick-up and the search opens on it; choose a different one as the drop-off and the rental becomes one-way, with the charge for it shown against the price on each car rather than arriving afterwards.
The choice is deepest between the two airports, by a wide margin and in both directions, and it thins as the towns get smaller. What is actually there for your own dates is a question for the search rather than for a page. What does not change with the address is the rest of the rental: the same fuel level it left with, a state that can be inspected, and the agent informed in advance of any extension.
Your dates. Your starting point.
Compare the cars available for your trip, then check the payment card and deposit requirements for the one you choose.
Find a carFree-flow driving times from Tenerife South Airport.
Which point should I choose?
Start from where you will be standing at the moment you want the car, rather than from where you are staying for the week. If you land in the south and want to drive away from the terminal, the airport is the answer, and it is the default in the search for a reason. If you are being transferred to a resort and want the car from the second morning onwards, the town is the answer, and the delivery is the entire point of it.
Choice rather than price is what separates them. The southern airport carries the widest list on the island, which matters most when you are booking late or looking for something specific such as an automatic or a seven-seater, and both of those are a minority of what is listed there. The cheapest cars in the southern towns sit close to the airport's own. Whatever you choose, the covered car parks that serve these resorts run to about two metres of headroom, so the small car is usually the right one wherever it is handed over.
- the cars we can put in the arrival area Tenerife South Airport
- the arrival area at the south terminal Met on arrival
- Costa Adeje and the streets above it Brought to your address
- Los Cristianos and the harbour Brought to your address
- Playa de las Americas Brought to your address
- Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast Named points, or delivery
- Los Gigantes under the cliffs Brought to your address
- the capital at Santa Cruz Brought to your address
- El Medano and its wind Brought to your address
- Playa Paraiso Brought to your address
- the older airport above La Laguna Met on arrival
Airports
The south
Elsewhere on the island
Useful answers
These come up about this list more than anything else, so they are here rather than on a page you would have to find.
Is there an office at any of these?
No. The airports hand over in the arrival area and the towns deliver to your address. Puerto de la Cruz has named meeting points, which are places rather than counters.
Does delivery cost extra?
It depends on the car rather than on the town. Some listings include it, some price it, and the figure sits on the listing before you book.
Can I collect in one place and leave the car in another?
Yes. Almost every point on the island works as a drop-off as well as a collection. Golf del Sur and Guía de Isora take cars in one direction only and are offered as collections rather than returns. The supply is deepest between the two airports and thinner at the smaller towns.
Which point has the most cars?
Tenerife South Airport, which is why it is the default in the search. Playa de las Americas is the deepest of the towns. That is about choice rather than price: the cheapest cars in the southern towns sit close to the airport's.