One-way car hire from Tenerife South Airport

Which one-way pairings with Tenerife South Airport have the most cars?

Tenerife North Airport, by a wide margin, in both directions: the airport pair has several times more one-way cars than any other pairing on the island. For the drive from Tenerife North Airport to Costa Adeje, the car is met in the arrival area there and can be handed back at Tenerife South Airport at the end of the stay.

After the airports, Playa de las Americas has the most one-way cars to and from Tenerife South Airport, then Puerto de la Cruz. Los Cristianos, El Medano, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Arona come next, then Costa Adeje and Los Gigantes, and Playa Paraiso and Las Chafiras have the fewest. The order is the same in both directions, and the cars listed for a pairing change with the dates searched.

Golf del Sur and Guía de Isora can be a pick-up but not a one-way drop-off, so they do not appear in the drop-off list, and a car collected there goes back to the same place.

Can I collect at the airport and leave the car at a resort?

Yes. The car is handed over in the arrival area at Tenerife South Airport and, at a resort with city delivery only, returned at the address you give in that town. From the airport, El Medano is about eighteen minutes and six kilometres, Playa de las Americas about thirty minutes and twenty kilometres, Costa Adeje about thirty minutes and twenty-two kilometres, and Los Cristianos about thirty-three minutes. Playa Paraiso is thirty-seven minutes and twenty-nine kilometres, and Los Gigantes fifty minutes and forty-five kilometres.

Further away, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is fifty-nine minutes and sixty-six kilometres from the airport, and finishing the rental in Santa Cruz means returning the car at an address in the city, which offers city delivery only. The long crossing between the north coast and the south is eighty-one minutes and ninety-seven kilometres from Tenerife South Airport to Puerto de la Cruz, where a car can be returned at a named pick-up point or at an address in the town.

Can I start at a resort and hand the car back at Tenerife South Airport?

Yes, in the same order of choice as the other direction: Playa de las Americas has the most one-way cars into the airport after Tenerife North, then Puerto de la Cruz, and the smaller points have fewer. The car is returned in the arrival area at Tenerife South Airport. From Playa de las Americas the drive is about thirty minutes and nineteen kilometres, and from Los Gigantes about fifty-one minutes and forty-four kilometres, both without traffic.

Near the terminal, the Repsol on the airport access road and the BP at Carretera Atogo km 0.5 on the TF-1 are both open 24 hours. The car goes back with the fuel level it had at pick-up; a lower level is charged at the rental company's rates, and a higher level is not compensated. Car park P1 at Tenerife South Airport is open 24 hours, and its covered spaces allow 2.2 metres.

Traffic at Tenerife South Airport is mostly international, with the United Kingdom and Germany accounting for more than half, and traffic at Tenerife North Airport is mostly domestic. A car collected in the south can also be returned in the arrival area at Tenerife North Airport, sixty-five minutes and seventy-three kilometres from Tenerife South Airport, for a flight home from the north.

Does anything else change on a one-way?

The documents are the same. You need the physical licence card with details in Latin script and an expiry date no earlier than the end of the rental; copies and electronic licences are not accepted. If the licence is valid only in the country that issued it, an International Driving Permit is strongly recommended. A physical embossed credit card in the main driver's name may be required, and where a debit card is accepted instead, that is stated during booking and in the voucher. The deposit is shown on each car, and how it is held and refunded is set out during booking and in the voucher.

The minimum chargeable rental period is twenty-four hours: a car needed from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon is charged for two full days. To extend the rental, inform the rental agent in advance. The phone number given at booking, with the correct country code, must be reachable on the day before pick-up and throughout the rental.

If you plan to travel outside the country, notify the rental agent in advance so the required documents can be completed. Rental cars may travel only on paved public roads. The driver's minimum age and driving experience are listed on each car's page, and the rental agent may refuse the rental if the driver does not meet them.

Fuel, parking, fines and toll roads are the renter's responsibility, and Tenerife's motorways are toll-free. A car returned so dirty that it cannot be inspected is washed at the renter's expense. If there is an insured event, notify the rental agent immediately and obtain a police report, unless otherwise agreed with the agent. Standard insurance does not cover damage to the wheels, undercarriage, windscreen or interior of the car.

How do I book a one-way in the search form?

Start with the pick-up. The form opens on Tenerife South Airport, and the other pick-up points are listed beneath it under the airports, the south and the rest of the island. Choosing a pick-up moves the form to the drop-off tab, which opens with the same-place option ticked.

The list of drop-off points is shown under the same-place option, and choosing a place from it unticks that option. Golf del Sur and Guía de Isora do not appear in that list. Add your dates and search. Every car in the results shows any one-way charge with its price. At points with city delivery only, whether delivery is included for a car, and its price where it is not, is shown on that car.