Tenerife
Getting there
BY AIR
There are two airports in Tenerife: Los Rodeos Airport in the north
(close to La Laguna and Santa Cruz) and Reina Sofia Airport in the
south. The northern airport is mostly given over to inter-island
flights and scheduled Iberia flights from the Spanish mainland.
Just about all other flights - international, charter and those to
mainland Spain - leave from the infinitely smarter airport in the
south, through which 9 million passengers pass each year.
From the UK:
easyJet flies from London
Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester.
Monarch flies from Birmingham,
Luton, Gatwick and Manchester. Ryanair
flies from Bournemouth and Leeds.
Charter flights from the UK come from Monarch, Thomsons and JMC.
These flights are normally on Fridays (sometimes Tuesdays) and
include departures from most regional airports in the UK. Try
Skyscanner for searching
charter flights.
From Spain:
Iberia operates several flights
daily to Tenerife from most cities in mainland Spain (flying times
are approximately 2.5 hours from Madrid).
From Other Islands:
There are daily flights between Tenerife and Gran Caneria,
Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro with
Binter Canarias.
From the Airports:
Reina Sofia Airport in the south is 20-30 minutes from Los
Cristianos by taxi and 2 hours from Puerto de la Cruz. The public
bus service TITSA offers cheap and quick services to all parts of
the island. Los Rodeos International Airport in the north is 11km
from Santa Cruz.
back to topGetting Around
You can hire cars at both airports from all the usual providers,
but make sure you book in advance. If you want to pick up from one
airport and drop off at another, this can be done for a small
surcharge. You’ll need a car to make the most of the island,
especially if you want to explore the remote north western tip.
Taxis are not a viable alternative as they’ll cost you more
than hiring a car for the day.
Roads are fairly busy. The motorway stretches up the south coast
from Adeje up to Santa Cruz, then turns back on itself and heads
down the north coast to Puerto de La Cruz. It may look a crazy
route on the map, but if you are staying in Garachico, the quickest
route to Tenerife South airport is via the north, sticking to the
motorway; the road over the mountains will take in excess of two
hours.
CAR HIRE
We used and recommend
Holiday
Autos a large broker which uses a local company with very
competitive prices.