If you are traveling to Tenerife, it is most likely that you do not have a car to move from one place to another autonomously. You will get off the plane at one of the two airports on the island and you will have to find out how to get out of there and how to organize your activities according to the different available means of transport.

Well, so that it does not become an odyssey and a waste of time trying to find the option that suits you, today we tell you everything about how to move in Tenerife if you do not have your own car.

Before starting, in case you did not know, and so as not to be caught by surprise: there are no buses in the Canary Islands. But it is no big deal. It is not that there is no public transport in the Islands and you can only walk, ride a bike or go by car if you are lucky. Buses in the Canary Islands are called guaguas, and in Tenerife they are painted in a very characteristic green colour.

Having made this clear, how can you move in Tenerife?

Public transport: guaguas and tram

Public bus service in Tenerife connects the whole island with more than 160 lines covering the metropolitan area and rural areas, thus virtually approaching every corner. They are green vehicles, the corporate color of TITSA (Interurban Transport of Tenerife), and they are part of the everyday landscape of all the inhabitants.

Catch the bus is the cheapest transport option, although depending on the distance you travel the price may be a bit more expensive (a ticket in cash from Puerto de la Cruz to the south of the island is around 15 Euros).

If you choose to travel with TITSA, we recommend you to buy travel cards to get reasonable discounts. An example to give you an idea of ​​what the price of a one-way trip is: going from Puerto de la Cruz to the capital will cost you 5.25 Euros if you pay in cash, but 3.45 Euros if you do it with a travel card.

Although during the early morning there are hardly any services, in the early hours you will find buses that can take you to the most emblematic places of the island every half hour or, at most, every hour.

You can go by bus to El Teide National Park, to the beaches in the south, to Loro Parque, to Siam Park, to La Laguna and Santa Cruz, and to all the charming villages in the north of the island.

However, if you are going to move around the metropolitan area and if you are going to visit the beautiful streets of La Laguna and know the capital of Tenerife, then it may be more convenient to use the tram. It is somewhat slower than the bus, but it connects the university city with Santa Cruz interchange and you can take one every five minutes during the day.

Its price? Only 1.35 Euros for a one-way trip, and you have a wide variety of options to buy travel cards that suit your needs and obtain discounts.

White taxis in Tenerife

Yes, as a curiosity, all taxis are white on the island. And if you choose them as a means of transport they take you wherever you want, just as if you were moving in your own car.

Advantages? A taxi picks you up on time, takes you to the door of the place you want to visit and, if you wish, even picks you up when you are finished. Disadvantages? Well, if you are worried about money and you do not want your trip to become more expensive with day-to-day expenses, it might not be the best choice because it is not a cheap option.

You can set a price with the driver before starting the journey or the taximeter will be responsible for calculating the price of your trip based on the taxi fares. With this information you can make some estimates:

• Price per kilometre: 0.55-0.63 Euros
• Minimum fare: 3.15-3.45 Euros
• Price per hour of waiting: 15,05 Euros

There are also different supplements that may make the final price a little higher (special days, pick-up or arrival at airports and ports or the use of the radio-taxi service).

As we told you, if you have a small budget, you may discard this option, but if you are worried about comfort, speed, or even if you go as a group and can spread expenses, travel to Tenerife in a white taxi (or use this service on time) It has many advantages.

Car hire and scheduled trips

The proposals to move around the island either by rental car or by your own car are very similar, so we will not go into this topic. It is interesting if you already know that you will go from one place to another all the time and you just need to rent it (a simple task at the airport) and use the GPS on your mobile phone. Let’s go!

But car, public buses or taxis are not everything, because there are many scheduled trips including transportation from a specific point to the must-see places of Tenerife.

You can explore Tenerife by bus and visit the National Park, the low island, the south… or go round the island in one day. You can also book night excursions or routes to discover the nature of the area without having to worry about transportation.

Prices vary depending on several factors, but you will probably be able to do some of these excursions from around 30 Euros.

Alternative means of transport

And if you are a sports lover, you may be interested to know that you can also visit some routes of the island by bike, but it is not a means of transportation in itself, but rather a leisure activity to get to know Tenerife from another point of view.

Now it is your turn to decide: green buses, white taxis? Any other option?