Los Cristianos toSanta CruzCar hire brought to your address · Puerto de la Cruz, Masca and the Teide crater as day drives

Los Cristianos to Santa Cruz is about 57 minutes and 77 km without traffic, and the hire car for the day is brought to your address in Los Cristianos. Santa Cruz, the island's capital, is where the TF-1 meets the TF-5. The longer day goes on to the north-coast resort of Puerto de la Cruz, about 76 minutes and 78 km away, while the mountain days are shorter: Masca is about 36 minutes and 40 km, and the Parador in the Teide caldera about 53 minutes and 47 km.

Tenerife's motorways are toll-free, and there are fixed speed cameras on the TF-1 and the TF-5; fines, like fuel and parking, are the renter's to pay. Hire cars are allowed on paved public roads only, so the tracks in Teno and in parts of Anaga stay off the plan. The shortest chargeable rental is 24 hours, so a car booked for a single day out is charged as a full day.

In Los Cristianos, before setting off: the BP on Bulevar Chajofe 2 is open 24 hours. At Santa Cruz, two stations stand where the TF-1 meets the TF-5: the BP at Avenida Tres de Mayo 85, open from 06:00 to 22:00, and the DISA on Ortega y Gasset 1, open 24 hours. There is no fuel station inside the Teide national park, so a crater day fills up on the coast.

The car goes back with the fuel level it had at the handover. A lower level is charged at the rental company's rates, and a fuller tank is not refunded. Fuel in the Canaries is cheaper than in mainland Spain or the UK: the islands apply neither IVA nor the state hydrocarbons excise, and levy their own fuel tax and IGIC instead.

These times are without traffic, so a real drive takes that long or longer. Up in the crater it is about 11 degrees colder than on the coast on the annual average. Tenerife South Airport is about 33 minutes and 20 km from Los Cristianos, the other way.

Los Cristianos is delivery only, so the car is handed over at the address you give, and everything an airport handover asks for has to be there with you. The town runs on into Playa de las Americas along the front, and neither has a named pickup point: in both, the car is brought to the hotel or apartment you give, and each listing shows whether delivery is included or priced.

Have the licence card itself, with its details in Latin script and an expiry no earlier than the end of the rental, since copies and electronic licences are not accepted; an International Driving Permit is strongly recommended only where a licence is valid solely in the country that issued it. The card the booking asks for must be in the main driver's name, and it can be a physical embossed credit card. If a debit card is accepted, the booking and the voucher say so, and it too has to be physical, personalised, embossed and in the main driver's name.

The phone number given at booking must be reachable throughout the rental and on the day before the car is due. Each car's minimum driver age and experience are on its page, and the agent can refuse the handover if they are not met. How the rest of the rental is paid, how the deposit is held and when it comes back are in the booking and the voucher.

Standard insurance does not cover the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen or the interior, and those are the parts a narrow mountain road is most likely to damage. That is the standard level. Each car shows the cover levels it offers, with the deductible at each cover level in its insurance comparison, so the level for the Masca and Teide days is chosen per car before you book.

After any insured event, tell the rental agent at once and get a police report; without both, the insurance is cancelled and the driver is fully responsible. Deliberate damage or neglect voids the insurance as well.

The TF-436 into Masca has narrow sections where even firefighting vehicles struggle to pass oncoming traffic, and a smaller car is easier to place on them. For the long days, to Santa Cruz or Puerto de la Cruz and back, most cars come with unlimited mileage.

Automatics are a minority of the list, found mainly in the compact and crossover classes rather than the economy one, so if nobody in the party drives a manual, an automatic for the drive north is the filter to set from the start. Seven-seaters are scarce, so a car for a larger party is one to book early.

The questions below cover the day drives north from Los Cristianos and the car for them: how long each drive takes, where the car is handed over and whether it can cross to another island. The rental conditions are set out in full on the terms page.