Playa de las Americas toPuerto de la CruzCar hire brought to your address · Santa Cruz, Tenerife North and the Teide crater too

Playa de las Americas to Puerto de la Cruz is about 72 minutes and 73 km without traffic, and the hire car for the drive is brought to your address in the resort. Playa de las Americas has no named pick-up point: it is delivery only, so the car comes to the hotel or apartment you give, and each listing shows whether delivery is included or priced. Outside the two airports, no pick-up point on the island has a deeper list of cars. The drive to the north-coast town of Puerto de la Cruz is the longest of the three drives north from the resort; Santa Cruz is about 54 minutes and 77 km away, and Tenerife North Airport about 61 minutes and 84 km.

The TF-1 meets the TF-5 at Santa Cruz, and there are fixed speed cameras on both roads. Tenerife's motorways are toll-free. Hire cars are allowed on paved public roads only, and the shortest chargeable rental is 24 hours, so a car booked for a single day on the north coast is charged as a full day.

In the resort, before setting off: the BP at Avenida de los Pueblos 6 is open 24 hours. At Santa Cruz, the BP on Avenida Tres de Mayo 85 opens from 06:00 to 22:00 and the DISA on Ortega y Gasset 1 is open 24 hours. In Puerto de la Cruz there is a Cepsa and a BP on the Carretera del Botanico, 0.4 to 0.7 km from Plaza del Charco. There is no fuel station inside the Teide national park.

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, and fuel, parking and fines are the renter's to pay.

These times are without traffic, so a real drive takes that long or longer. Puerto de la Cruz to Santa Cruz is about 30 minutes and 38 km, so one day on the north coast can take in both.

Yes: set Puerto de la Cruz as the drop-off in the search, and the one-way fee shows with the price before you book. Playa de las Americas to Puerto de la Cruz is among the deeper one-way pairings on the island, so a one-way drop in the north lets a stay that moves from the south coast to the north keep the same car for both halves.

For Santa Cruz or Tenerife North, set that place as the drop-off instead, and what is offered for the pairing shows in the search with its fee in the price. Wherever the car is left, it goes back with the fuel level it had at the handover. To keep it longer than booked, tell the rental agent in advance.

The handover in Playa de las Americas happens at the address you give, so everything an airport handover needs has to be there with you. That is 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, and the card the booking asks for in the main driver's name, which 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. If the licence is valid only in the country that issued it, an International Driving Permit is strongly recommended.

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 the timeline for its refund are in the booking and the voucher.

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 north-coast day is the filter to set from the start. Each car's minimum driver age and experience can differ even between similar models.

Most cars on the list come with unlimited mileage, which suits a day that goes up one coast and back. Seven-seaters are scarce, so a larger car for a family day on the north coast is one to book early.

The questions below cover the drives north from Playa de las Americas and the car for them: how long each drive takes, where the car is handed over and whether it can stay in the north at the end. The rental conditions are set out in full on the terms page.