Car hire in Gran Canaria

Not for a stay in Maspalomas or Las Palmas. Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia, Seaside Palm Beach and Hotel Faro are 3 to 7 minutes on foot from the Faro de Maspalomas bus station, and Villa del Conde 13; from there, Global's line 66 runs direct to the airport and line 30 to Las Palmas. In the city, Santa Catalina, Bull Reina Isabel and Hotel Veintiuno are within ten minutes' walk of city bus line 1 or Global's airport line 60, and a car there is more a cost than a help.

Two need one. Salobre, in the hills above Maspalomas, has no practical bus, only a daily hotel shuttle to Maspalomas beach. The Parador at Cruz de Tejeda, about 1,500 metres up, is served by line 18, which leaves the Faro de Maspalomas for the mountains three times a day, and by line 305 from San Mateo. Cordial Mogán Playa sits in between: line 91 reaches the airport in about an hour, but the north and the mountains are a long way off.

For the odd trip, taxis run on the meter. By day, the airport to Las Palmas comes to about €35 to €40 and to the Maspalomas lighthouse about €50 to €55, estimates from the official tariff and the routed distance.

Gran Canaria has one airport, at Gando on the east coast. Aena, which runs it, lists eight firms with desks on the ground floor, in the arrivals halls: Avis, Cicar, Europcar, Goldcar, Hertz, OK Mobility, Sixt and TopCar. Other offers come with a free shuttle to a depot outside the airport. On expedia.ie on 10 October 2026, 157 of the 221 offers from 16 firms for a week from 8 June 2027 had the desk in the terminal and 64 used a shuttle; for the February half-term week the split was 166 and 66. A shuttle adds a transfer at both ends, so allow for it before a flight home.

At the desk, the main driver needs a full driving licence, a passport or ID card and, normally, a credit card in their own name for the deposit: a debit card may not be accepted, even if it paid for the booking. Before you drive off, walk round the car with the agent, make sure every mark is on the condition report, and take photographs. Do the same on return, in office hours if you can: a car left after hours is inspected the next day, and you answer for it until then.

On expedia.ie on 10 October 2026, a week from Gran Canaria Airport cost from €76 with a manual gearbox and €97 automatic for 8 to 15 June 2027, and from €107 and €130 for the February half-term week. Taxes, basic damage cover and free cancellation are included.

What they leave out is the excess, the share of any damage you pay before the cover takes over, and the deposit blocked against it, normally on the main driver's credit card. Two firms' terms show how: Goldcar sets a small car's excess at €2,300 and blocks €950 of it, and TopCar's deposit with basic cover runs from €900 to €4,000, by car and rate. The firm's own cover, sold online or at the desk, cuts or removes both; a broker's or insurer's cover pays you back after a claim, so the deposit is still blocked. Check the exclusions, often glass, wheels and tyres.

On fuel, choose full to full. Extra drivers and child seats usually cost extra; a young-driver charge belongs in the quoted price, so give your real age.

Two Canarian firms sell direct, not through Expedia. Cicar's Canary terms include cover without excess, extra drivers, child seats and drivers aged 21 to 25; AutoReisen's, zero-excess cover with no deposit, a second driver and standard child seats, for drivers from 23.

A UK photocard licence is valid in Spain without an international driving permit; a paper licence may need updating to a photocard, and a provisional one is not valid. EU and EEA licences are valid while in date. The legal minimum age is 18, but hire firms set their own: Cicar asks for 21 and AutoReisen 23, each with two years' driving. Carry the licence, your passport and the hire papers.

The drink-drive limit is 0.5 g of alcohol per litre of blood, or 0.25 mg per litre of breath, and lower in the first two years after passing. Children up to 135 cm tall ride in an approved child seat in the back, unless other children fill the rear seats or there are none. A phone may be used only fully hands-free, with no handset or earpiece. Limits are 120 km/h on motorways such as the GC-1, 90 on other roads and 50, 30 or 20 in towns.

Since 1 January 2026 the connected V-16 beacon has replaced warning triangles. The car's owner, here the hire firm, must supply it: check the glovebox. After a breakdown, switch it on, put it on the roof and call 112 or the firm's assistance line, as it calls no one. Outside towns, wear a reflective vest on the road.

The GC-1 motorway runs from Las Palmas past the airport and down the east coast, then along the south to Puerto de Mogán; the GC-500 is the old coast road through the resorts. By car, off-peak, like every time here, Puerto de Mogán is 28 minutes from the Maspalomas lighthouse and Vegueta, in Las Palmas, 49; the GC-2 takes you from Las Canteras to Agaete's port, for the Tenerife ferry, in 39.

Inland, the roads are slow and full of bends. The GC-60 climbs from Maspalomas by Fataga and San Bartolomé de Tirajana to Ayacata and Tejeda, 84 minutes from the lighthouse to Tejeda village; the GC-15 comes up from Santa Brígida by San Mateo to Cruz de Tejeda; the GC-600 runs from Ayacata past the Roque Nublo path and Cruz de Los Llanos. The car park at La Goleta, where the path starts, is closed: park at Cruz de Los Llanos, ride Global's line 18 for about 10 minutes, and book a slot on reservasroquenublo.com for 09:00 to 17:00.

In the west, the GC-200 takes 59 minutes from Puerto de Mogán to La Aldea de San Nicolás, and Agaete's port is 45 beyond, partly through the Faneque tunnel on the new GC-2, open since February 2024; the motorway via Las Palmas takes 94.

Five of our ten park you free: Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia, where staff take the car to the garage; Seaside Palm Beach and Bull Reina Isabel, where spaces are limited and Bull's cannot be booked; Cordial Mogán Playa, underground; and the Parador, outdoors. Santa Catalina charges about €20 a day under the hotel, and Hotel Faro charges too. Villa del Conde's underground car park is subject to space and Salobre's has no published price, so ask whether your rate includes it. Hotel Veintiuno, on a pedestrian street, has none: unload at the door and use the Mercado de Vegueta car park, five minutes' walk.

In Las Palmas, blue-zone street parking is paid at the meter, for two hours at most and free on public holidays; the standard hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 20:00, and Saturday mornings, but some streets differ, so read the meter. Green zones favour residents and give visitors an hour. The council's company SAGULPA runs public car parks: the Mercado de Vegueta costs €2.05 an hour from 08:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and €1 an hour overnight, and Elder, on the Santa Catalina quay, €2.05 an hour on weekdays from 06:00 to 16:00 and €1 at other times.

For the Roque Nublo, leave the car at Cruz de Los Llanos.

Only if your firm allows it, and the terms differ. Goldcar's Spanish terms let its cars travel between the Canary Islands with its Cross Border cover, €12 a day up to €156 a hire, a little more in its busiest weeks. TopCar allows it only with its prior authorisation, which needs its Super Cover plus its Multi-Island Cover, €50 at the counter, and only to islands where it has an office; the car must come back to Gran Canaria. Sixt's Spanish conditions forbid moving a car between islands without the firm's written authorisation, and AutoReisen's terms say the same.

Fred. Olsen Express sails from Agaete to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 80 minutes, with up to eight sailings a day each way. One-way tickets for non-residents start at €45.98, and the final price depends on the date, availability and whether you take a vehicle. With a hire car, book with 'Rental' as the make and 0000XXX as the plate, send the real details up to an hour before you sail, and be at the port 40 minutes before departure. Agaete's port is 39 minutes by car from Las Canteras and 84 from Hotel Faro, off-peak.

The alternative is to cross as a foot passenger and hire a second car on the other island.