Tenerife North Airport lounges

Tenerife North is small and most flights are domestic, so there is usually no passport queue, and Aena suggests arriving only an hour and a half before a Spanish or Schengen flight. That leaves less time to fill than at most airports, and €45.95 is a lot for an hour. Nivaria earns its price on an early start, when the terrace and a coffee beat the gate, on a long delay, or with small children: under-6s go free and the lounge has a children's area and a nursing room.

Aena sells Fast Lane at Tenerife North for €11.10, on the same VIP services site as the lounge, and it runs from 05:15 to 22:00, the same early start as Nivaria. Scan the QR code, then your boarding pass, at the priority entrance to security. A purchase is valid for three months, and business-class tickets and some airline loyalty cards include it. On a busy summer morning the pair makes for a calm start: Fast Lane through security, then up to the terrace for a coffee before the first Madrid flight.

Better than most. Aena lists a children's area, a nursing room and a rest area in Nivaria, and children under 6 go free. A family of two adults and two children aged 6 to 10 pays €134.40. Outside the lounge, Aena lists children's play areas and breastfeeding rooms elsewhere in the terminal, and the walk from security to any gate is short.

Yes. Priority Pass members get into Nivaria, and Priority Pass's listing notes the outside terrace. The alternative is €23 off the bill per visit at La Boutique, airside near gates 20 to 29, open 06:00–19:00. Business-class passengers and holders of associated airlines' club cards enter Nivaria free. Priority Pass publishes slightly different opening hours for the lounge from Aena's, so if you are flying at the edges of the day, rely on Aena's 05:15–21:15.

Tenerife North splits its gates by floor: flights to the Spanish mainland and abroad board upstairs, inter-island flights downstairs. Nivaria and La Boutique are both upstairs. On an inter-island hop from the ground-floor gates, allow time to walk down; on the ground floor, Tabernnus, La Manon and Pannus open from 05:00 to 05:30 if you would rather stay close to the gate.