Tenerife Sur Airport
Tenerife South is the island's holiday airport: one terminal, open 24 hours, with almost 14 million passengers in 2025, nine in ten of them on international flights. It sits 20 to 31 minutes by road from our six hotels on Costa Adeje and the Guía de Isora coast. This is how to get through it quickly in both directions, where to wait and what to eat, checked against Aena and the services themselves.
The 30-second version
Arriving from the UK or anywhere outside Schengen, you queue for passport control, and since April 2026 a non-EU passport is registered with fingerprints and a photo the first time, so the cabin bag and the front of the plane both help. Line 40 to Costa Adeje and the taxi rank are both outside arrivals on Floor 0; for our hillside and west-coast hotels, a driver booked ahead is simplest. Going home, Aena says three hours before a non-Schengen flight; buy Fast Lane for €11.10 if it is a busy morning, and use the Montaña Roja lounge before passport control, not after it. Gates are not announced over the speakers here, so keep an eye on the screens.
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One building since Aena's 2021 and 2022 expansion joined the original terminal to the old Terminal 2, now zone C. Check-in is on the ground floor and the shops and restaurants are upstairs past security; buses and taxis leave from Floor 0 outside arrivals.
Flights from the UK, Ireland, Morocco and the rest of the non-Schengen world go through passport control before baggage. Since 10 April 2026 the EU's Entry/Exit System has replaced passport stamps: on your first entry with a non-EU passport, a UK or US one included, the officer takes your fingerprints and a facial image, and later trips are quicker. Flights from Spain and other Schengen countries walk straight through to the bags.
Two reclaim halls with 14 carousels between them; the screens give your carousel. A missing or damaged bag goes to your airline's handling desk in the hall before you leave: Aena lists desks for Aviapartner, easyJet, Menzies, Ryanair and Iberia.
Arriving from outside the EU, you pass through customs on the way out. Aena's examples of what to declare are food, high-value electronics and more than €10,000 in cash; with nothing to declare, walk on.
Euronet and Banca March cash machines are in the terminal, and the exchange office in arrivals opens from 07:00 to 23:00. A phone plan from an EU country works at home rates under EU roaming rules; anyone else is best setting up an eSIM before the flight. Aena's free wifi is unlimited once you verify your email. The Cabildo's tourist information desk opens 09:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and 09:00 to 17:00 at weekends.
TITSA buses leave from Floor 0 in arrivals. Line 40 runs to Los Cristianos and Costa Adeje bus station every 30 to 40 minutes from 06:30 to 21:40, taking 29 to 44 minutes; the 711 night bus covers 23:18 to 04:52. The 343 goes to Tenerife North four times a day.
The signed rank is outside arrivals on Floor 0. Aena's advice is to take a cab only from the rank and ask for a receipt. Taxis run on the Canary interurban meter plus €2.10 from the airport, which comes to about €35 by day to Bahía del Duque.
A private transfer driver meets you in the arrivals hall with a name sign, and tracks the flight if you land late. The car hire desks are AutoReisen, Cicar, Europcar, Goldcar, Hertz, Record Go and TopCar; our car hire page covers the rest.
Aena's rule here is three hours before a non-Schengen flight, which includes every flight to the UK, and two hours before a Spanish or Schengen one. Your airline's own check-in and bag-drop deadlines still apply.
The check-in desks are on the ground floor, and the screens give your desk. There is an area to print boarding passes, but check in online if your airline charges for printing at the airport.
Fast Lane costs €11.10 on Aena's VIP services site and is open 24 hours: scan the QR code, then your boarding pass, at the gate to the priority lane. A purchase is valid for three months. Business-class tickets and some airline loyalty cards include it, and families with children have dedicated security lanes.
Montaña Roja is after security but before the outbound passport control: turn left, and it is just before the escalators up to the gates and shops. If you are flying outside Schengen, leave yourself time to clear passport control afterwards.
Non-Schengen flights, the UK included, go through a passport check on the way to the gate, where non-EU passports are logged out on the Entry/Exit System. Schengen and Spanish flights skip it.
Aena states that Tenerife South makes no public announcements about boarding gates or gate changes, so check the screens rather than waiting to hear your flight. There are work areas with chargers by gate B31, and chargers in the seating areas.
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Every lounge in detail
The only lounge in the building and worth it for a family or a long wait: buy Fast Lane with it and the whole departure is calm.
Book a passHam, cheese and a glass of wine at the gate end, and the one good option for a night flight when the lounge is shut.
Enrique TomásAirside, departures, opposite gates 19 and 20
Iberian ham, cured meats, cheeses and Spanish wines, with freshly made sandwiches and tapas. Open 24 hours, and the Priority Pass credit applies.
VyTAAirside, departures
Retro Italian with proper pasta and a sit-down feel. Open from 08:00, closing at 19:00 or 20:00 depending on the day.
Oliva & BellotaAirside, departures
Regional and local produce from good Spanish brands: the place to sit with a plate of something Canarian, and to buy it to take home. From 08:00 to 19:00, 20:00 on Saturdays.
CarlsbergAirside, departures
Cold beer with salads, sandwiches, burgers and paninis. From 09:00 to 22:00, so it covers the evening flights home.
Coffee RepublicAirside, departures
Coffee, fresh smoothies, wraps and salads when you want something light. 09:00 to 22:00.
GreggsAirside, boarding area
Sausage rolls and bakes for anyone homesick before they have even left. 08:00 to 22:00.
La Boutique Trattoria ViajeraLandside, departures
Pizza al taglio and stuffed pasta before security, open 24 hours: the answer for a very early check-in or someone seeing you off.
Giraffe World KitchenLandside, departures
An international menu to eat in or take away, before security. 09:00 to 21:00.
La ManonLandside, arrivals
French-style boulangerie in the arrivals hall, good for a coffee and a pastry while you wait for someone. 07:00 to 20:00.
No. Aena states that Tenerife South makes no public announcements about boarding gates or changes to them, so the screens are the only source. Set a reminder for when your gate is due, check again before you settle in a café, and if you are in the lounge, remember that it sits before outbound passport control on a non-Schengen flight.
Fast Lane is open around the clock here, unusually, and costs €11.10 on Aena's own site; Aena warns to buy only through its official channels. Priority Pass also lists Fast Lane at Tenerife South. Two places are open 24 hours: Enrique Tomás airside and La Boutique Trattoria Viajera before security. For last-minute presents, El Market Canarias near gate 14 sells work by local makers, and Oliva & Bellota sells Canarian produce. Lost something in the terminal rather than on the plane? Aena's lost property office opens 10:00 to 22:00 and works by email.
Yes, and better than most for queues: there are dedicated security lanes for passengers travelling with children. In the Montaña Roja lounge, under-6s go free and 6 to 10-year-olds pay €21.25. Drinking fountains are spread through the terminal, and there are two toy shops, Canarykids and Lol Juguetes Toys, for anything that will buy you an hour on the flight home.
Aena's Sin Barreras assistance service will meet you at the aircraft door or at a signed meeting point and take you through check-in, security and passport control to your seat. Book it with your airline or Aena at least 48 hours before the flight; Aena's line is +34 91 321 10 00, open 07:00 to midnight. Be at the meeting point at least two hours before departure. Accessible toilets are throughout the terminal, and Aena's hidden disabilities badge helps staff spot that you may need support.
Tenerife is in the EU, so every flight out of Tenerife South is covered by EU rules: if you reach your final destination three hours or more late for reasons that are not extraordinary, you are owed compensation, €400 for flights of more than 1,500 km within the EU and for other flights of 1,500 to 3,500 km, which covers the UK, plus refreshments while you wait.
The airport is open 24 hours, and so is Fast Lane. Before security, La Boutique Trattoria Viajera serves around the clock; airside, Enrique Tomás does too. Ritazza opens at 06:00, and Beercode and Costa Coffee at 07:00, as does the lounge. Line 40's first bus reaches the airport at 05:56, so for a first-wave flight book the taxi or the return transfer the night before.
Tenerife South is the airport for Bahía del Duque, Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, Royal River, Royal Garden Villas, The Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama and Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora, all 20 to 31 minutes away by road. For Puerto de la Cruz and Garachico, Tenerife North is much closer. Our transfers page has the bus times, the meter fares and the typical drive time to every hotel.
Questions people ask
Yes, one: Aena's Montaña Roja VIP Lounge, after security and before outbound passport control. It costs €45.95 for adults and €21.25 for children aged 6 to 10, under-6s free, and Priority Pass members get in.
Aena recommends three hours before a non-Schengen flight, including all UK flights, and two hours before a Spanish or Schengen one.
Yes, Aena's Fast Lane costs €11.10 on its VIP services site and is open 24 hours. You scan the QR code and your boarding pass at the priority entrance.
Yes. Aena runs it around the clock, and Fast Lane, Enrique Tomás airside and La Boutique Trattoria Viajera before security are open 24 hours.
Yes. Since 10 April 2026 the EU's Entry/Exit System records non-EU travellers, UK citizens included, with fingerprints and a facial image on their first entry, in place of a passport stamp.
TITSA's line 40 leaves Floor 0 in arrivals every 30 to 40 minutes from 06:30 to 21:40 and takes 29 to 44 minutes. A taxi to Bahía del Duque takes about 20 minutes and costs about €35 on the day meter.
Yes, the Airport Free Wifi Aena network. Verify your email within 15 minutes and it is unlimited.
Enrique Tomás, airside opposite gates 19 and 20, and La Boutique Trattoria Viajera, before security, are both open 24 hours.
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