Isla de Tenerife Transportation

If you want to go to the top of Mount Teide, you need to get up to the base of the cable car station. The best way to do this is by car or by TITSA bus (I have seen some cyclists too, but it is a long long slog).

Once there, there is a reasonable amount of parking, then get in the queue to buy a ticket to go up. You can have a fair wait, and also a wait to get in the cable car once you have a ticket.

Tickets cost 20 Euros return for an adult who is not resident in the Canary Islands. I don't think you can buy a single ;-). I think residents of the Canaries pay 10 Euros as do non-resident children over the age of 4.

The ascent is pretty rapid when you consider it takes you up over 1 km in height to about 3550m. It takes 8 minutes.

If you want to go the last 200 metres (well up to 3718 metres anyway) you have to apply for a permit in Santa Cruz (i.e. once you get to Teide it is too late to go up to the peak if you haven't already applied). The place to ask is the Park Adminstration Office, Emilio Calzadilla, no. 5, 4th floor. It is worth noting that even then, the peak is not always open. It was closed when we were the as it was too icy.

Also at the top, the air is pretty thin, so some people could experience altitude sickness. I wouldn't recommend people with weak hearts going up at all.

Every time weve been at Tenerife airport in the south of the island weve always had a delay on our return flight home! It can be a real drag because there's not a great deal to do once you are there. There's only a few shops and restaurants available.

From Tenerife you can travel to the other island by ship or boat. From Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Gran Canaria every day and to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura one travel a week or from Los Cristianos in the south part of the island to La Gomera, La Palma or El Hierro every day.

Given the relatively small size of Tenerife, the best way for visiting and exploring the island is, imho, by car. As the Canary Islands not only enjoy from a privileged weather, but also from relaxed tax fares, the gas prices are among the lowest in Europe (more or less, 50 cents per liter). During the low season, you could rent a car for prices starting in 100 euros a week.

So, if your expectations about Tenerife are a little more ambitious that just get a tan in Playa de Las Americas, I totally recommend the car renting.

This is the hall you will see in Tenerife South airport if you fly in. It is just as you leave customs, th car rental companies are on the left hand side of the picture.

Tenerife South is the airport that seems to handle all of the international flights. There is also an airport in the North, but that only seems to take smaller planes that go to other Canary islands. There is talk however of the North airport taking some international traffic in future.

The airport is quite well communicated, it is virtually on a motorway, it has buses and several rental car companies.

Bus services on Tenerife are operated by TITSA (Transportes Interurbanos de Tenerife SA) and as with most places that we visit, the service that they run is way ahead of what we get here in England and way cheaper too.
They are easily recognised by their green livery and run quite a regular service between the main population & tourist centres. The fully comprehensive timetable is an invaluable tool and its a real advantage to be able to have it before you arrive at the island, so that you can plan your days out. You can download the timetable from here, along with a route map and other useful stuff.
You can buy a ticket called a BonoBus ticket from the bus stations and some shops (these shops are hard to find and its advisable to get one from the bus station if you can) but they are not sold on the busses.
The tickets cost 12 Euro and they get you a price reduction on journeys you make; the longer the journey the greater the reduction. The cost of the journey is deducted from your ticket, so it not only gets you a discount it also counts as a pre-payed ticket. You can use the same ticket for any number of people too, simply put it in the machine in the bus again and again and again, the cost of each trip being deducted until the ticket is empty.
If you make a journey that costs more than the amount you have left on your ticket, you pay the remainder in cash, but you still get it at the discounted price.
Example prices with a BonoBus are Las Americas to Santa Cruz, 2.7 Euro.
Busses run fairly frequently, especially between the more popular destinations, but they often take longer than advertised to a greater or lesser degree. Las Americas to Los Gigantes took us 100 minutes, twice as long as stated.
See my warnings & dangers about getting the 111 bus to destinations towards Santa Cruz!

Ferries operate from Los Cristianos in the South and Santa Cruz in the North. Examples of ferry crossings that operate are:
Los Cristianos - > San Sebastian, La Gomera - 30min journey, several per day
Los Cristianos - > Santa Cruz de La Palma, La Palma, 2hours Daily
Los Cristianos - > La Estaca, El Hierro, departs 10am comes back 3.30pm
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - > Agaete, Gran Canaria - 60min Journey, several per day
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - > Cadiz, Mainland Spain
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - > Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - > Santa Cruz de La Palma
Santa Cruz de Tenerife - > Morro Jable, Fuerte Ventura

Companies that operate are:
Fred Olsen (www.fredolsen.es)
Trasmediterranea (www.trasmediterranea.net)
Naviera Armas (http://www.navieraarmas.com/)

This isn't a proper train, it is a bus type vehicle designed to look like a train. It is actually free to go on.

Howevr it is only available in Puerto de la Cruz, and it only goes between two points. One is the centre of town, the other is Loro Parque.

In othr words, you will only really want to use this bus if:

(1) you are staying in the centre of Puerto de la Cruz

and

(2) you want to go to Loro parque,

But assuming both of these points are true, it is an easy and convenient way to go there!