I won’t surprise you if I tell you that Tenerife is an island, this means that we don’t have some common possibilities to get to the island.
In other parts of the world it is possible to reach a territory by land, either by road, train or similar. We can only reach Tenerife by sea or air transport.
By boat there are three main possibilities
- A boat linking the Iberian Peninsula and Tenerife, usually via Cádiz. This way is the least used of all, but it is the right way if you want to bring your own car to Tenerife.
- From another island. For example, if you are in Gran Canaria and you want to go to Tenerife and you can use a boat that links these two islands.
- The other way is via a cruise ship. Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the only dock on the island that welcomes cruise ships. There is a cruise season that coincides with more unfavourable weather conditions in the rest of Europe.
There are two possibilities by plane
- One is located in the north of the island, Los Rodeos airport. It is a small airport. Its location is counter-intuitive because it is in one of the foggiest areas of the island, making it difficult for many planes to take off and land throughout the year. Se conoce como aeropuerto TFN (Tenerife Norte). The North Airport is located in the municipality of La Laguna.
- The other is located in the south of the island, the international airport of Reina Sofia. It is a much more capable airport in terms of size and services than Los Rodeos. Se conoce como TFS (Tenerife Sur). The southern airport is located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona.
When it comes to convenience, there is no doubt that having the airport close to your holiday destination is better than having to drive or use transport that takes much longer to get to or from your destination.
It is logical that if we are staying in the northern part of the island we try to use the airport in the north and if we are staying in the south we try to use the airport in the south.
However, as we have already mentioned, the northern airport is used for domestic flights and the southern airport for international flights, although there is still the possibility of arriving via the northern airport on a commercial flight, this is possible if we make a stopover at another domestic airport, for example Madrid or Barcelona.