Travel To Tenerife

Travelling to Tenerife really depends on whether you are visiting Tenerife for a Holiday in which case you will probably be flying. Or if you are contemplating a more permanent move to Tenerife you could be flying or using the Ferry from Cadiz in Southern Spain or Portimao in Southern Portugal. You will find that the Portimao ferry is much cheaper than the Cadiz Ferry unless you have a Residencia in which case you can apply a Residents discount of around 50% for the Cadiz ferry. If you have Residencia you will find both routes are around the same price. Whichever ferry you take the crossing time is two nights.

If you are visiting Tenerife for a holiday the UK is only just over 4 hours flying time from the island. Wherever you live in the UK you will probably be no more than 2 hours drive from an airport which serves the island. You will find that as more low cost airlines are adding Tenerife to their list of destinations the cost of travelling to Tenerife is getting less due to competition. In fact Ryan Air now bases many planes in the Canary Islands rather than the UK.

Only those who are considering moving to Tenerife would probably contemplate the ferry from Cadiz or Portimao and that would be if you were bringing your car to Tenerife. The Ferry operates once per week from Cadiz to Santa Cruz, so if travelling from England you would probably travel by ferry to Northern Spain which would take around two days and then by car to Cadiz or Portimao which would take a further two days. Once in Cadiz the ferry travels once per week and takes a further 2 days to arrive in Santa Cruz. The company that operates the ferry to Santa Cruz is called Acciona Trasmediterránea full details for booking and timetables can be found by visiting their website. The ferry from Portimao is operated by Naviera Armas and you can book online at their website Naviera Armas If you are travelling to Tenerife by car with the intention of transporting some of your personal possessions it may be worthwhile contacting the British Embassy in Tenerife to find out what paperwork is required. It is our understanding that before you can bring your belongings into the country you need your NIE Certificate and a Certificate of empadronamiento which is a bit of a catch 22 situation as you can’t get those until you actually arrive in Tenerife. Currently the NIE Certificate takes around one week to get. However you would think that there are certain items you can bring with you without the Certificates and the Embassy should be able to help. You will find further details on the British Embassy website.