Car hire at Gran Canaria Airport
Explore Gran Canaria, from coast to mountains.
Popular hire cars at Gran Canaria Airport
Search the dates of your trip and the cars on offer at Gran Canaria Airport come up with their conditions attached: the deposit, whether it needs a credit card, the mileage limit if it has one, free cancellation where the car offers it, the gearbox and the seats. The car is met in arrivals and goes back to the airport at the end, or to one of five towns on a one-way.
From city cars to nine-seat vans
The airport listings run from four-seat city cars such as the Fiat 500 and Kia Picanto to crossovers and nine-seat vans. Most cars are manual; automatic versions are offered on models such as the Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Qashqai and Peugeot 2008. Each car shows its gearbox and its seats in the search.
Where is the car handed over at Gran Canaria Airport?
In arrivals. Every airport car is handed over at the airport itself, and your voucher gives the meeting instructions for the car you book. At the handover in arrivals at Gran Canaria Airport you show the licence itself, not a copy, and the card named on the booking in the main driver's name.
Aena runs the airport 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and in 2025 it handled 15,826,553 passengers, the most of any airport in the Canary Islands, and 142,884 aircraft operations. It stands in Telde and Ingenio, 18 km south of Las Palmas and 25 km from the tourist coast in the south, on the GC-1. The terminal closes to the public at night and lets passengers in two hours before their departure.
Can I leave the car somewhere other than the airport?
Yes, on the cars that allow it. A car collected at the airport can be left in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the municipality Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés belong to, or in Meloneras, Bahía Feliz, Puerto Rico or Las Palmas, at an address you give in the town; confirm the exact address with the booking's support before you pay. There is no separate fee for a one-way car hire from Gran Canaria Airport: any cost is inside the car's price, and the cars that allow it are small manual hatchbacks.
Automatics appear among the airport cars. The cars delivered in the resort towns and those allowing a one-way are manual.
What the search shows you
The search lists the cars bookable for your dates at Gran Canaria Airport, from rental companies at the airport and in the south-coast resort towns. Before you pay, each car shows whether there is a deposit, whether a credit card is required, whether cancellation is free and any mileage limit. The rental company hands the car over in arrivals, following the meeting instructions on your voucher.
Every car shows its own conditions.
What does each car show before I pay?
The deposit, which can be zero; whether a credit card is required or a debit card will do; the mileage, which is unlimited on some cars and capped at 175 or 200 km a day on others; and whether free cancellation is included. The minimum age is set per car at 23, 25 or 26, and every car needs a category B licence.
Third-party liability and basic collision damage cover are in the price of every airport car. The standard insurance on these cars excludes the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen and the interior.
How far are the resorts from the airport?
Bahía Feliz is 20 minutes south on the GC-1 and Playa del Inglés 27. The drive from Gran Canaria Airport to Maspalomas takes 30 minutes to exit 46, and Meloneras is 31.
The drive to Puerto Rico is 40 minutes and Puerto de Mogán 45, at the far end of the GC-1. North, the run up to Las Palmas is 27 minutes on the same road. The times start at the airport's terminal road and leave out traffic, and Spain's general limit on motorways and dual carriageways is 120 km/h, lower where signed.
- Playa del Inglés
- 27 min
- Maspalomas
- 30 min
- Puerto Rico
- 40 min
- Puerto de Mogán
- 45 min
Before you arrive
The handover at the airport, and the drive north to the capital.
Car hire questions
Quick answers before you search.
Is the airport open all night?
Aena runs Gran Canaria Airport 24 hours a day, but the terminal closes to the public at night and opens to passengers two hours before their departure.
Can I get an automatic?
Yes, on airport returns. Automatics appear among the airport cars; the cars delivered in the resort towns and those allowing a one-way are manual.
Can I pay the deposit with a debit card?
On some cars, yes. Others need a physical, embossed credit card in the main driver's name, and each car states which before you book.
What is the shortest hire?
24 hours. A hire of a few hours is charged as a full day.