Adventurous road trip: renting a car on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands)

Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) is a fine destination for adventurous drives. The car is the best way to get around there anyway. Do pay close attention when you rent one.

Renting a car on Fuerteventura could not be simpler

Some things you have to prepare carefully as a traveller. Surprisingly, the ‘car hire’ chapter is done in no time. We even sorted it quickly from the plane, during our stopover on Tenerife. With your phone you can land a hire car in a matter of minutes.

• Go to the website of the car hire company. We chose Europcar because of our good experiences so far.
• Pick the collection point (Fuerteventura Airport), the collection day and the return day.
• Now comes the fun part: pick a car. You will not necessarily get the car in the picture, but a comparable one.
• Pay online, because that is cheaper than at the airport. It can easily make a difference of 13%.
• The car is waiting for you at the airport. Perfect.

Choosing a hire car, and what the car class means

So online you land a hire car with the greatest of ease, provided you are at least 21. People are sometimes surprised by the car they get. It was not the car in the photo. Quite right: what you actually pick is a class.

The size of the car differs per class. It is also about boot space, the comfort inside and the road holding. The class is not always stated explicitly. Sometimes the car in the picture is the only clue you have.

With Europcar and Fuerteventura Airport, there are usually three classes available. Mini is the class with the smallest and cheapest city cars.

• Then comes Economy,
• , followed by Compact.

The differences between the two classes are small. In general the cars in the compact class are just that bit bigger. On price the economy class works in your favour.

Car hire companies interpret Economy and Compact a little differently from one another. Some make no distinction and treat them as one class. Distinction or not, in both cases they are often comfortable hatchback models, smaller or larger.

Renting a car on Fuerteventura: a Seat Leon becomes a Renault Megane

In the compact class we chose the Seat Leon 1.6 TDI. A five-door hatchback with five seats, a manual gearbox and air conditioning. Room enough for two suitcases in the back and unlimited mileage. Once at Aeropuerto de Fuerteventura we were given a Renault Megane with the same specifications. The online hire price for this car was €293.41 for 7 days.

What about the bus?

There are a few reasonable bus connections on Fuerteventura. One potential problem is that the buses mainly run between tourist centres.

The public transport network simply is not fine-meshed enough to get you everywhere. So you can forget the far corners, and those may well be the most interesting parts. On top of that, the convoluted timetable can differ from the information at the bus stop.

Sights on Fuerteventura, 3 tips for your road trip

• The viewpoint Mirador Morro Velosa deserves a place on your list,
• as does the historic little town of Betancuria.

These two sights are a study in contrast. The one offers panoramas full of arid, rugged landscape. The other is an oasis. A green, welcoming, cultured little village.

Carry on along the FV-30, a short stretch of the FV-605 and the FV-621 towards Ajuy. That route takes you along lovely mountain roads and several viewpoints, among them Mirador Las Peñitas. Do watch out for the Barbary ground squirrel.

• Once in the fishing village of Ajuy, you can admire caves, wild waves and a black beach.

The far corners 

How are your driving skills and your head for heights? Drive the Morro Jable – Cofete route for the real thing!