When you arrive at the island of the Canary archipelago that has long been beckoning to you, you understand that walking it on foot is not an option. Public transportation on Tenerife, car hire or taxi – that’s what you need to move from place to place. The island is big enough, and even if you want to spend your vacation sunbathing on the beach, you will definitely want to go to the capital city of Tenerife or visit for comparison several neighboring beaches. What can we say about those tourists who prefer active and cognitive rest. For inquisitive tourists the island offers the national parks of Teide and Anaga, massive cliffs of Los Gigantes, which you can see at any time with the help of online webcams Tenerife, as well as the pyramids of Guimar.
Some of you will want to explore the most famous beaches of Tenerife, and, perhaps, feel the difference between the climate of the north and south of the island. For such travelers, the ideal transport is the car. It will get you wherever you want, and at any time. Rent a car in Tenerife – a phenomenon widespread and necessary. But the car is not suitable for all tourists. Perhaps you are traveling alone or are afraid to get behind the wheel in an unfamiliar place. Or maybe you just do not know how to drive a car, but you want to see as much as possible during your holiday. Then the aid of other means of transportation, which, fortunately, there is. It’s about public transport in Tenerife.
Bus in Tenerife: rules of use
11.06.2018 the article was updated in connection with the appearance of new travel cards tenmas in buses and trams. When going to Tenerife, carefully study the relevant section of the article.
On the largest of the Canary Islands the main types of public transport are the bus and tram. Green buses of TITSA company can be seen everywhere on the Canaries. On the transport of TITSA you will reach almost any part of the island. Sometimes you need to do a few transbor for this. Public transport in Tenerife runs on a schedule, which you can see at every bus stop. There are several bus stations on the island. One is in Los Cristianos. The second is in Las Americas. The stations are called Estacion de guaguas. Here you can take a printout with a bus schedule or buy a BONO ticket that gives you a discount of 30 to 50%.
Bus of TITSA company on the street of Puerto de la Cruz
In the bus you have to go in the front door. The ticket you can buy from the driver. The maximum bunknote for a bill – 20 euros. Bought a ticket is required to be punched and saved before you exit the bus at the point of arrival. If you are on the bus lost ticket with your supervisors will remove a fine of around 400 euros. On Tenerife in the buses there is a special system of travel. The stops are not announced. You can see them only on a running board. If you need to get off at the next stop, you should notify the driver by pressing a special button. If you do not know, when you go out, ask the driver in advance, that it have stop in the right place. Better in this case, do not rush to take a seat at the free end of the saloon, and stay close to the driver. If you are afraid of the public transport system, and you’re afraid to get lost, it is better use the shuttle service from the airport or take a taxi. Suppose you spend more money, but you get to the following places without any problems. In the city, the buses are not always stop. They do it only, when people at the bus stop “votes” that is, raises his hand to the side.
Tram on the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Tram in Tenerife: where look for
If you come to the capital of the Canary Islands Santa Cruz, then in it you can ride not only by bus, but also by tram. In Santa Cruz is the only system of tramway service on the island of Tenerife. It was opened in 1901 and connected with each other Santa Cruz and the neighboring La Laguna, the old capital of the island. In the middle of the 20th century the line was closed for more than half a century. The line was reopened in 2007. The tram runs along 2-mind lines. One has a length of 12 kilometers, the length of the second is only 3.6 kilometers. City authorities are planning to build another tram line. Trams in Tenerife are bright blue. They can be traveled along the main streets of Santa Cruz from the port of the capital. The final station of the tram is the city of La Laguna. Tickets for this type of public transport can be bought at tram stops. The fare is 1.35 euros. Round-trip ticket – 2,50 euros. Travel by tram is also possible on the BONO card. A one-time trip will cost, in that case,1.05 euros.
How to use the BONO ticket?
The travel with BONO is useful to those tourists, who plan a lot of crossings during their holiday in Tenerife. It helps to save from 30% to 50% on travel. Also, the BONO card is suitable for people traveling in pairs, because one card can pay for travel of several people. The travel cards of BONO cost 25 and 15 euros, depending on the tariff zone. You transfer this money to the card when you purchase it and calculate it for the fare at the driver’s cabin. Entering the front door of the saloon, you must insert your travel card into the validator opening and tell the driver the destination point, as well as the number of people you pay for. If the money is not enough, you can add the remainder with coins. The discount is also valid in this case . On the BONO card you can change for free to another bus, that passes through the zone of the tariff zone of your card. Usually this can be done within 1 hour of the time.
BONO card for buses and trams of Tenerife
How does the map work? When you insert it into the validator, a travel code is printed on the back, the cost of it and the rest of the amount on the card. The last one is indicated on the right. If you often use the card, and there is already no place on it, and the money still remains, the driver can give you a new card, on it there will be only the balance of your amount. You can buy BONO tickets not only at bus stations. They are sold in special vending machines, at tram stops, in bars and newsstands. Directly at the airport, travel cards can be purchased at a special tourist kiosk called TUBILLETE.COM. It is located at the exit from the hall, where you receive luggage. Discount cards are valid for one year from the date of the first trip. You can also buy a travel card for a month, it costs 50 euros. If you did not use part of the funds for the specified time, no one will return the rest to you.
The new card Titsa company – tenmas (new information 11/06/2018)
Since May, 2018 on the island of Tenerife, the famous card for travel in public transport Bonocard has given way to a new card, called “tenmas”. Now it is actively advertised in guagua, trams, bus stations. Employees of the company Titsa tell everyone about the benefits of a new card or tarjeta (Spanish).
Like Bonocard, the “tenmas” card gives its owners a discount on travel in public transport (the further the distance to travel, the greater the discount). As before, several people can use the new tarjeta right away. Tenmas, like Bonocard, does not operate on buses 342 and 348, which allow everyone to get to Teide volcano once a day and return in the evening.
What is the difference between “tenmas” and Bonocard?
Booklet with information, a new tenmas card and a cover for it
In addition to the appearance, the new travel card differs from the old one in the following features:
- To purchase a “tenmas” card, you will need to pay 2 or 5 euros for it, and then deposit any amount from 5 to 100 euros into the account.
- A new card, on which the funds run out, can be replenished at any time in a special kiosk or at a bus station. The amount starts at 5 euros. (Earlier it was necessary to buy another Bonocard). The same travel card is reusable in use.
- An important difference is the use of the “tenmas” card. Upon entering guagua, you must tell the driver the destination and attach the back side with the qr-code to the special box of blue, and then take the seat in the cabin. When you exit through the central door, you will need to attach your tarjeta to a small green validator, on it you will see the amount you paid for the fare, and the balance of funds on your “tenmas”. That is, print on the back of the travel card, as before, the amount will no longer be, and it will have to be kept in your head. (This, I believe, is the main drawback of the new card). If you are traveling with a tarjeta “tenmas” in a tram, you need to attach a travel card to the red box (there are several of them in different parts of the vagon), and you will be charged 1.05 euros for the fare (for a ticket you would pay 1.35), that you will see on the electronic scoreboard. When you leave the tram, you do not need to re-attach the card to the box.
To this device a tenmas card should be attached, when exiting the bus.
There are several types of tarjeta “tenmas” on sale. The first costs 2 euros. It is advised to purchase it for all travelers, arriving in Tenerife. Actually, paying 2 euros, you put on account of 15-30 euros, and you can ride the island in any direction on convenient buses. You do not need to know anything else. If you live in Tenerife or plan to stay here for a month, you are provided with additional benefits. So, putting on the card 50 euros at once, you can ride it for a whole month in public transport. And large families and students can travel with it for one time up to 40 or 15 euros.
The second tarjeta “tenmas” costs 5 euros. It is designed for children, the elderly and disabled people and also gives a discount on travel and is used as a monthly travel card.
The third card “tenmas” is issued free of charge. You just replenish it for the amount of 5 euros. You can use this card only in trams (Santa Cruz – La Laguna line).
The contents of the booklet about the new tenmas card in Spanish
Thus, the advantages of the new card are its reusable use, replenishment for any convenient for you amount, travel on the card of several members of the company.
The disadvantages of “tenmas” are the opportunity to see the amount for the fare and the balance on the card only after the end of the trip and the periodic replenishment of the travel card. For the last operation, you sometimes have to wait a line of 10 or more people.
Probably, this experiment will not last long, and another card will replace “tenmas”, as it was already more than once. Recently, in the building of the bus station Titsa in Santa Cruz, everyone could see the detailed exposition, connected with the history of the company. At the stands were presented various types of travel and one-time tickets Titsa, which have undergone changes for 40 years.
Samples of travel cards for 40 years
But still green guagua are a comfortable, fast and inexpensive mode of transport, which allows travelers from different countries to study the beauty of the island of Tenerife with pleasure.
Ferries in the Canary Islands: companies and routes
Although Tenerife is the most popular island of the Canary archipelago, other islands also contain a lot of interesting and unusual. What are the sand dunes of Maspalomas in Gran Canaria or the Garajonay park on La Gomera! Curious tourists who have several days of free time after they have already got an idea of the main beauties of Tenerife, it is worth seeing the neighboring islands. It is easy to do this by visiting them. You can get to the islands of the Canary archipelago by planes that make several flights a day from the Tenerife North Airport. Air travel is the most convenient and fastest way to deliver you from Tenerife to other islands. But to get to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Homer, Hierro, Palma and Lanzarote is possible not only through the air. For fans of sea travel there is a pleasant alternative to airplanes – ferries.
Ferry communication between the islands is carried out by 4 shipping companies. Tickets for ferries can not be booked in advance, since vacant seats, as a rule, are always available. To buy a ticket, you need to arrive at the place of departure and purchase a boarding pass at the ticket office of the company. On ferries you can cross not only at your two legs, but also for a rented car. The most famous ferry company is Fred Olsen Express. It carries out transportation of passengers and cars quickly and efficiently. The cost of tickets for ferries of this company is the highest, as Fred Olsen Express serves the highest category. The movement to other islands of high-speed ferries of this company begin from the piers of the capital of Tenerife – the city of Santa Cruz.
Ferry of Fred Olsen company on Tenerife
If you are accustomed to save on vehicles, you can contact Naviera Armas. This is a more budgetary variant of the ferry crossing. From the cities of Tenerife, Los Cristianos and Santa Cruz, you can reach the main Canary Islands. However, on the way you will spend more time than if you traveled with the company Fred Olsen Express.
Another ferry company is Garajonay Express. With her help you can get to the Homera island. 2 small ferries of the company 3 times a day carry out communication between the city of Los Cristianos in Tenerife and Homera.The disadvantage of this company is the lack of ferrying of cars, so this option will suit only the hikers. But if you rent a car at Garajonay Express, it will wait for you at the berth itself upon arrival on the Homera island.
From mainland Spain to the island of Tenerife also go ferries, they belong to the company Acciona Trasmediterranea. And although with their help you can get from Tenerife to the island of Gran Canaria, flights are not regular. Thus, the best ferry companies for you are Naviera Armas, Fred Olsen Express or Garajonay Express.
Thanks to public transport in Tenerife, you can explore the main attractions of this amazing “continent in miniature”. With a tenmas card, you save on travel. With the help of ferry ships, navigate to the neighboring islands of the Canary archipelago. In a word, spend your vacation bright, unforgettable and pleasant.
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