Gran Canaria Car Hire: Compare Local Rental Deals
Local suppliers at Gando, the south resorts and Las Palmas, compared on one page with the card rules up front.
- 85 cars across the island
- 58 take a debit card
- Fuel cheaper than the mainland
- Up to 50% cheaper than portals
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Sun in the south, cloud in the north, one motorway between them
Gran Canaria is one island with three different parts, and where you sleep decides what a hire car will do for you. The airport is at Gando on the east coast, about 18 km south of Las Palmas and 30 km north-east of Maspalomas. The GC-1 motorway runs that coast and links all three, so nearly every hire begins on it, heading north or south.
The south is where the sun is: Maspalomas with its dunes and lighthouse, Playa del Ingles beside it, Meloneras west of the dunes, San Agustin east, then the GC-500 coast road to Puerto Rico and Mogan. The north is greener and cloudier, often under the cloud bank locals call the panza de burro, and holds the capital, Vegueta and Las Canteras beach.
Between them is the mountain: Tejeda, Roque Nublo and the summit at Pico de las Nieves, reached by the GC-60 from Maspalomas or the GC-15 from Las Palmas. The interior has its own page: the guide to the mountain roads around Tejeda.
The island in four figures
- Gando airport to Las Palmas
- 18 km
- Gando airport to Maspalomas
- 30 km
- Pico de las Nieves, the summit
- 1,949 m
- Motorway, open road, town
- 120 / 90 / 50 km/h
Drive on the right. The blood alcohol limit is 0.05%, and 0.03% for new drivers.
Three pickup points, and how to choose between them
No car on the island listing delivers to an address, so the pickup point is a decision, not a detail. Almost every hire on Gran Canaria starts in one of three places, and the linked pages carry the practicalities.
For trips where the car matters from hour one
Land at LPA, collect on the spot and be on the GC-1 within minutes, north or south still open. The trade is paying for the car on beach days when it sits in a hotel car park. The details are on the airport car hire page.
For a beach holiday with a few driving days
Maspalomas, Playa del Ingles and Meloneras sit side by side, with Puerto Rico and Mogan a coast road further west, so a resort pickup lets you hire only for the days you drive. Each has its own page: Maspalomas, Playa del Ingles, Meloneras and Puerto Rico and Mogan.
For city stays where the car is for leaving
Vegueta and Triana are walking districts and Las Canteras is a city beach with city parking, so a car collected on day one spends its first days parked. Collect the morning you leave for the south or the mountains; the rest is on the Las Palmas city page.
What is different about hiring a car here
The Canary Islands sit outside the EU VAT area and charge their own lower tax, IGIC, which is why fuel is noticeably cheaper than on mainland Spain. It is one of the few places in Spain where filling the tank before returning the car does not sting.
Two things are absent from the island listing: no car offers delivery to an address, which is why the pickup point matters, and nothing is electric or four-wheel drive. Neither is missed on the roads visitors drive.
The gearbox is the figure to check before the price. Of the 85 cars, 57 are manual and only 28 automatic, a third of the fleet, so an automatic is the thing to book first. What that scarcity does to prices is on the automatic car hire page.
Rent Gran Canaria shows the deposit rule, the card rule and the gearbox on every car before you book, which is where most desk arguments are avoided.
The fleet, counted on the live listing
Counted on the island listing on 13 September 2026 and rounded to nothing.
85
cars bookable across the island
in six classes, compact to minivan
Day rates by class, as bands
One number per class would mislead where the same compact can sit at either end of the range depending on the date, so these are bands. We sampled the live listing for pickups one week, one month and two months out and kept the range that held on all three: a lower quartile of 20-30 EUR a day, a median of 25-39 and an upper quartile of 45-73.
| Class | On the listing | Day rate band | Models seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compact and economy | 31 cars | 20-30 EUR | Fiat Panda, Toyota Aygo, VW Polo |
| Family hatchbacks and saloons | 29 cars | 25-39 EUR | VW Golf, Renault Megane, Ford Focus |
| SUV and crossover | 24 cars | 45-73 EUR | Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson, VW T-Roc |
| Minivans and seven seats | 14 cars | 45-73 EUR, top of the band | Dacia Jogger, Peugeot 5008, VW Caravelle |
The single premium car and the three cabriolets are too few for a band. The cheapest cars sit at 4-16 EUR a day; they are real but few, and what moves that floor is on the cheap car hire page.
See which cars are free on your dates
Every count on this page is a snapshot. Enter your dates and the list narrows to the cars a supplier will hand over that week, with the deposit rule and gearbox on each.
First-time questions about hiring on Gran Canaria
Not for the beach, the dunes or the evenings, which are on foot. A car earns its place the day you want Puerto de Mogan, the mountains or the capital, and resort pickups let you hire for those days only.
Collect at Gando if you will move around from the start, or are staying in the north or the south-west. Collect in the resort if the first days are beach days: a car parked at a hotel in Maspalomas is 30 km of motorway you paid for and did not use.
A full driving licence, a passport or identity card, and the payment card in the name of the driver. UK, EU and EEA licences are accepted as they are; from further afield, carry an International Driving Permit alongside your own.
Because the Canary Islands are outside the EU VAT area and apply their own lower tax, IGIC, instead. The difference shows at every pump, so returning the car with a full tank costs less than it would in Malaga. Check the fuel policy on the car before you book.
Both, on most of the fleet. Fifty-eight of the 85 cars take a debit card for the deposit hold and 49 accept a driver under 25. The supplier decides both, so filter for them before comparing prices rather than asking at the desk.