Tenerife South Airport to Los Cristianos
Closest of the big resorts at 15 km; line 111 takes about 20 minutes for around €3.20, and it's the port you want for the western-island ferries.
The old fishing town that grew into a resort without losing its harbour — a sheltered beach, a working port with the Fred. Olsen and Armas ferries to La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, and a long-established winter crowd.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Los Cristianos, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €32). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €3) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €3 | €32 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €6 | €32 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €12 | €32 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €3, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
The bus stops within a few minutes' walk of the ferry terminal, which makes this the cheap way to make an onward sailing to La Gomera. Leave a comfortable margin — the 111 is half-hourly, not turn-up-and-go.
Where to catch it: Board at the arrivals stops; the 111 reaches Los Cristianos before it carries on to Las Américas and Adeje, so it's the shortest ride of the three.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Metered, roughly €25–35 by day and more after 22:00. If you're catching a ferry, say so — the port drop-off is a different entrance from the town.
Where to catch it: Rank directly outside arrivals; the shortest resort run from TFS and the one drivers take most often.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
The case for booking ahead here is timing rather than money: a fixed pickup that tracks your flight is what protects a same-day ferry connection when you land late.
Where to catch it: Book the port as your destination if you're island-hopping and the driver takes you to the terminal doors rather than the town centre.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
Los Cristianos is compact and mostly walkable, and the ferries take foot passengers, so a car is for exploring the island rather than getting around town. Street parking near the harbour is tight in high season.
Where to catch it: Collection lots a short shuttle from the terminal; most Canary firms quote fully-inclusive rates rather than adding insurance at the desk.
Best for travellers who want to exploreLos Cristianos & Tenerife in photos
Buying tickets in Tenerife
Tenerife has no rail at all, so everything runs on TITSA's green guaguas. Buy a tenmás card for €2 from the machines or the TITSA desk and top it up with any amount: it takes roughly 20% off short hops and up to 30% off long intercity runs such as the airport to Santa Cruz or Puerto de la Cruz, and one card can be tapped for several passengers. Without a card you pay the driver in cash. Airport lines are 111 (Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas, Costa Adeje), 343 (the express linking both island airports with Puerto de la Cruz), 450, 40, 415 and the 711 night service. The 343 runs to a sparse timetable, so check departures against your landing time rather than assuming a bus will be waiting.
Taxi scams & safety in Tenerife
Spain regulates taxis tightly and Tenerife is a low-risk airport: fares are metered, the rank outside arrivals is marshalled, and drivers are licensed. Take the next car in the queue rather than accepting an approach inside the terminal. Two legitimate charges surprise visitors and are not scams — the supplement after 22:00, and per-item luggage charges — so check the tariff card displayed in the vehicle rather than assuming you are being overcharged. The genuine risk here is car hire: always photograph the vehicle from every angle before leaving the lot, and be wary of counters offering a heavily discounted rate with a large fuel or excess deposit attached. Local firms such as Cicar and Autoreisen quote insurance-inclusive rates and are the safer default.
Getting from TFS to Los Cristianos
Los Cristianos is the closest of the big southern resorts to Tenerife South — fifteen kilometres, twenty minutes, the shortest resort run the airport does. But a lot of the people making this journey aren't staying in Los Cristianos at all. They're going to the port, because this is where the Fred. Olsen and Armas ferries leave for La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. Those two groups need different advice, and mixing them up is how people miss sailings.
If you're catching a ferry, the bus is genuinely the right answer
The 111 leaves from the stops outside arrivals roughly every thirty minutes, costs around €3.20, and takes twenty minutes to Los Cristianos, which it reaches before carrying on to Las Américas and Adeje. It sets down within a few minutes' walk of the ferry terminal. That makes it the cheap and entirely practical way to make an onward sailing — no bags to reload, no meter running while you queue behind other arrivals. The single thing to respect is the headway. Half-hourly is not turn-up-and-go, and a sailing you cannot miss deserves a comfortable margin rather than a tight one. Check the day's departures against your landing slot, and if the gap looks thin, take the rank instead and treat the extra twenty euros as insurance on a ferry ticket.
The old town is the reason the resort feels different
Los Cristianos grew out of a fishing village and never entirely stopped being one. The harbour still works, the beach is sheltered rather than wind-scoured, and the crowd skews older and longer-staying than the strip up the coast — a lot of people come for a month in January. That has a practical consequence for transport: the town is compact and walkable, the ferries take foot passengers, and almost nothing you'd want is more than fifteen minutes on foot from anything else. A hire car parked here for a fortnight does very little except cost money and complicate parking near the harbour, which is tight in high season.
What the rank costs, and when it earns it
Metered taxis run about €25 to €35 from the airport, the cheapest resort fare on the board, with the supplement after ten at night. For two people arriving in daylight, the gap over the bus is small enough that it's a fair trade for not waiting. One thing worth saying out loud when you get in: if you're heading for a sailing, say "the port" rather than the town, because the ferry terminal is a separate approach and the drop-off point is different. Drivers here do this run constantly and will take you to the right doors, but only if you tell them.
Booking ahead buys the connection, not the comfort
A pre-booked transfer sits around €32 to €45 for the car. On a twenty-minute journey that's a modest premium over the meter, and the comfort argument is thin — it's a short, easy drive either way. What you're actually buying is a pickup that watches your flight number. If your inbound slips and you land at 21:40 with a 22:30 sailing, a car already assigned and tracking you is a different proposition from joining a rank queue behind two other arrivals. Island-hoppers with a fixed onward ticket are the people who should book, and they should put the port in as the destination rather than the town.
The car-hire case is about the island, not the town
Cicar, Autoreisen and the majors quote from about €22 a day with insurance included, collected a short shuttle from the terminal. For Los Cristianos specifically, a car is optional at best. For Tenerife generally it's transformative — Teide, the Anaga forests, Masca, the north coast wine country. The sensible pattern for a long stay here is to arrive without one, settle in, then hire for two or three days midweek when rates are softer and you know what you actually want to see. Street parking around the harbour fills early and the paid lots aren't cheap in August.
So: staying in town and landing in daylight, the 111 for €3.20 is unbeatable and lands you near everything. Catching a ferry with time in hand, same answer. Catching a ferry with a tight connection or a late arrival, book the car and name the port.
