Which suits your trip: car hire or taxi
Hire a car or flag down a taxi: two ways round the island and neither of them ahead every time. What follows sets out where each earns its money — including where the taxi is the wrong choice — so the decision comes from the trip you are making instead of a blanket rule.
When hiring the car pays
If you will be on the move several times a day, out to beaches and viewpoints that no line's itinerary reaches, on your own schedule and within a set budget, hiring comes out ahead. It also comes out ahead if you are travelling with small children, eating away from the village most nights, or sleeping somewhere out beyond the ranks.
When the taxi pays
Where you make one or two journeys a day — airport, dinner, the occasional excursion — where you plan to drink, where you land late, or where you simply have no interest in parking, the taxi is the better side of the deal. Short stays, one-day trips and anyone with no appetite for the logistics of a hired car end up here as well.
The costs the first comparison leaves out
Hiring adds a daily price, fuel, parking, insurance carrying an excess, and the small print on minimum age, mileage and deposit. The taxi adds the journey, waiting time and supplements. Comparing only the first figure of the day is how this goes wrong: put the whole trip against the whole trip.
A way to decide
Count the journeys you will really make, check whether your accommodation has parking and sits on a bus line, and see whether hire is available on the dates that matter. Two short journeys a day around the centre: do not hire. A lap of the whole island every day: hire, and keep the taxi for the airport. Combining both is what most people do.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a taxi for the entire trip? ＋
Yes: there is no minimum number of journeys and nothing obliges you to hire, and each trip stands on its own as a service paid at what the meter shows. What the island does not have are chauffeur apps in the Uber style, so the route stays the rank or the dispatch.
What does a car hire need from me? ＋
A valid driving licence, a card in the driver's own name and sufficient age: each company sets its own minimum and applies a supplement for young drivers. Ask about the insurance excess, the deposit return and the office hours before you book.
Can I mix hire and taxis over the same days? ＋
Common enough, and nothing in it conflicts. Plenty of people take a car for the days spent touring the island and keep the taxi for dinner in town, or come in by taxi on the night they land and pick the hire car up from the following day.