Hiring a car can be relatively stressful at the best of times. Luckily we’ve got all the information you need to put your mind at ease when figuring out how to hire a car in Menorca, with our handy Menorca car hire guide.
Car Hire In Menorca Overview
As an island, Menorca can be somewhat limited when it comes to cars in general. You’ll often see locals driving around on scooters and mopeds, being their preferred method of transport around the island.
Being and island, Menorca has to import all of their cars, including hire cars, ultimately increasing the cost of acquiring the cars. Additionally, being a limited resource on the island prices as you’d expect can fluctuate.
Prices can be particularly steep if you’re hiring a car in Menorca in the peak summer months – July & August. The costs of hiring a car in Menorca in August for 10 days for example, can be nearly €1,000. When you take into account the cost of hiring, the petrol and any additional extras you may need e.g. baby car seat, or additional drivers.
Keep reading below and use our handy contents table to find the information you need for your next Menorca car hire.
However, if you’re already ready to head to the beautiful island, search for the best Menorca hotel deals here.
Do You Need A Car In Menorca?
In Short, not necessarily. There are plenty of Menorca buses that can whisk you around the island in relatively good time. Fortunately most buses stop in only a few locations so they get around the island quite quickly.
Alternatively, you may be staying at one of the Menorca all inclusive hotels and don’t feel the need to hire a car in Menorca with your hotel having so much to offer. Or you have small children who love the kid’s club and are too young to enjoy all that Menorca has to offer, just yet.
But if you love exploring and want to see all that Menorca has to offer, then we recommend hiring a car. The additional freedom allows you to visit those hard to reach beaches, go to those beautiful inland towns or coastal resorts. Visit the highest peak in Menorca, or even allow you to save some money in the largest supermarkets in Menorca.
Ideally you will weigh up the pros and cons to answer whether you need a car in Menorca or not. It comes down to your personal situation, family size, accommodation type, duration of stay and more.
Menorca Car Hire Companies
Fortunately, Menorca has a good variety of car hire companies to choose from. Meaning that although cars are a finite resource, healthy competition leads to good prices outside of the peak summer season. When hiring a car in Menorca during July & August, your choices become more limited and prices increase.
Our main advice here would be to shop around and use a variety of methods.
Menorca Comparison Car Hire Websites
The first option would be to use a well known comparison website like Travel Supermarket or Holiday Extras. This allows you to compare multiple car hire companies in Menorca at once. Reducing your time spent scouring the internet and helping you find the cheapest Menorca car hire possible. Comparison websites can also mean you can find some great cheap car hire in Menorca from incredibly trusted companies.
On our most recent search, we found no less than 19 Menorca car hire companies. So it’s definitely worth searching and exploring a variety of car hire companies. You can begin searching car hire in Menorca through Holiday Extras here.
Valls Rent a Car / Alquiler Coches
A great local option for Menorca. With multiple offices around the island in many of the coastal resorts and larger towns, including; Menorca Airport, Maó (Centre and near the Port), Santo Tomás, Hotel Cala Galdana, Cala Blanca, Cala Galdana, Fornells, Arenal den Castell, Binibeca, Punta Prima, Es Castell, Grupotel Mar De Menorca, Son Parc, Son Bou, Sant Jaime – Torre Soli Nou, and Hotel Sur Menorca.
At Valls you can rent a large range of vehicles. From smaller compact cars, minibuses and vans to more unique options such as electric cars, convertibles. Scooter hire in Menorca is also available from Valls Rent a Car.
Hiring a scooter in Menorca can often be a lot more cost effective than hiring a car. Particularly if you are a smaller group, family or an individual looking to explore. Not forgetting you can often get two people on your Menorca scooter hire, perfect for saving some extra money and venturing out as a pair.
Valls website can be found here.
Owners Cars
Another relatively large company and based locally only in Menorca. With various offices dotted around the island including; Menorca Airport, Maó, Santo Tomás, Cala Galdana, Cala Blanca, Cala en Bosch, Cala en Blanes, Son Xoriguer, Son Parc and Son Bou.
A great selection of cars are available from Owners Cars too. Including small, compact cars, to much large all terrain vehicles and even small minibuses.
There website for enquiries can be found here.
Other Car Hire Companies In Menorca
With tourism being such a large part of the island, and so many great places to explore there are plenty of car hire companies on the island. Some others include; Avis, Budget, Hertz, Auto Menorca, Record Go, Sixt.
As mentioned above, do shop around at the companies directly or simply compare prices via a comparison website like our recommendation – Travel Supermarket or Holiday Extras
What To Look Out For When Hiring A Car In Menorca – Top Tips
People can be sceptical when hiring a car abroad. Hearing horror stories of how large deposits were taken and not returned and so on. But, there’s really not a great deal to worry about if you’re sensible.
Menorca has been welcoming tourists for many years and offering car hire on the island for many years. There are plenty of trustworthy companies with staff who speak great English and will talk you through every step of the way including what the rules are, what is chargeable and what isn’t.
But to keep you on the right track check our Menorca car hire top tips below
- Ensure you’re old enough – some companies may require you to be 25 years or older and have held a license for at least 2 years
- Don’t forget there will be a deposit
- We advise paying via credit card for increased payment protection
- Remember documentation. We advise taking your physical driving license, passport and of course bank card
- Take photos, or a video of the car before stepping in. Highlighting any scuffs of damages to the rental company
- When parking ensure you can actually park in the location
- Remember driving in Menorca is done so on the opposite side of the road. In Menorca they drive on the right hand side
- Prices can vary significantly during high and low season
- Ensure you hire the car for the days you will use it and make full use of your car hire days
- You will most likely need to refill the petrol to the level when it was first collected
- Optional extras will cost e.g. Baby seat, additional drivers, additional helmet for scooters
- Double check the collection and drop off locations. Particularly if you aren’t collecting your car hire from the airport and need in resort assistance
- Make sure you drop off on time
Some of the above may seem obvious, but it can act as a great checklist and reminder for hiring cars abroad, not just hiring cars in Menorca.
How Long Should I Hire A Car For In Menorca?
A difficult question to answer in isolation and many factors will influence how long you will need to hire a car in Menorca.
What To Consider When Deciding How Long Your Menorcan Car Rental Is:
You may want to visit various towns in Menorca, or many of the coastal resorts with some of the best beaches on the island. Alternatively, you may want to head to one of the exciting fiestas in Menorca, or even explore the capital, Mahon. Whereas your children may have other ideas and want to visit some of the best water parks in Menorca.
You will also need to consider factors such as the overall cost of hiring a car. Most notably during the peak summer months of July and August when costs increase considerably. Also, will you want to be driving around every day of your holiday, or will you want a day or two of rest followed by a few days of exploration.
Ultimately how long you should hire a car for is down to you, your family, your friends, balanced by what you want to do during your stay.
One top tip is being mindful of what time you need to drop your car back off on the final day. This may well be the same time you collected the car, or the morning. Meaning the final day of you car hire will be very limited.
Menorca Scooter Hire
Hiring a scooter in Menorca is another great way to venture out and explore some of the great places, towns, beaches and more.
Scooters provide great value for money too, particularly if you two of you can squeeze onto the scooter. They are quite often cheaper than car hire, easier to park too and Menorca is very accommodating for scooters. Quite often being the choice of transport for many locals.
Scooter hire in Menorca can be found at a few locations, one being Valls Rent a Car here, alternatively search on car hire comparison website Travel Supermarket or Holiday Extras for some more ideas and companies.
Menorca Car Hire Top Places To Visit
There’s so much to do on the island. Public transport can be great, but often limiting you and forcing you into multiple bus route changes – which can be a hassle. Luckily hiring a car in Menorca avoid this and means you have more time to explore the places you want to as you haven’t got to waste time waiting for buses, or waiting and spending a lot of money on taxis.
- Some of the best beaches in Menorca
- Or, the ultimate hidden beach of Menorca.
- Possibly the capital city, Mahón
- Perhaps even some of the tourist coastal resorts, like Cala Blanca
- For families, it may mean a trip to one of the many water parks on Menorca
- Photographers and those seeking perfect views, may want to visit the highest point on Menorca
- The extravagant summer Menorcan fiestas may be up your street
There’s so much to do and see on the island and above are just some tips with links to our fantastic guides on where you can get started.
