I’ve been meaning to do this for ages! Since Alicante Airport is my home airport, I thought it would be handy to walk you through the process of returning a car hire to Alicante Airport. It’s especially handy if you’re not familiar with the layout since the whopping new terminal opened. We also have a guide to collecting an Alicante Airport car hire.
This information is valid for the official on-airport car hire companies including Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Goldcar, Centauro and RecordGo. If your car was collected from one of the off-airport car hire companies at Alicante Airport (Dickmanns or Sol-Mar for example), remember that you’ll need to return it directly to their office. Many (if not all) off-airport car hire companies provide shuttle services between their office and the airport.
1. Drive past the old terminal building
Follow the signs for rent a car and drive past the Alicante Airport terminal car hire
As you come off the main road, follow the signs for “RENT A CAR” and turn left, you’ll be driving past the old Alicante Airport terminal building which is now boarded up (until AENA can decide what to do with it! in another 30 years time).
2. The car park entrance is in the middle of the road….
Stay in the middle lane for the car park entrance
The middle lane (see above) takes you down a slope towards the airport car parking and the location of the on-airport car hire companies at Alicante Airport. The right-hand lane is for buses and taxis only. And the left-hand lane takes you back to the roundabout (so you can try again and again and again..)
After you’ve taken the middle lane, the road widens to two lanes. Despite the signage, I would recommend you stay left.
3. Ignore the signs for public car park. Seriously, don’t go there!
The entrance to the public car park when returning car hire car rentals to Alicante
As you go down the slope, the road bends sharply to the left. Immediately after the bend, you’ll see the sign above. The first entrance is for the AENA car park. If you’re driving a car hire from an on-airport company like Goldcar, Hertz, Avis, Advantage, AurigaCrown or RecordGo, you should ignore this and proceed towards the end of the road. If you park your car in the car park, you will not be able to return it to the car hire company and you will pay a penalty fee when they finally locate it. So avoid the parking, did I spell that out clearly enough??
4. Entrance to the on-airport car hire parking lot
Entrance to car park for on-airport car hire
At the end of the road, you’ll see the turning (above) into the on-airport car hire vehicle pound at Alicante. There are two lanes here, you’ll notice they have barriers. A full list of all the car hire companies inside is shown (also above). Please remember Firefly is part of Hertz, so if you are in a car rental from Firefly, you should follow the signs to the Hertz car hire offices, located on the first floor.
5. Drive onto the slipway for on-airport car hire
Car hire return for on-airport car hire companies
6. Press the red button
Press the red button to enter the on-airport car hire parking area
7. Know where you’re going!
Despite its appearance, this machine won’t give you a parking entry ticket. But it does read your car hire vehicle’s number plate. Just press the red button to open the gate. Now would be a good time to check which floor your Alicante car hire company is located on. Remember, you’re entering at the bottom. From the top the companies are as follows…
Check which level you need to return your car to
Ramp to reach the car hire companies on higher floors
Use the ramps to reach the car hire companies on higher floors at Alicante Airport
8. Return the hire car as instructed
Since this varies according to each firm I won’t spell out the procedure. Locate the office, park the car nearby, LOCK IT and hand the keys to a member of staff – preferably inside the relevant car hire company office. If someone approaches you with a clipboard and asks for the keys, verify their identity before you hand over the car keys … it wouldn’t be the first time that someone steals your car hire vehicle using this tried and trusted method.
9. Take the elevator to the 4th floor of the parking lot
Even if you’ve returned your car hire to Goldcar (who are on the ground floor of the airport), I’d recommend you find the lift (“elevator”) and take it UPSTAIRS to the 4th floor of the airport. Okay, Okay I can’t force you to do this but if you exit the parking at ground floor level you’ll have to negotiate 4 lanes of traffic, including some ramps while balancing your baggage etc… Trust me, this is my home airport.
Taking the upper tunnels takes you straight into the check-in/departures floor. Like I said, I know things.
10. Hit the lobby
Lobby area at the car park
When you come out of the lifts, head into the “lobby”. Frankly, I have no idea what this space is supposed to be for. I suspect the architects who designed the place have no idea either. It’s huge, beautifully lit with natural daylight and apart from a couple of vending machines, it appears to serve no purpose at all. Hell, you could house a supermarket in this space it’s so big!
This area also has a flight departures/arrivals information screen (showing the desks for check-in) and has one the few working toilets you’ll see until you get past airport security so, particularly if you’re travelling with kids, this might be time to take advantage… In the photo above, you’ll see the entrance to the tunnel that leads into the airport terminal building.
11. Cross the bridge into the airport terminal building
Bridge to reach the terminal building
Cross this bridge to reach the terminal building. Yes, you’ve spotted the dodgy rubber flooring! In a staggeringly beautiful and well-designed airport (we’ll skip the €629 m price tag), for some reason these bridges somehow got left behind. Where elsewhere we have marble floors, someone decided to put the old studded rubber matting down.
It’s noisy, hot (it’s not air-conditioned) it’s already peeling away and it’s hard to push heavy bags across … This is definitely something for the airport to “review” in the future. Anyway, full-speed straight ahead and at the end are some glass doors taking us into cool air-conditioned calm of the new terminal building.
Whilst you’re crossing the bridge, have a peek out the windows. The scale of the place is pretty amazing.
12. Escalators, Moving Ramp or Lift/Elevator Sir?
Head up to departures
Straight ahead of you, when you leave the tunnel are the escalators. These go up into the left-hand side of the departures hall where airport security screening is located. If you need to check-in baggage, better to use the moving ramp to your right (next picture down). In the picture above, you’ll also see the doors to 2 large lifts (“elevators”) that go up to departures as well. No expense spared in this bit of the project, evidently.
13. Moving ramp to check-in
Moving ramp to check-in
Take this moving ramp to arrive smoothly at the check-in desk area. Like I said before, if you’re going to check-in baggage, take the moving ramp to your right – it leads to the check-in desks area.
Now I know why I never did this before. It takes ages!! Anyway, hope you found it useful…