Jet ski from Puerto Colón: licence, minimum age and the cash deposit
Updated October 1, 2026 · 8 min read
The short answer: you do not need a licence, but you do need the right listing for your age. Three operators at the same marina draw the line at 18, at 16, and at 16 with parental consent. Anyone travelling with teenagers or children is hard pressed to beat the 1-Hour or 40-Min Jet Ski Safari: from €32.49 per person, drivers 16+, passengers 8+, and with 3,105 reviews the most-reviewed jet ski tour on the island. Its one catch comes further down — it does not leave from Puerto Colón, but from the port of San Miguel.
Check availability and prices for the 40-Min Jet Ski Safari
Puerto Colón in Costa Adeje is where most of Tenerife’s jet ski trips leave from, and the listings look interchangeable: one hour, guided, coastline, photos. Book the wrong one for your group and you find out at the pontoon — which is the worst possible moment, because the rules that separate these tours are about who is allowed on the machine.
Four jet ski tours compared
| Jet ski tour | Duration | From | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Hour or 40-Min Jet Ski Safari | 40 minutes | €32.49 per person | 4.5 out of 5 from 3,105 reviews | Teenagers 16+ at the controls, children 8+ as passengers |
| Jet Ski Safari from Puerto Colón | 1 hour | €48.60 per person | 4.6 out of 5 from 287 reviews | Adults who want to walk there from Costa Adeje |
| Puerto Colón: Coast Tour with Photos | 40 minutes – 1 hour | €49 per person | 4.6 out of 5 from 246 reviews | Couples and families with children 5+ as passengers |
| Puerto Colón: Yamaha Jet Ski Tour Along the Coast | 1 hour | €49 per person | 4.7 out of 5 from 251 reviews | Adults who want to set off right at the marina |
Here is what the operators actually state, and where they disagree with each other.
The licence question, answered
You do not need a boat licence or any previous experience for a guided jet ski safari here. One operator puts it in as many words: no previous experience or driving licence is necessary, the only requirement is good physical condition.
That is because these are guided trips. A guide leads on a separate boat, you follow in convoy, and the operator carries the qualification rather than you. It is not the same as renting a machine to take out alone, which is a different product with different requirements.
What is genuinely required instead: you must be able to swim. Two of the three Puerto Colón operators list non-swimmers as unsuitable, and one asks specifically for basic swimming skills. Nobody checks this at the desk — it is on you.
The minimum age is three different numbers
This part is worth reading twice, because there is no island-wide rule and the differences are large.
The Jet Ski Safari from Puerto Colón at €48.60 per person (1 hour, 4.6 stars from 287 reviews) lists children under 18 as not suitable. That is effectively an adults-only trip, and it is the strictest of the three.
The Coast Tour with Photos from Puerto Colón at €49 per person (40 minutes to 1 hour) sets it differently again: drivers under 16 not suitable, children under 5 not suitable, and nobody under 100 cm. So a child can ride as a passenger here, subject to the height line.
The 1-Hour or 40-Min Jet Ski Safari at €32.49 — the most-reviewed jet ski trip on the island — is the most permissive and the most precisely stated: the driver must be at least 16, and if the driver is 16 or 17, written consent from a parent or legal guardian is required. The passenger must be at least 8 and, in the operator’s own phrasing, strong enough to hold the driver.
Three operators, three answers, one marina. Whatever your group looks like, filter by this before you filter by price.
That last one also sets a maximum age of 70, which is unusual enough to catch people out and is stated plainly on the booking page.
Check availability and prices for the Jet Ski Safari from Puerto Colón
Weight and size limits are real, and they are enforced
These are not suggestions; they are what the machine is certified for.
- The €32.49 safari: maximum total weight 200 kg for two people, not recommended for anyone over 120 kg, and unsuitable for people over 118 kg.
- The €49 photo tour: maximum 170 kg total for driver and passenger together on the shared double ski.
For two adults planning to share, 170 kg combined is tighter than it sounds. If you are close to either figure, take two single skis and pay the difference rather than discovering it at the pontoon.
Both also list back problems and pregnancy as reasons the trip is not suitable — a jet ski on Atlantic swell is a repeated impact, and that is the sound reason behind it.
The €50 cash deposit nobody mentions
The €32.49 safari requires €50 in cash per jet ski, held as a deposit to ensure the safety rules are observed — specifically the safety distance between machines. You get it back; you need to have it with you.
That operator also asks you to bring a passport or ID card, and prohibits phones on the water.
The two Puerto Colón operators do not publish a deposit in their conditions, which is not the same as there not being one. Cards are not universally taken at a pontoon kiosk. Carry some cash and photo ID to any jet ski meeting point on this coast — it costs you nothing and it is the difference between riding and watching.
What an hour actually buys
The Jet Ski Safari from Puerto Colón publishes its itinerary minute by minute, and it is a fair illustration of the category:
Speedboat out, 2 minutes · jet skiing, 25 minutes · break at La Caleta de Adeje, 3 minutes · photo stop, 3 minutes · jet skiing, 25 minutes · speedboat back, 2 minutes.
So a “1-hour jet ski safari” is about 50 minutes on the machine, which is honest, and a total commitment considerably longer than an hour once you add the 30 minutes early arrival both operators ask for. Groups are capped — 10 participants on one, 8 on the other — so this is not a hundred-strong convoy.
One reviewer’s line is the most useful sentence on the whole page: an hour is plenty if you are not used to it, because your hands will be exhausted. Booking two hours because it seems better value is a common mistake.
The most-reviewed listing is not in Puerto Colón
This is the trap, and it is worth spelling out.
The €32.49 safari with 3,105 reviews is the one everybody finds first — low price, by far the most reviews, and the title says only “Tenerife”. Its meeting point is the port of San Miguel, on the south coast well east of Costa Adeje, not Puerto Colón.
If you are staying in Costa Adeje and book it assuming you will walk down to the marina, you have booked a drive. It may still be the right tour — the conditions above are the clearest published by any operator on this coast — but check the map pin for your booked option before you plan the morning around it. Meeting points also vary by option within the same listing.
For genuine Puerto Colón departures, both the €48.60 Jet Ski Safari and the €49 Coast Tour with Photos pin to the marina itself. From the same port there is also the Yamaha Jet Ski Tour Along the Coast for €49 per person and a private one-hour adrenaline tour at €120 per booking, for one person.
Check availability and prices for the Yamaha Jet Ski Tour
Who I would tell not to book this
Families with children under eight. Every operator on this coast draws a line somewhere, and below eight there is no listing that takes them. The boat trips with a minimum age are the honest alternative, and the whale watching trips take small children routinely.
Anyone hoping to see wildlife. One operator notes that whales, dolphins and turtles are sometimes encountered, and that is true — but a convoy of engines is the least likely way to have a good encounter, and it is not what the trip is for. If marine life is the point, book a no-chase whale watching trip instead and spend the money there.
Anyone who gets cold or sore easily. Atlantic swell, a rigid machine and fifty minutes is more physical than it looks from the promenade.
Our recommendation
For most people: the 1-Hour or 40-Min Jet Ski Safari for €32.49 per person. It has the clearest published conditions on this coast, with 3,105 reviews the widest base of experience, and the only age rules under which a family can actually ride together. Plan for the drive to the port of San Miguel and bring €50 in cash per jet ski.
For anyone who wants to walk there from Costa Adeje: the Jet Ski Safari from Puerto Colón for €48.60 per person. It departs from the marina itself, publishes its itinerary minute by minute — and does not take anyone under 18.
For couples who want to bring a child along: the Coast Tour with Photos for €49 per person. Drivers 16+, passengers 5+ and 100 cm+, but only 170 kg for the two of you combined.
For anyone none of this suits: families with children under eight will find no listing here, and anyone with back problems or who is pregnant is excluded by every one of these operators — that is not a formality, it is the swell. More on what is available on the water along this coast in the things to do category.
