Alicante Transport

Getting there & away

Contents

Land

Bus

From the bus station (96 513 07 00) over 10 motorway buses run daily to Valencia (€16.30 to €18.55, 2¾ hours). Others, much slower, pass through Costa Blanca coastal towns such as Benidorm (€3.40, one hour, at least hourly). At least four serve Madrid (€33, 4¼ hours).

Train

Destinations from the main Renfe Estación de Madrid (Avenida de Salamanca) include Murcia (€5.10, 1½ hours, hourly) via Orihuela and Elche, Valencia (€24.50, two hours, up to 10 daily) via Villena and Xátiva, Madrid (€38.60, 3¾ hours, five daily) and Barcelona (€47.25, five hours, eight daily).

Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV; 900 72 04 72) has a tram and narrow-gauge train service, the trenet (little train), which follows a coastal route that’s scenically stunning at times. A tram (every half hour) runs northwards as far as El Campello, where the trenet takes over. It runs to Denia (€7.75) via Playa de San Juan (€0.95), Benidorm (€3.45) and Calpe (€5.35). Trains run hourly as far as Altea and every two hours to Denia (€8.20).

Boat

Acciona Trasmediterránea (www.acciona-trasmediter ranea.es) and Romeu (96 520 04 01), an Algerian company, run regular ferries to/from Oran in Algeria.

Air

Alicante’s El Altet airport (96 691 91 00), gateway to the Costa Blanca, is served by budget airlines, charters and scheduled flights from all over Europe.

Two cut-price operators, both with offices at Alicante airport, are Servitour (96 568 26 42; www.servitour.es) and V. Travel 2000 (96 691 94 60), which also calls itself Goflightline.