How to get to Granada

 

Flying direct to Granada Airport

IMPORTANT: for more information about cheap international flights direct to Granada airport, see this page.

If you want to fly to Granada airport, you can fly directly from London Gatwick or catch an international flight to Barcelona or Madrid and then a domestic flight to Granada. There are many more flights to Málaga so many people fly to Málaga and then catch a bus or hire a car (see information below).

Both VUELING and IBERIA offer direct flights between Granada Airport and London Gatwick several times a week. Search for flights

Granada airport is 12km from the city centre. On arrival it is best to get a taxi from the airport so that you can get to your accommodation without walking through the streets with your luggage. The taxi costs about 30 euros. Click here for more info. You can book a taxi here for 30 euros.

There is also a bus service which takes you to the centre of Granada. The bus times tie in with all the flights. There is more information about the airport bus on this page and a map with the bus stops here.

Notes:
You can search for flights using multi airline searchers such as SKYSCANNER

Flying to Málaga Airport

Málaga is the closest international airport to Granada and there are many flights. Málaga airport is 125km from Granada and it takes about 90 minutes to drive from Malaga to Granada.

GETTING FROM MÁLAGA BY BUS
It is best to use public transport to get to Granada. The bus is faster than the train. Buses leave from Málaga bus station and arrive at Granada bus station. The journey takes between 90 minutes (11.56€) and 120 minutes (13.86€). The price of a return ticket is double the price of a one-way ticket so there is no saving in buying a return.

There are direct buses from Málaga airport to Granada bus station. The journey takes 2 hours 15/30 minutes and a one-way ticket costs 11.57€/13.86€.

When you come out of arrivals, go straight on and you will come to the bus stop

If you arrive at another time, it is faster to catch a bus from Málaga airport to Málaga bus station and then catch a bus to Granada.

There are buses to Málaga bus station every 30 minutes and the journey takes 30 minutes. It is neccessary to buy your ticket before boarding the bus from the ticket office directly outside the arrivals hall. The price of a single ticket is 3€.

There are buses to Granada every hour between 7:00 and 21:30. A taxi from Málaga to Granada costs around 140 euros.

Granada bus station is just outside town, so you will have to get a taxi or a bus into the centre. To buy tickets online, visit ALSA. You can check times and prices, buy tickets and book seats.

If you miss the last bus to Granada, you will have to get a hotel in Málaga or club together with 4 people and get a taxi (a taxi from Málaga is about 120 - 160 euros).

If you need a cheap place to stay in Málaga for the night, I have been told that the Cenacheros pension is OK. Otherwise ask a taxi driver to take you to a Pension or Hotel.

BUS TIMES:
MáLAGA (AIRPORT) - GRANADA (BUS STATION): 08:30, 09:00, 10:00, 10:45, 11:00, 11:30, 13:30, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:30, 19:30, and 20:45
GRANADA (BUS STATION) - MáLAGA (AIRPORT): 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 09:00, 09:30, 10:15, 13:15, 14:00, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 18:00, and 18:30

MáLAGA (BUS STATION) - MáLAGA (AIRPORT): 07:00 - 24:00 (EVERY 30 MINUTES)
MáLAGA (AIRPORT) - MáLAGA (BUS STATION): 06:25 - 23:30 (EVERY 30 MINUTES)

MáLAGA (BUS STATION) - GRANADA (BUS STATION):
07:00, 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:15, 11:30, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 18:30, 19:00, 20:00, 21:15, 21:30

GRANADA (BUS STATION) - MáLAGA (BUS STATION):
07:00, 08:00, 08:25, 09:00, 10:15, 11:00, 12:00, 13:15, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00, 18:30, 19:00, 20:00, 21:00

Airport bus stop for buses to Granada

Getting from Málaga in a hire car
Remember that the only point in having a car in the centre of Granada is for going on excursions. Once you are in the centre of Granada you can walk everywhere or get a taxi. Parking your car in a public carpark will normally cost at least 25 euros per day but a new carpark has opened which costs 40 euros per week (click here).

Most companies have pick-up and drop-off points both at Granada airport and in the centre of Granada. There is a list of hire car companies here.

Getting from Málaga airport in a taxi
Just go to the taxi rank at the airport and try to get the best price. You should be able to get the price down to 140 or even lower. You will need to show them the address of where you are going and then ask the price. It is a good idea to get them to write the figure down on a paper so that they can't later say it was higher and that you didn't understand.

Getting to Granada by Train

Latest News: After many year of waiting the high speed rail link is now open. The AVE now links up with the rest of Spain. Note that it is still faster to get a bus between Malaga and Granada even after the AVE.

The train station is fairly central and is in Avenida de Andaluces off Avenida de la constitución. The phone number is  958 271 272. Click here for more information.

The Ave to Madrid takes about 3 hours. Seville is 4 hours by train. Most people choose the bus rather than the train when coming from Malaga or Almeria.

RENFE have a good website giving full information about trains in Spain, English, French, etc. Follow these links for homepage and timetables.

By the way: If you want some help with train vocabulary in Spanish, visit this page.

Getting to Granada by Bus

There are many buses each day to and from other large Spanish cities. To buy tickets online, visit ALSA. You can check times and prices and even choose your seats. The bus station is slightly out of town and you will need to get a taxi or a bus to get to the centre (click here for more information).

From Madrid
If you are coming from Madrid you will need to go to "Estación del Sur".

The nearest tube station to "Estación del Sur" is Méndez álvaro The buses leave every hour and if there is a busy day, for example before or after a fiesta they put on more buses according to demand. The usual thing (if you haven't bought tickets in advance) is just to go to the bus station and get on the next available bus. You would be unlucky if you have to wait longer than 2 hours for a bus. Buy your tickets from the ALSA window or machine. There are various services between Madrid and Granada:
♦ normal (5 hours - 17.53€): 1:30, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 10:30, 11:30, 14:00, 15:00, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 20:30
♦ supra economy (4 horas 30 minutes - 26.81€): 1:00, 7:00
♦ supra + (4 hours 30 minutes - 35.87€): 13:30, 19:30

The bus company owns a cafe half way between Madrid and Granada where they sell overpriced dried up sandwiches and lukewarm coffee. If this is your first time in Spain don't get depressed, Spanish catering is not normally this bad.

From Málaga
See above in "Getting from Málaga".

From other Spanish cites
Internet booking systems now function well so it is best to book seat online here ALSA, otherwise the normal procedure for getting a bus is to go to the station and get on the next available bus.

Getting taxis within Granada
It seems that it is not possible to book taxis in advance. However, if you phone for a taxi within Granada it rarely takes longer than 10 minutes for them to arrive. To get a taxi within Granada, just go to a taxi rank or phone 958 280 654. There are lots of taxi ranks in Granada: in front of the bus station, in front of the train station, in front of the plaza de Triunfo, in Plaza Nueva, in Fuente de las Batallas, and in front of the Corte Inglés, etc. (click here) for more info.

Driving to Granada

The Spanish road network has improved a lot in the last 20 years and there are good roads to all other Spanish cities. It takes about 5 hours to Madrid, 11 hours to Barcelona, 90 minutes to Málaga.

To see distances and driving instructions from other cities, click here.

There are some notes for car drivers, distances etc., on this page.

There is a list of hire car companies here.