How far from Alemria Airport ?

Was just wondering if anyone knew how long it takes to drive from Almeria to Condado as an alternative airport to Murcia/Alicante ?

Many thanks

Carla

Carla it's a good 2 hours.

Dan

But the road is very pictesque and almost empty, we drove down there at Easter and only saw about 5 cars all the way back.

But a long drive, Murcia or Alicante are half the distance.  Corvera's due next year ( hopefully ) which will cut the travel time in half.

Phil

Thanks for the replies. Think we will stick with Murcia/Alicante until Corvera is built....whenever that may be!

Carla

I've actually gone further than that for the summer! Flights from Dublin are horrendous in July so I've booked a return to Madrid for us and 3 kids. It's a long drive but I've saved over 800 euro and we'll just take our time driving down.

Any towns recommended for a visit on the way?

Hi Andypin,

We drove from Madrid to Condado a couple of weekends ago on a Sunday.  Do not take any notice of the route planners that give you silly driving times of 4 to 5 1/2 hours.  The road was really quiet and we managed to do it in under 3 1/2 hours keeping to the speed limit. 

I would say there is no need to stop but I guess it depends on the timne you arrive and the ages of your kids (we can't get to the end of our street without the dreaded ARE WE THERE YET?).  I don't know if there is really anywhere to stop on the way, the motorway takes you through the countryside I think there were a couple of small towns but can't remember the names.  The main city is Albacete but when you get to there its probably less than 1 1/2 hours so its best to just crack on I would say.  We didn't take much notice because we had our sat nav.  It was a really easy drive and the motorway brings you out on the A7 next to Ikea.

Hope this helps.

Jo

Thanks Jo, that's brilliant news. I was expecting 4 1/2 to 5 hours based on google maps etc., but 3 1/2 is definitely drivable in one go once I take a couple of dvd's for the kids.

May I ask who you used for car rental? I'm shopping around and amazingly doyouspain seems a little dearer than some other sites.

Carla, sorry if it seems I've hijacked your thread.

No problem, its nice to get views on all alternative routes, so we can save some money!! Might give us a bit of spare cash to spend in the "Surgery!"

Hi Andypin

No probs, we used National Atesa but only because we were doing a one way drop off and they were the only ones that didn't charge huge drop off fees as we picked up in Madrid but dropped off in Alicante.  I think it is mainly the big hire companies in Madrid I saw Alamo, Avis,  and Hertz but did not see any of the others you normally see at Murcia like Goldcar etc the only other one we saw that was not one of the big companies was Victoria Cars try them - www.victoriacars.com.

Hope this helps

Jo

Hi Jo,

The drive from Madrid to condado is great news for us as that is what we are doing in August.

Another route you can look at is fly from Glasgow in the middle of August as they are back at school and the prices drop vastly. We were going to fly there this time until I found the Madrid flights.

Cheers Simon.