Driving from Madrid

Can anyone please tell me how long it takes to drive from Madrid to CdA and how easy it is?

Thanks

Carol Anne

Hi, I did the opposite journey last year on our way to northern Spain from CDA & it took around 4 hours to clear Madrid but the roads were great & the route was quite easy sat-nav or maps.

Dave

Thanks for  that Dave :)

Carol Anne

Hi, I also did the reverse last summer - easy straightforward route - approx 4 hours

Tony

Its a doddle. 4hrs no problem.

To get my bearings and get on the right road out of the airport I used google maps and then used the street view to follow the road out albeit on screen so that when it came to the real thing I had a visual memory of the road layout and rough idea of the signage I should be looking for.

........sat nav also helps!

Brett

We do the return Madrid-CdA trip 3 or 4 times a year as we can get very cheap flights from Brussels which is near where we live to Madrid, much cheaper than flying to Alicante or San Javier.

It is 425km from Mardid airport to CdA so as others have said it can be done comfortably in 4 hours, maybe a bit longer if you get caught in the Madrid rush hour. You can however avoid much of that if you use the toll roads in and out of Madrid which in our experience are always quiet. It's only a few Euros but it can be well worth it. 

It is an easy drive though a bit boring and monotonous, there's not really much of interest to see on the way unless you like windfarms. 

Thank you for all your replies. It has certainly given us another option as flights and  carhire from Alicante and San Javier are becoming more and more expensive.

Carol anne

Hi,
We did this route and like the other replays it takes around 4 hours. BUT!!!!! We missed our flight on the return journey due to traffic accidents and road works we allowed 5+ hours to get there to book in two hours before the flight. I would do it again but I would book into a hotel the day before you are due to fly home.
I am surprised I did not get any speeding tickets to add more cost, it still ended up cheaper than flying direct plus two nights in Madrid.
Regards
Simon

Just for people to chew over,  we are at CdA in July but have looked to return to CdA in August via Alicante but Ryanair flights were well over £400 return before you add any bags or priority boarding if you want that. Just looked at same dates for Madrid -£159 return for 2 people before any bags or priority boarding..