Flights from Jerez

Jerez is becoming a busier airport and Monarch have just announced that they are flying to Jerez from Manchester in March next year (2007).

So this week I flew in and out of Jerez Airport, partly because the flights were cheap and partly because I wanted to use the airport and see if the journey from Marbella was worthwhile.

We flew out last Tuesday on the 1135 flight through Ryanair, we left home at 8am and had a straight forward drive up to Jerez via the A7 Autopista and then taking the A381 up to Jerez from Algerciras. The Journey took 1 hour and 40 minutes and was about 170 kms. (full driving info here)

The first and only really annoying thing about using Jerez Airport is that the long term parking is expensive. At the moment there is a dodgy looking guy by a caravan on the way into the airport who says he does long term parking but it's not clear for how much, or you go into the normal car park in the airport where the fee is €9 per day. Not the end of the world I know but a lot more than the €3 per day I pay at Malaga Airport.

However, the car park is only about 20 metres from the terminal building and it is easy to pull up outside the departures door and offload your luggage etc before going to park.

The queue for the Ryanair check in desks was long but quick and because the airport deals with such a small number of flights there are not that many people milling about.

If you want to buy a magazine or newspaper (in English) then make sure you buy one before you go through to the Departures Hall, the newsagents is on the left before the baggage x-ray machine. i forgot and had to go out and back through the baggage check again.

In the departures hall there is a cafe selling coffees (€1.20), beers and sandwiches, crisps etc and an Aldeasa shop where you can buy Spanish priced Cigarettes, perfumes etc. There are plenty of seats and a lot of room. Once boarding is announced you walk about 50m from the terminal building to the plane.

Flying back into Jerez was equally as pleasent, a short 50m walk into the terminal building from the plane, a 2 minute queue for Passport control and a 10 minute wait for the bags. After that it was a 50 metre walk to the car and a 95 minute drive home.

Summary

If I compare flying out of Jerez with flying out of Malaga then I would always fly out of Jerez. The 90 minute car journey can be a pain for some people but for us it's a 45 minute drive to and from Malaga Airpoirt and then the long term car parks are another 20 mins of messing around, if you add on the loooooooooong walk to the baggage hall after you have landed I reckon Malaga is only just quicker!

Add in the peace and quiet and relaxing atmosphere of Jerez Airport and for us (travelling with a toddler) it made the journey a lot easier.

For those of you heading down to the Costa Del Sol from Jerez don't rely on public transport, give it a bit of time and there may be a direct bus route but at the moment it's not worth the saving. Watch this space because I think the routes back to the UK from here are going to expand and unlike Reus & Girona the airport is already big enough to handle it.