Easyjet Winter Sale Flights To Spain

Easyjet have got a winter sale on that lasts until midnight 1st February 2006.
With up to 35% off seats you can book the following flights for anytime between now and the end of Septmeber 2006.

London Luton to: Barcelona from £14.99

London Gatwick to: Madrid from £17.99

London Stansted to: Barcelona from 14.99 | Valencia from £17.99Bristol to: Madrid from £14.99

Liverpool to: Barcelona from £14.99 | Madrid from £19.99

Don't miss out - to book these or any of the other fantastic destinations on offer, Easyjet.com visit now!

All fares are one way, including taxes and subject to availability.

Terminal 4 at Madrid Airport

We have just finished updating the information on the new Terminal 4 at Madrid Airport.

It looks like a lot of the airlines are moving over there during the next few weeks so if you are travelling to Madrid make sure you check out the latest information.

Ryanair Baggage Allowance

I just read an article that says Ryanair are about to charge people for every bag that they check in.

Ryanair have said that they will be charging €2.50 per bag for every bag a passenger checks in.

For those passengers who want to check in bags that weigh more than 20 kgs there will be an excess baggage charge of £5.50 per kilo

Ryanair hope that the move will mean that they will be able to reduce the overall cost of their tickets by making the move.

Trimming airport and handling costs will save Ryanair more than £20 million ($35.8 million) over the current financial year, the company said.

I think that this move will encourage us to be more careful on what and how we pack. How many people go on holiday with a suitcase full of clothes only to return home without wearing half of it!

You can read the full article here

News On Madrid Terminal 4

Just found this interesting article on the events that are about to take place at Madrid Airports new terminal, Terminal 4.

In due course when the dust has settled I will change all the information within the site to reflect all the changes taken place.

In the menatime a good place to get information is Luchtzak Aviation website

Buying Property Near A Spanish Airport

I just read an article in the Sunday Telegraph that debates the wisdom of buying a property on the basis that a low cost airline flies to an airport nearby.

It reminded me of an article that I wrote for Eye On Spain a few months ago.

Read can read my article about Buying a Spanish Property near an airport here

and the full artcle from the Sunday Telegraph (she must have read mine first!) here.

Cheap Monarch Flights To Spain

Just spotted the January sale from Monarch!

Some very gtood deals. For those of you who dont know Granada and Gibraltar offer a good alternative way of getting to the Costa del Sol.

Gibraltar is closer to the western end of the Costa del Sol: San Pedro, Estepona, Sotogrande etc than Malaga Airport.

Granada is about 90 minutes drive north of Malaga. The Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges are just outside of Granada and offer Europe's southen most ski resort.

Monarch Flight deals £29.99 including taxes

Gatwick to Alicante
Gatwick to Granada
Luton to Gibraltar
Luton to Alicante
Manchester to Barcelona
Manchester to Palma

Monarch flights at £33.99

Birmingham to Alicante & Malaga
Manchester to Gibraltar

Book now at www.fly-monarch.com

Madrid Airport Terminal 4 Opening Postponed

Due to a decision of Madrid Airport Authorities (AENA), the opening of the new Terminal 4 in Madrid has been postponed until 05 February 2006.

From this date, Virgin Express moves its operations permanently from Terminal 1 to the brand new Terminal 4 in Madrid Airort.

Reported at Lutchzak Avaition

Flyglobespan Flights To Menorca

Flyglobespan have just made the tickets for the flights between Glasgow and Mahon (Menorca) and Edinburgh and Mahon (Menorca) available.

Below is an extract from their website:

GLASGOW TO MAHON

WEEKLY SATURDAY SERVICE
27 MAY - 28 OCT
From £35.99 each way

EDINBURGH TO MAHON

WEEKLY SAT SERVICE
27 MAY - 28 OCT
From £35.99 each way

Book direct at www.flyglobespan.com

Girona to the Languedoc

The south western tip of France know as the Languedoc has become very, very popular with the British and Irish over the last few years and as it is only a short drive from Girona Airport it gives you the chance to have a two country holiday in one go.

It is an option to fly in Girona (or Barcelona) spend a few days in Spain and then drive a short distance up into France. The first City of note is Perpignan but our favourites are towns like Pezenas and the City of Montpellier a little further into France.

You can then choose whether to fly home out of one of the four or five French airports that cover the Languedoc area or drive back down to Girona.

A good resource for information on the Languedoc is The Languedoc Page

New Look Faro Airport Guide Is Launched

We have just re-launched Faro Airport Guide after a site redesign.

It's closer to where I live in Spain than most of the Spanish Airports and it is used by a huge number of British and Irish tourists each year.

The new guide to Faro Airport covers all the same topics as each airport section covers and we are currently finishing the Faro flights section. It even has it's own blog!

We cover the main companies offering car hire at Faro Airport, all Faro Airport transfers and all services and facilities at this small but pleasent airport.

If you do find yourselves at Faro Airport and have a bit of time to kill there is quite a nice rooftop cafe serving coffee, snacks etc that is open from April to October each year.

Holiday Car Hire Prices On The Web

I just read an interesting article in The Telegraph where the journalist, Sophie Butler, explains that she found a huge difference in the price of car hire through the same company.

The problem that Sophie encountered is a familiar one. She saw an advert for car hire through Hertz on the Bmibaby website. She followed the link, got a quote and then went directly to the Hertz website and run a quote for the same car and destination. The result was 40gbp price difference!

When she questioned Hertz about this, they replied that they run different offers through different websites and that they tried to keep the best offers for direct enquiries to their site.

I'm glad about this article, because this is the fundamental point behind this website. Yes we have advertising, but in essence, we provide direct links to all the relevent websites for you to source your own prices. If the advertisers are able to offer better deals and you´re happy with that, you will use them rather than the direct websites.

An example of this can be found on our car hire pages, on pages such as Avis car hire in Barcelona we provide you with a direct link to Avis's website and their address and telephone number. We believe that Holiday Autos are able to offer better prices for the car hire at Barcelona Airport but at least you have a choice!

We also update our own car hire price comparision chart on a regular basis and you can see details of the latest test below:

To establish the best rates for car hire in Spain on this page we have used the following information:

Driver Age: 37

Pick & Drop off points are Malaga Airport

Pick Up & Drop Off time is always 10am

Date of Hire: 1st June 2006 until 14th June 2006

Date of Test: 19th December 2005

Holiday Autos- €244.05 (£167.16) Crown Car Rental - €248 Hertz Car Rental - €343.64 Avis Car Rental - €627.47 Budget Car Rental - €357.02 Europcar Car Rental - €719.54

So, from our short test Holiday Autos win by €4 but the other differences after that are huge.

So there you have it, an explanation of how we believe this site can help you with your travel arrangements and an article in a leading broadsheet newspaper which backs up our beliefs!

Gary

The full article in the Telegraph is here

Malaga Airport Passenger Traffic At All Time High

Passenger traffic in 2005 hit an all time high at Malaga Airport. A staggering 12,669,187 people passed through the airport last year. In 1996 just 6.659.195 passengers passed through the airport.

The biggest number of visitors come from the UK with just over 5 million passengers, the Spanish accounted for 3.2 million passengers and the Germans sent 1.25 million passengers.
I think that this reflects two things:

1) The number of English people who actaully own property or permantly live on the Costa Del Sol is pushing the amount of visitors through the roof. On the development where I live many of the holiday home owners visit their apartment up to 6 times per year and if you include their friends and family this number can often reach 20 times per year. ( thats without any formal holiday lets)

2) The low number of German visitors is due to the problems with the German economy

Out of interest the busiest day of the year in 2005 was 13th August when Malaga Airport recieved 63,264 passengers.

Trains Without Drivers At Madrid Airport

Just stumbled accross this press release from the company who are installing the new communications at Madrid Airport.

Sounds a bit scary to me!!!

You can read the full article here

"Gipuzkoa-based telecom company Ikusi has been commissioned to integrate all the communications systems required to run the new unmanned train at Madrid's Barajas airport (Madrid) using a system that applies wi-fi to the train's safety and security systems. The train is ready to run and will come into service when the new terminal is inaugurated.

Company sources explained that these systems allow a ground control centre "to receive permanent information about everything that happens on the train." Several systems have been used to make this possible. "Particularly important," continued the sources, "is the wireless-LAN system which facilitates simultaneous transmission of up to 12 video signals from inside the trains." Installation involves leading-edge transmission systems capable of working in tunnels.

Besides this system, Ikusi has also been entrusted with the task of installing loudspeaker and interphone systems, data switching systems, the Tetra radio communications system, closed circuit TV, telephones and the software required to integrate all these systems and their connection with the airport's central"system.

Cheap Seats On Flybe To Spain

I have just noticed that Flybe cheap seat sale is closing on Thursday 19th January.

The deal is avaialable for all bookings made on travel between now and the end of October.

You can fly to Murcia, Alicante, Palma and Malaga Airport from the UK with Flybe.

We have already written an artcile about all Flybe flights to Spain

Ryanair Flights To Spain

Continuing with our theme of which airlines fly to where please find below details of all Ryanair flights to Spain.

We have also written about Monarch flights to Spain, Flybe flights to Spain and Easyjet flights to Spain.

Ryanair fly to more Spanish Airports than any other airline although some of the airports aren't best placed for the main tourist areas. For example Ryanair only fly to Malaga on the Costa del Sol from Dublin but you could fly into either Jerez, Seville or Granada as a substitute.

If you are heading for the Costa Blanca use Valencia for the northern end and Murcia for the southern end. If you want to fly to the Costa Dourada then use Reus and for the Costa Brava use Girona.

For Barcelona you should fly into either Reus or Girona but there is quite a long transfers from both Reus and Girona.

For Alicante and Benidorm fly into Murcia.

Girona Airport is the main Spanish hub for Ryanair and you can fly in and out of Girona airport from 21 different European airports, there are: Shannon, Dublin, Glasgow, Blackpool, Liverpool, East Midlands, Luton, Stansted, Bournemouth, Paris, Brussels, Eindhoven, Dusseldorf, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe Baden, Milan, Venice, Florence, Romw and Alghers in Sardinia.

The following routes are currently on offer through Ryanair for the summer of 2006:

Ryanair Flights to:

Santiago de Compostela: from Stansted, Frankfurt & Rome

Santander (Bilbao): Stansted, Frankfurt and Rome

Vitoria: Stansted (From 27/02/05)

Zaragoza: Stansted & Milan

Reus: Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, Luton, Stansted and Frankfurt

Valencia: Dublin, Stansted, Luton, Brussels, Milan & Rome

Murcia: Shannon, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, East Midlands, Luton & Stansted

Almeria: Stansted

Granada: Liverpool & Stansted

Malaga: Shannon, Dublin & Brussels

Jerez: Stansted and Liverpool

Seville: Liverpool, Milan & Stansted

Valladolid: Stansted & Brussels

New Aer Lingus Flights To Tenerife

Aer Lingus have just announced the addition of a new once per week flight from Cork Airport to Tenerife South Airport.

Additional frequencies will also be added to existing Aer Lingus routes from Cork to Nice, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Alicante, Malaga and Rome.

Spanish Airport Upgrades

An artcile in Rueters states that the Spanish Government is to invest up to
2.90 billion euros ($3.50 billion)on upgrading the airports in the Canary Islands.

The eight airports that serve the Islands include Lanzarote Airport, Tenerife North Airport, Tenerife South Airport, Gran Canaria Airport, La Palma Airport and Fuerteventura Airport.

The plan includes terminal extensions, new runways and extra parking space, the Development Ministry said in a statement.

Spanish Flight Delays

According to the Evening Times Online Air Scotland have the worst record for delays amongst the UK's scheduled carriers.

Passengers flying on the Glasgow to Alicante route suffered average delays of 43 minutes (twice the national average!)

The troubled airline, which was recently bought over, was forced to cancel a flight from Glasgow to Malaga AGP on December 29.

And in October, it left more than 200 holidaymakers stranded at Glasgow and Edinburgh for more than 14 hours after flights to Malaga were delayed.

Air Scotland are now owned by Greece Airways and hope to have put their troublers behind them.

Monarch flights to Spain

Monarch Airlines now fly to 13 different Spanish Airports (if you include Gibraltar!). They do offer many more flights through their charter airline but the ones listed below are part of their scheduled service and run regulary throughout the year.

Monarch operate Spanish flights from 7 different UK Airports, they are: Aberdeen, Blackpool, Birmingham, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Newquay.

Monarch also fly to Faro Airport on the Algarve which you could use to get to the Costa de la Luz.

You can book the flights direct at www.fly-monarch.com.

Monarch flights to

Alicante - from Birmingham, Gatwick, Luton and Manchester

Almeria - from Manchester

Barcelona - from Manchester

Gibraltar - from Luton and Manchester

Granada - from Gatwick

Gran Canaria - from Luton

Lanzarote - from Luton

Malaga - from Aberdeen, Blackpool, Birmingham, Gibraltar, Luton, Manchester and Newquay

Madrid - from Manchester

Menorca - from Birmingham, Luton and Manchester

Palma de Mallorca - from Birmingham and Manchester

Tenerife - from Birmingham, Luton and Manchester

If your a frequent flyer then Monarch also have a "Vantage" card which gives many privileges such as priority booking and an express check in service.

New Flights To Tenerife

Jet2 have announced that from the end of November 2006 they will be offering flights between Blackpool and and Tenerife.

The new flights will run twice weekly and are set to operate on a Monday and Friday.

You can already book your flights through Jet2.com

Easyjet flights from Liverpool to Menorca

Easyjet have just announced that they are to fly from Liverpool to Faro Airport in the Algarve, Krakow in Poland, Mahon in Menorca and Marseille, France.

The new routes start in the spring but tickets are already on sale at www.easyjet.com

Cheap Flybe Seats Up For Grabs

Flybe have just released 5 million seats with low prices if you book by 19th January 2006.

As with all offers the prices do vary but if your quick you should get a good deal.

We have just written an article on where Flybe fly to in Spain.

You can book direct at www.flybe.com

Smoking Ban In Spanish Airports

It's unbelievable but from 1st January 2006 there has been a massive change in where you can smoke in Spain.

The Spanish are the 2nd biggest smokers in Europe (behind the Greeks) and the tough new laws are a brave move by the Government.

Restaurants and bars have got some severe restrictions: If a bar is larger than 100 sq m there is either a total smoking ban or they have to provide a seperate smoking area.

Within larger public places such as airports and train stations there will be seperate smoking areas.

I have already seen quite a few restaurants in Marbella advertising the fact that they are no a "smoke free" restaurant. It will be interesting to see how this change progresses.

One of my biggest "bug bears" about living in Spain was the smoking.

Restaurants did'nt have no smoking areas and you were given a very strange look if you ask for a no smoking table.

Smoking throughout the large commercial areas also made Shopping in Spain an unpleasureable experience.

Virgin Express Madrid

The new Terminal 4 building at Madrid Airport will be home to Virgin Express from 29th january 2006.

Virgin is asking any customers using their Madrid service to leave plenty of time for check in over the first few days of the move.

Any passengers who are being met at Madrid Airport after travelling with Virgin Express should make sure that the people meeting them are also aware of this change.

Virgin Express flies to Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Palma and Valencia in Spain

El Camino de Santiago

I have just had a qusetion asking me which is the nearest airport to "El Camino de Santiago". As I didn't know anything about it I had to check out my facts.

The nearest airport is actually Santiago de Compostela which is served by Ryanair. But it depends on which part of the journey you want to cover.

I was curious to find out more about "El Camino de Santiago" and found that its is and found that it is the route of a religious pilgrimage.

I took this quote from this website:

"The Spanish part of El Camino de Santiago runs some 800 km (500 miles) from the Roncesvalles pass through Puente la Reina, La Rioja, Burgos, Leon and finally crossing Galicia to Santiago. While not everyone has the time and energy to repeat Andrea Kirby's feat, the Road to Santiago is a fantastic tourist venue for hikers and walkers. The Road crosses some of the country's most spectacular landscapes, and is dotted with beautiful Romanesque and Plateresque churches, chapels, and monasteries - the above photo shows the cloisters at the Silos monastery near Burgos where monks still sing Gregorian chants (they even made a record).

You can also find out more about the walk here at www.caminosantiago.com and if you fancy doing the journey on horseback: www.elcaminocaballo.com

Nearest Airport To Andorra

The Internet is full of mis quotes and dis-information.

I was reading this Article about property in Andorra and Monaco and the author explains that the nearest airport to Andorra is Barcelona.

He's wrong! in fact it is Girona Airport.

Girona Airport obviously does not recieve as many flights as Barcelona but it is one of Ryanairs main European hubs and you can get there from 21 different European Airports.

The article itself is about property in the tax haven of Andorra. I have never been up to Andorra and intend to add it to my list of places to visit.

If you are fortunate enough tp be able to afford a property in Andorra then check out this company run bya friend of mine Languedoc Property Finders,