Spain:how I can travel from Murcia or Alicante to Malaga (not by car)?

Does anyone know how I can travel from Murcia or Alicante to Malaga (not by car),

Is there any direct flights? If so - with who?
Is there any train services operating between the towns/ cities?

Thanks

Re: Spain

[broken link removed] appears initially but you could check out any in Flight search sites from AAM Holidays Forum Key Posts

You will probably find something on the train trip.

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Given the relatively short distance between Murcia/Alicante and Malaga I doubt there are any flights - you'd have to fly via Madrid I'd say - which would be time consuming and probalby not cheap

For Trains I'm afraid you're out of luck too.... The Spanish Rail network is a bit Madrid-centric ... not so many lines that dont' radiate from the capital. (now what country would that remind you of )

There's a line down the coast from Barcelona to Alicante & Murcia but it kinda stops there ... doesn't continue any further down the coast. To get a train from Alicante-Malaga you'd probalby have to go almost if not completely back up to Madrid. http://www.renfe.es will help you check this.

It's not that far (about 400km) there's probalby a bus or rent a car would be the best option ?

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this guy above knows little about Spain...

of course there are trains between those cities....

actually you can go from Malaga up to France...going through Alicante, Valencia & Barcelona among other cities...

the spanish train network is very much advanced... is not that centralized as this guy mentions.

Re the flights, it could be true... , although Alicante's airport is one of the busiest in Spain and because it's very touristic, I would not discard flights to Malaga or any other region.

The easiest way to check this would be to get into the airport web page and check the incoming/outgoing flights for a few days so you can get an idea of the destinations that can be reached....

Also, a bit of advise: you foreigners are very focused on Alicante & Malaga..... Valencia is much better/cheaper as well as many other regions in Spain... you guys don't know very much about it....spend a bit of time doing some research...

and please, don't have sausages & beans for breakfast while in Spain...enjoy the real food....

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I agree with you about the food & the regions Valencia Man and about the Trains in general (much better than Irish trains) .. but still not about the specific trains !

There is no train line acrross the southern coast of spain between Alicante/Murcia and Malaga. The "gap" is actually between Cartagena and Almeria I think.

If you try to get a train from Alicante to Malaga you'd have to travel towards Madrid at least as far as Alcazar de San Juan (~3hrs journey) .. then change (with no good connections) ... to a train to Malaga (6hrs journey) .. makes it about a 12hr journey by the time you include in connections - which is pretty crazy for 400km

If you know of any better trains that that I'd be interested too .. but I'm pretty positive there are not.

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Try
www.enatcar.es
for buses.
Drop down menus for origen/destinacion, etc.
This is the largest bus company but you may find better on the ground.

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I've checked and there are 2 trains from Malaga to for example Valencia (the capital of Alicante). It's 45e and takes a few hours....

the reason there is no train to Alicante is because it does not stop in Alicante, although Alicantes is between Valencia and Malaga. This could be because Valencia is the capital and all the trains go there and they don't stop over in other cities (an express train). Anyway, you can go from Valencia to Alicante (190km) as well....

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Evildoctor, you can go to Renfe.es and check it your self...

select ORIGEN (origin) as Malaga and DESTINO (destination) as Valencia....

I haven't checked the stops, but you may get away and get out of the train before Valencia and very close to Alicante....

Anather option might be to go from Malaga to Almeria and then from Almeria to Alicante.....

or another one to Albacete (not in the coast, but yet ok) and then to Alicante...

Also... there are plenti buses (ALSA, ENATCAR...)..

Also you can rent a car..........

Also.... there's always an option!

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Not wishing to labour the point to much (debating about Spanish Train timetables must be one of the more obscure things we've discussed here)

Yes there are certainly trains that you could take from Murcia to Malaga if you felt like it ... but it's not really a very practical option given the time it takes.

(according to Renfe.es)

You could leave Murcia at 0941 arrive in Albacete at 1136, have a nice long 2hr wait, leave Albacete at 1329 and get to Malaga at 2135 ... giving a journey time of almost 12 hrs ..as the crow files it's 220 miles (if you do the math that's 18mph average)

My initial post suggested driving/getting the bus .. I still reckon that's best option really. I wouldn't take that train

PS - Rail map of spain courtesy of google http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps/iberian-peninsula/iberian-peninsula.gif

As you can see no line accross the south coast there's no line to get from Murcia (or Alicante) to Malaga you do have to go 2/3 of the way back to Madrid.