Chris Jones

So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip down to
Benidorm for a few days whilst there.

What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying likely to
be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport tend to be?

Des Small

"Chris Jones" <[email protected]> writes:

    > So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip down to
    > Benidorm for a few days whilst there.

That's like London to Newcastle, if my fingers are to be believed.

    > What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying
    > likely to be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport
    > tend to be?

I'd get a train if there was one, for sure - it's just too far to be
all messing with buses and stuff.

Des

Tim

"Des Small" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Chris Jones" <[email protected]> writes:
    >> So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip down
    >> to
    >> Benidorm for a few days whilst there.
    > That's like London to Newcastle, if my fingers are to be believed.

Except that by train it's like London to Newcastle via Glasgow and
Edinburgh.

    >> What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying
    >> likely to be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport
    >> tend to be?
    > I'd get a train if there was one, for sure - it's just too far to be
    > all messing with buses and stuff.

RENFE takes you to Alacant (which is beyond Benidorm) in 5
hours. From there you need to use the narrow guage railway
back along the coast to Denia. ISTR reading somewhere that
the Northern end of this line had closed BICBW. In any case
it's a pig of a route.

The train to Valencia (3 hours) and bus from there is likely to be
better.

tim

Iceman

"What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying
likely to be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport tend
to be?"

Buses are much cheaper than trains in Spain.

Both buses and trains are reliable.

Do keep in mind that a lot of the roads on Spain's Mediterranean coast
are really curvy and winding...so a lot of bus journeys will take a lot
longer than the point-to-point distance would indicate.

BTW, why do you want to go to Benidorm? It's a Spanish version of
Daytona Beach or Blackpool.

Jan

Chris Jones wrote:
    > So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip
    > down to Benidorm for a few days whilst there.
    > What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying
    > likely to be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport
    > tend to be?


Have travelled from Alicante to Barcelona (it goes via Benidorm) by
overnight bus, reasonably comfortable journey, managed a few hours sleep.
Most of the route is by motorway.

Have you been to Benidorm before?? We visited on a day out from Alicante
last year- just to see if it was as awful as we believed it would be- it was
worse!!!
Salou, just a couple of hours by train, is far nearer to Barcelona and
although a favourite wlth the British, it has not got the "lager lout"
reputation associated with Benidorm. The excellent PortAventura Theme park
is just minutes away by train.

Jan

Jordi

Chris Jones wrote:
    > So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip down to
    > Benidorm for a few days whilst there.

Are you sure you want to? Unless you want so see someone Benidorm is
just a monument on how not to build.

    > What's the cheapest way to do this? Is bus, rail, or even flying likely to
    > be the best bet? How reliable does the public transport tend to be?

The only way to do it direct is by bus, train requires changing in
Alicante or, alternatively, you may take a train to Valencia then a bus
to Benidorm.

Benidorm buses to Barcelona stop at Av. Europa. Check www.alsa.es for
pricing, online purchasing, etc. It's a 6 hours trip, btw.


J.

Ulf Kutzner

Chris Jones schrieb:

    > So, I'll be flying to Barcelona in August, and want to take a trip down to
    > Benidorm for a few days whilst there.

Did you already book your rt flight to Barcelona or would you consider
booking one leg to/from Valencia/Alicante airports instead?

Regards, ULF

Chris Jones

    > Did you already book your rt flight to Barcelona or would you consider
    > booking one leg to/from Valencia/Alicante airports instead?

Thanks for all your replies.

Yes I do really want to go to Benidorm, I have some friends who will be on
holiday there and I want to visit them!

From looking at the train prices on renfe and the bus prices on alsa it
looks like the train would cost 80 euros return and the bus 75, so they look
pretty similar (though the train has the added cost of the bus back from
alicante).
I take it internal flights would be more expensive than this?

Does Spain have an equivalent of the Megabus? Are there any other coach
companies or is it Alsa or nothing?

Jordi

Chris Jones wrote:
    > > Did you already book your rt flight to Barcelona or would you consider
    > > booking one leg to/from Valencia/Alicante airports instead?
    > Does Spain have an equivalent of the Megabus? Are there any other coach
    > companies or is it Alsa or nothing?

Alsa is the biggest, more realiable and with the best fleet. Auto-Res
should be a close 2nd, but IIRC, they mostly do routes to and from
Madrid, I don't think they operate a direct Benidorm - Barcelona.

There will probably be other, maybe cheaper options, check the website
of the bus station in Barcelona: http://www.barcelonanord.com to find
out.

Btw: if you are finally taking Bacoma/Alsa, it pays off to take the
express Eurobus, for something like 10-20 extra euro you will have a
much more comfy seat.

Hope it helps,

J.