My friend who lives in Spain has the attitude of 'Who dares wins' , not sure if I agree with him, but it seems that politeness and road manners rarely are reciprocated and that flashing your lights here in the U.K. is a helping/warning signal whereas some European drivers may treat this like a red rag to a bull

I suppose you can get lulled into a false sense of security when driving on quiet roads, suddenly being thrown into mad free-for-all rush hour traffic can be quite daunting anywhere in the world, especially driving on the other side of the road

You may be able to speak for Watford, but not the the whole of UK, where I come from in UK I find it refreshingly pleasant in comparison to areas like Málaga, Marbella, San Pedro,Granada etc.

That old argument again

I do like the feeling that in Spain that you can get in the motorway, put your foot down and go 130km with very few traffic jams or anything. It gives you an emmense amount of freedom to go where you like at the weekend.

I know people in Madrid who drive to the coast every Friday afternoon in the summer (about 500km), to spend the weekend at a different place each time.

You should speak to my friend who makes the journey from marbella to Málaga 6 days a week. He could tell you a lot about traffic...almost an hour to actually get out of the place each evening at peak period, not to mention the queues on the A-7. He says it's getting better though as more people have lost their jobs

Let’s spare a thought for Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair.

Arriving in a hotel in Dublin , he went to the bar and asked for a pint of Guinness.

The barman nodded and said “that will be one Euro please, Mr. O’Leary” to which Michael replied “that’s a very competitive price” and handed over his money.

“Will you be wanting a glass with your Guinness, sir?” enquired the barman.

I think Ryanair are shooting themselves in the foot ATM. They got the subsidies on a promise of bringing money into the destinations. By introducing all the excess (and not so excess) baggage charges visitors stopped shopping.

It's a shame for Granada. Easiest check-in and check-out ever. From landing to on the bus in 15 minutes. €3 bus and 40 minutes into the center. It had everything going for it as an ideal shopping break weekend until the baggage thing went a bit mental.

Perhaps the quality services will fill the gap. Worth paying the bit extra as far as I'm concerned.

Yep Granada is much more civilised and user friendly unlike scabby old Malaga even with its so called improvements.

Looks like May 2nd is the last day for flights Liverpool to Granada. I am flying out on the Thursday 29th. I agree that it will be a shame if this route is not resurrected in the future. It maybe 40KM further to drive for me but the overall time taken from landing,going thro passport control,collecting baggage and picking up the hire car was shorter than using Malaga.Lets hope that it is reopened in the future.

I work as a driver and have found that the roads here are really easy to use. I would recon that the problems with traffic are mainly roadworks but they are probably doing their best. It seems to be quite nice driving around and as I drive around all week I find it quite relaxing. I must say that I don't like going to Malaga center.
They can speak for me too..
Could you tell me what century you are living in please? Fernando Alonso ring any bells? By your last statement, I'm presuming you've been honked at more times than a lady goose in the middle of a man goose pond. You are probably driving over here using the same rules as in England. It's very different and once you get used to it you will find that most people just want to get to their destination, and get that prat in the hire car in front who is holding up all the traffic well behind them.
When in Rome and all that. Mind you you'd probably prefer Rome the way you slag off Spain..

Andalucians are said to be the worse drivers in Spain in a recent survey.

I don't get this myth about spanish roads being less congested.

If I drive to Málaga airport from the CDS it is not unusual to crawl all the way. To get into Málaga city can take an hour from when the queues start as traffic can be backed up to Torremolinos. If I drive westwards on the peaje there would be hardly any cars until Algerciras...just different areas.

Likewise if I drive to Gatwick from where I live the traffic can be horrendous at peak periods. Guildford is congested after 4 pm. If I drive to Winchester in the opposite direction I scarcely pass a car until in the centre. There is a massive network around the area of back roads that hardly has any traffic at all.

Depends where you live, and work in both places.