Travel from Malaga, Spain to Lisbon, Portugal

Guided tours will be difficult and expensive if they exist, as will be a private driver.

There is no direct train service from Malaga to Lisbon. It would be necessary to travel from Malaga to Madrid and then to Lisbon. Spanish railways site, www.renfe.es indicates that, at present, it could take between 20 and 24 hours to make the trip by rail depending on how many changes one has to make.

If one wants to get from Malaga to Lisbon directly, the quickest way will be by the twice daily TAP-Air Portugal flight from Malaga Airport to Lisbon Airport. See: www.flytap.com

Note these flights may be operated by a sub-contractor and may be operated by aircraft as small as 19 seater Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft.

As regards private chauffeur services one could try some of these services (located via google.es):

http://bit.ly/1jSwmbR

or

http://www.chauffeurservicesspain.com/index.php/1/welcome/

or

http://www.blueskyluxurycarhire.es/chauffeur-hire.aspx

The distance from Malaga to Lisbon is about 700km and will require a drive of about 6 to 7 hours(without stopping), a considerable bit of which is on toll roads.

There is a daily overnight long-distance bus services operated by alsa.es between Lisbon and Malaga

Depart: Málaga 21:00 (Spanish Time)
Arrive: Lisbon Oriente: 06:00 (Portugal Time)

Transit time: 10h 00min (Possible Bus change in Seville)

Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal - Boom - to Sevilla or Malaga

Boom is always a problem. Getting there and back by public transport is a real hassle as Idanha-a-Nova is right in the sticks.

It is something I find strange about an event that supposedly supports green issues. The amount of carbon monoxide that has to be emitted getting to the event must be huge, given that most people have to come by car or taxi from Caldas da Rainha.

The best way to get to Malaga will be to get a bus back to Lisbon and then another one to Seville. To get to Malaga from Portugal you really need to go through Seville.

alsa.es operate a daily service from Lisbon to Seville as follows:

LISBON Sete Rios SEVILLE 20:45     05:15 next day Malaga 08:00

Alternatively, if you can get a lift from Idanha to Caceres in Spain (+- 130km) you can get a bus from there to Seville.

alsa.es have  at present two buses on this route daily as follows:

CACERES  04:25     SEVILLE 07:35 MALAGA 11:00     
CACERES  11:30     SEVILLE 15:15 MALAGA 20:45      

Timetables may, however, change for summer and you should check closer to the time. Note that Spanish time is 1 hour ahead of Portugal Time.

Train - There are not cheap nor quick links between Idanha, Lisbon, Seville and Malaga.

Personally, I strongly recommend the bus.

Lisbon to Alvor / Alvor to Malaga

The best way for both trips is by car!

The drive from Lisbon to Alvor takes 3 hours.

Lagos/Alvor/Portimão will take about four and a half to five hours.

See this article on my blog about my trip on this route last year.
http://bit.ly/lagosmalagacar

If, however, (and you do nor specify it), you are referring to public transport then the best option on both routes is Bus.

Lisbon - Alvor

There are regular buses throughout the day from Lisbon Gare Oriente bus station to Alvor operated by Renex.pt

Go to my blog here:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com

Scroll down on the right hand side and you will find a panel
entitled:

Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

In this panel you will find links for:

# RENEX Bus Service - Lisbon to Algarve (including Lagos) timetable

Click on the latter and you will be able to download the latest timetable in pdf format.

2) Alvor - Malaga.

You will have to get a local urban bus to Portimão.

From there pick up the twice daily Portimão to Seville Bus.

In Seville change bus stations and get a bus direct from Seville to Malaga.

At present there is an EVA/DAMAS but that leaves Portimão at 07:00 and arrives in Seville Estacion das Armas at 13:00 (Spanish Time)

You will need to get a local C4 bus between Estacion Plaza das Armas to El Prado Bus Station which runs from just after 6 in the morning till 23:30.

You will then need to get the alsa.es 15:00 departure which arrives in Malaga at 17:45.

At present. the afternoon bus does not connect with ongoing alsa buses to Malaga

Algeciras/Malaga to Lisbon

There is no direct bus service from Algeciras to Lisbon.

One can get a bus daily from Algeciras to Seville as follows:

Operator: T.G. Comes

Website: http://www.tgcomes.es/horarios_33.htm

Algeciras to Seville:

Dept. Arr:

08:00 11:30
11:30 15:30
14:00 17:30
16:30 20:00

From Seville to Lisbon there is a service operated by www.alsa.es as follows:

Seville to Lisbon Sete Rios Coach Station

Dept. Arr:
15:00 21:15
23:59 06:00

From Malaga to Lisbon there is a daily service operated by www.alsa.es as follows:

Malaga to Lisbon Sete Rios Coach Station

Dept. Arr:
21:00 06:00

Faro to Malaga

As you have already surmised, there are no direct links by train, rail or air between Faro and Malaga - or for that matter between Faro and any Spanish Mainland city.

Viamichelin.com quotes as follows for the drive by car from Faro to Malaga:

Distance: 414km including 397km on motorways
Estimated drive time:04h18

You should note that it is very expensive to do inter-country drop-offs with hire cars between Spain and Portugal and vice versa.

Air is not really feasible as you would have to travel to Lisbon, get a low cost to Madrid and then another low-cost to Malaga.

Rail is essentially the same.

There is a bus service operated by www.alsa.es with a bus change in Seville at Plaza das Armas Bus Station as follows:

Town Dept
FARO 02:00
VILA REAL ST ANTONIO 02:45
AYAMONTE 04:00
HUELVA 04:30
SEVILLA 05:45
MALAGA 08:45

This would be the most direct.

You might also be able to catch one of the two daily buses operated by DAMAS/EVA from Faro to Seville (weekdays only in winter.)

Have a look at this page on Cubsur's site for more info:

http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/001.htm


From Seville there will be several daily services to Malaga from either Plaza das Armas or Prado Bus Stations including these services operated by ALSINA GRAELLS SUR, S.A.

02:50 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
11:00 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
12:00 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
14:00 03:30 DE LUNES A SABADOS
16:00 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
17:40 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
19:00 03:30 VIERNES Y DOMINGO
20:15 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
20:30 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
22:00 03:30 TODA LA SEMANA
23:58 03:30 A VIERNES DOMINGOS Y FESTIVO

Alternatively, you could get a cab from Seville Plaza das Armas to Estacion Stª. Justa Train Station and get the AVE high speed train to Malaga changing at Cordoba.

This will probably be very expensive and probably not save much time.

For more info check out the spanish railways site

www.renfe.es.

Hope this helps

Travel from Lisbon to Malaga

The problem about travelling from Lisbon to Malaga by car is that if it is only one way, the inter-country drop-of charge will be ridiculous.

By air your best bet would be a low cost with Easyjet or Vueling.com on the Lisbon - Madrid sector and then Spanair on the Madrid - Malaga Sector.

Spanish Coach operator

www.alsa.es

currently have a daily departure at 20:45 arriving Malaga the next morning at 08:45. (Change in Seville.) Current 1 way price - € 59.00.

Note this is the current winter schedule and you should monitor their site for any changes.

Lisbon to Algarve

Firstly, the Algarve is a region and not a single place. Consequently, I cannot answer this question specifically without knowing your exact destination.

However, there are three main means of public transport linking Algarve towns with Lisbon. Rail and two long distance bus services.

If you visit my blog:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

»» Scroll down on the right hand side until you come to the panel entitled "Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links"

»» Click on:

- Porto - Lisbon - Faro Train Timetable for the return train timetable.
- Algarve Regional Line Train Timetable for connections along the Algarve.
- RENEX Bus Service - Lisbon to Algarve timetable
- Rede-Expressos - National Bus Timetable - Updated. (National Coach Operator) - Portuguese only.

There are no direct train services between Malaga and the Algarve.

www.alsa.es operate a direct service between Malaga and Faro daily as follows:

Dept. MALAGA 21:00
Arr. Faro 01:45

I strongly recommend booking a hostel or pension near Faro bus Station if you arrive on this bus as downtown Faro is no a good place to be at that time.

There are other daily buses that run between Seville and the Algarve operated by DAMAS/EVA.

Checkout Cubsur's site here for more info:

http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/001.htm

Train travel-Malaga-Lisbon

There is no direct Rail line between Lisbon and Seville. You would need to route via Madrid.

There is only one daily overnight rail service between Lisbon and Madrid.

The following articles on my blog may be off interest.

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Lisbon+Malaga

Travel from Lisbon to Algarve to Malaga

Public transport links between Spain and Portugal are almost exclusively restricted at present to long distance coaches.

While you will not need a car in Seville, you will need one to explore the Algarve and you may well miss places you want to see in Spain.

I would therefore strongly recommend flying in and out of Lisbon on this trip. Rent a car in Lisbon and drop it off there. Intra-country drop offs are very expensive in Europe. Be aware to specify an automatic if you are from the other side of the pond as in Europe we mainly drive manual shift vehicles. I also suggest a vehicle with aircon as Andalucia will be very very hot at that time of year. (Between 35º and 40º during daylight hours.)

You routing should be by toll road from Lisbon Airport via the Vasco da Gama Bridge to Albufeira. (+- 2:30 mins). Albufeira - Seville freeway (2 hours). On the Seville to Malaga route there are various options, including the scenic long one via Jerez/Algecira/Marbella.

While in Malaga, with a car you can also make an easy day trip to Granada and the Sierra Nevada, although it will be very hot in the former.

To do all the above by bus would at least double travel time and add a lot of inconvenience.

Getting from Algarve/Albufeira Portugal to Marbella, Spain

1) Ferry - No.

There are no regular ferry or passenger maritime services running from the Algarve along the Spanish Med Coast.

2) Rail - Possible

There is no direct rail link from the Algarve into Spain. One would have first go to Lisbon, then Madrid and then Malaga, then Fuengirola and then take a bus or taxi from there to Marbella.

3) Coach

There are twice daily direct coach services from Albufeira to Seville. See the following sites for more information:

www.algarvebus.info
www.solpraiaferias.com/index.php?content=cheg_en

From Seville you can get buses to Marbella direct.

See the following posting by CadizLover on the Tripadvisor forums last year:

"There is a bus service from Marbella via Ronda that proceeds to Seville. Leaves daily at 9am (Portillo bus) and 4pm (Los Amarillos bus) . At least by taking the bus you can stay on one form of public transport and also see the more hilly parts of Andalucia ! Of course some of the roads especially the one leading up to Ronda, are winding. The bus takes about 1 hour and a half to get to Ronda, then about 2 hours to get from Ronda to Seville. Cost is €15 one way.

The two companies that advertise the route are PORTILLO bus company and LOS AMARILLOS bus company.
You can see the details at:

http://www.ctsa-portillo.com/ima/pdf/marbella.pdf

and

http://www.losamarillos.es/

Taking the bus to Malaga bus station then another bus or train from Malaga to Seville is certainly an option if you want to avoid "them thar hills". "

4) Air

From Albufeira taxi or shuttle to Faro Airport.

You could then take the daily low-cost Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flight from Faro to Madrid. Then a low-cost flight to Malaga and then local train to Fuengirola and then take a bus or taxi from there to Marbella.

This last would probably be the most efficient although you probably would get in quite late.

The Ryanair flight leaves Faro at:13:35 arriving Madrid Barajas at 15:55.

Spanair (www.spanair.com or www.spanair.es) then has (at present) a flight at 17:40 from Madrid arriving Malaga at 18:45

There are trains then to Feungirola every thirty minutes at 44 and 14 past the hour until 22:44. Transit time 35 minutes. From there a taxi.

Alternatively there is a direct coach service from Málaga airport to Marbella bus station, every 45 minutes.

The first bus start at 06.15 and the last one at 23.00

See the following Malaga Airport page for more info.

http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?cid=1048858947329&pagename=Estandar%2FPage%2FAeropuerto&SMO=1&SiteName=AGP&p=1048858947201&c=Page&MO=1

The folowing site may be also of interest:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Faro to Malaga

There are no direct flights between Faro and Malaga or between Faro and airports in mainland Spain. To fly you would have to route via Lisbon and Madrid as the TAP/Air Portugal direct flights are expensive.

The only public transport route between Faro and Malaga is by bus.

Alsa.es have a daily departure as follows:

FARO dept: 01:45
MALAGA arr: 08:45
Current Price: €40.00

It is also possible to take the twice daily DAMAS/EVA buses from Faro to Seville and then get another bus to Malaga.

For more information see Cubsur's very useful website here:

http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/001.htm

Travel from Malaga to Lisbon

Air Portugal - Tap operate regular flights from Malaga to Lisbon but the one way ticket price is ridiculous - in the order of € 364 per person at the end of June 2008. You may get something cheaper by buying returns.

A combination of low-cost flights involving airlines such as Spanair/ Clickair/Easyjet/Vueling on the route from Malaga to Lisbon via Barcelona or Madrid may be your best bet by air.

By long distance coach, www.alsa.es operate an overnight daily bus service as follows:

New Jersey to Seville by TAP

The TAP Lisbon to Seville link is not a high volume link and you were probably put aboard one of their 19 seater US-manufactured Beechcraft 1900D tubro-prop aircraft. There is nothing unusual about this. In the USA, similar services linking low volume destinations also use similiar small turboprop aircraft. It is a pity, there are no low cost operators on the Lisbon to Seville and Lisbon to Malaga routes. However, TAP-Air Portugal is not a low-cost operator and if there is limited traffic on a route it does not justify operating larger equipment. For those visiting Seville from the NJ area, a better option might be via Barcelona. I see from the AENA Barcelona website that there appears to be an overnight United direct flight from Newark to Barcelona arriving at 09:00. Iberia, Vueling.com and Ryanair all operate from Barcelona to Seville and will be operating these routes with Boeing or Airbus equipment. Given the limited number of flights on the Madrid to Seville route, Barcelona is probably a better gateway to Seville from Newark than Madrid or Lisbon.

Going by car from Lisbon to Costa del Sol

Lisbon to Marbella is 700km. ViaMichelin show a transit time of 7 hours on the shortest motorway route via Faro, Huelva, Seville, Jerez, Cadiz and Malaga . Consequently one has to accept that one will effectively lose one day en route and one day on return.

Also be aware that if travelling through the Alentejo and Andalucia between late May and early October it will be very hot with temperatures up to +-40ºC. One should therefore hire a car with aircon or else plan to leave early circa 04:00. and try to finish driving for the day by 11:00.

Note also that many car hire firms in Portugal charge extra for taking a rental vehicle into Spain. This should be verified when booking.

From personal experience I believe that this itinerary is very tight for one week of travel. More time will be spent in the car than elsewhere.

Seville itself really needs a minimum of 2 days to properly visit the Alcazar, the Cathedral and enjoy its ambiance. Lisbon probably needs at least 3 full days if one is going to do the basics of Castelo São Jorge, Belem, Jeronimos, Linha da Cascais (Estoril/Cascais) & Sintra.

For a week's trip I would counsel

a) Lisbon and Seville only

or

b) Seville or Granada and Marbella only.

One Way Car Hire - Spain / Algarve, Portugal

*****URGENT NEW COMMENT - 11th July 2009 *****

http://www.iberiacarhire.com has been the first site for which I have taken banners on this blog.

However, since starting a few weeks ago. it has become clear that the provider of the vehicles in Spain have no vehicles available for, at least, summer 2009 rental from Spain to Portugal.

The web site operator, who I have know for a long time is most annoyed as well. The issue is being taken up by the aforementioned car rental provider involved.

However, for the present, I will be changing the banner and apologise to all those who have been frustrated through this link and post.

Should the situation improve and/or resolve itself, I will announce it here.

Again my apologies.

*****URGENT NEW COMMENT - 11th July 2009 *****


Since my original post, in April 2009, a new website (www.iberiacarhire.com) has now been set to offer potential clients a one-stop shop for making bookings for one way car rental with economic drop-off prices between Spain and Portugal. At present this service is available via Faro Airport in the Algarve Region of Portugal.

For someone coming from Spain, they can pick up a vehicle at any of relevant depots in Spain and for a fee, drop it off at Faro Airport. They can then, if they wish, then pick up a vehicle from from another reputable agent at Faro Airport to continue the Portuguese side of their trip.

Equally, for someone starting their trip in Portugal, the system works the other way round as well.

The one-way drop off rates vary dependent on where the vehicle is picked up/ dropped off. If a vehicle is picked up at Gerona, its something like € 90 to drop-off at Faro, while a pick up in Seville and drop-off in Faro its something like € 30.00 This is still well below the drop-off fees quoted by the majors.

It is important to note that at present the vehicle drop-off/change-over can only be done at Faro Airport in the Algarve, Portugal. Nonetheless, this is a great improvement in car hire services for those wanting to do one way trips between Spain and Portugal.

www.iberiacarhire.com
Pick-up / Drop-off Points in Spain and Algarve, Portugal.(Faro Airport)

Alicante Airport	Almeria Airport	Faro Airport
Gerona Airport	Granada Airport	Jerez Airport
Malaga Airport	Murcia Airport	Reus Airport
Sevilla Airport	Valencia Airport	Chiclana De La Frontera
Fuengirola	Granada	Islantilla
La Linea	Malaga Central	Malaga Renfe
Marbella	Rota	Sevilla
Torremolinos

www.iberiacarhire.com
Pick-up / Drop-off Points in Portugal.(incl. Faro Airport)

Lisbon Airport	Porto Airport	Albufeira
Armação de Pera	Aveiro	Braga
Carvoeiro	Cascais	Coimbra
Faro Office	Figueira da Foz	Lagos office
Lisbon City office	Monte Gordo	Portimao
Porto City	Quarteira	Sesimbra
Viana do Castelo	Vilamoura

This service finally offers the promise of being able to reasonably priced car hire rentals with reasonable one-way drop-off fees between Spain and Portugal, albeit only via Faro Airport in the Algarve, Southern Portugal, at present.

Ryanair Announces Brussels Zaventem Base From Feb 2014

Stop Press: Ryanair.com have just announced the basing of Aircraft at Zaventem, the main airport for Brussels and with easy rail access to Antwerp, Rotterdam, Cologne and Liege.

Ryanair Announces Brussels Zaventem Base From Feb 2014

Initial routes will be to:  Alicante, Barcelona, Ibiza, Lisbon, Malaga, Palma, Porto, Rome, Valencia & Venice

Whether this means routes to these destinations from Ryanair's long standing Brussels Charleroi base will be dropped await clarifications. Certainly, it will make travelling to Brussels by Ryanair much easier.

Seville - New Ryanair Base - Nov. 2010 / Ideas for new Routes

Ryanair have just announced the creation of their 44th Base at Seville, Andalucia, Spain.

Operations will begin in November 2010.

In addition to existing routes to Seville the following new routes will be created:

10 New Seville Routes

Bari	Paris
Eindhoven	Santiago
London (LGW)	Valencia
Marseille	Venice
Palma	Zaragoza

References:

lowcostportugal.net - http://bit.ly/98GF4n
ideal.es - http://bit.ly/cLCjP8

europeaninvestor.com

Additional routes from Seville, I personally think would be worth exploring by Ryanair or other low cost airlines, are

Seville-Porto
Seville-Lisbon (If a suitable deal can be done with the Portuguese Govt. to give Ryanair access to Lisbon.)

There is a lot of evidence of substantial demand from forums dealing with travel between Spain and Portugal for low-cost routes between Lisbon and other centres in the Iberian Peninsula including Seville and Malaga.

I also think that the time is coming, where Ryanair and/or other low cost airlines should be looking at (at least) seasonal routes between airports in Poland and the Iberian Peninsula.

This summer, here in the Algarve, I have met several Polish travellers, with and without much disposable income, who say they love Portugal and  Spain but that lack of good lowcost air links is a problem.

As the Polish economy seems to be in growth, unlike many other EU economies,
(see this recent article published in Business Week: http://bit.ly/c0sU45 ) , I cannot help thinking that low cost air routes between Poland, Spain and Portugal may offer potential growth opportunities to lowcosts!

Lisbon to Marbella

The easiest and cheapest way to do this trip via public transport is as follows:(Click on images to enlarge)

1) Bus from Lisbon Sete-Rios to Sevilla. (www.alsa.es)



2) Bus from Sevilla to Marbella - Autobus de los Amarillos -



Other routes could include flying low cost to Madrid and then Malaga and taking a bus to Marbella. Bus Lisbon to Madrid and then Bus Madrid to Marbella.

train from Lisbon to Malaga

There is only one direct (night train) per day from Lisbon to Madrid. Timetable in pdf format here: http://bit.ly/c6QBEC From Madrid one can get a train to Malaga. See: http://renfe.es for more information. Click on "welcome" for english version.

Barcelona to Faro

Question posted to me on allexperts.com:

"What options do we have from Barcelona to Faro? We will have 2 large suitcases, at this stage we are thinking about driving the Coast road. Is it an easy route? We are Australian and drive on the wrong side of the road!!"

My Answer:

"Firstly, I drive on the wrong side of the road all the time. I've driven right-hand drive cars on one side of the road and left hand drive cars on the other, vice versa and backwards in my time. Never had a problem! Here in Portugal, I'me driving a right hand drive car on the right - No Probs.

I don't accept the excuse "We are Australians" - a couple of "tinnies" and most Aussies can do everything....or so they believe!....Look at Corey Delaney and the masses of Aussies who head here to Lagos each July after running with the Bulls in Pamplona!

If you take the motorway from Barcelona to Faro you will have no problem...except avoid transitting Seville during the morning rush hour, lunchtime and evening rush hour as the ring road gets chockers.

If you are driving suitcases, I suggest that you wear helmets! Spanish truck drivers can be manic. You will need to make sure that each suitcase is equipped with two warning triangles in case of breakdown.

You have two options on the road route - inland via Granada which is beautiful with its Alhambra Palace or the coastal route via Almeira, Malaga, Torremolinos, etc to Cadiz, Jerez and then Seville.

There are no direct flights between Barcelona and Faro.

Your other options include:

- Long Distance bus from Barcelona to Seville and then Faro.
- Low-Coast Flights from Barcelona to Lisbon and then bus or train to Faro."

You may find more info of interest and links by browsing my blog at

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/