Ryanair - New Base - Faro - 14 new routes

Ryanair have announced this morning that they will be basing 6 new aircraft at Faro Airport in the Algarve creating their 39th base.

See:

http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/rte-en-161209-4

and

http://bit.ly/6hzi6L

New routes being introduced between March and April will include:

Faro – Billund (30 Março) – Dinamarca
Faro – Marselha (30 Março) – França
Faro – Birmingham (28 Março) – Inglaterra
Faro – Maastricht (27 Março) – Holanda
Faro – Derry (30 Março) – Irlanda do Norte
Faro – Munich (Memmingen) (27 Abril) – Alemanha
Faro – Milão (Bergamo) (25 Março) – Itália
Faro – Kerry (30 Março) – Irlanda
Faro – Oslo (Rygge) (30 Março) – Noruega
Faro – Knock (30 Março) – Irlanda
Faro – Paris (Beauvais) (27 Abril) – França
Faro – Madrid (27 Abril) – Espanha
Faro – Estocolmo (Skavsta) (30 Março) – Suécia

Faro - Shannon is being dropped.

Faro - Porto is being increased to a daily frequency.

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

Anna AERO article on Ryanair Porto Base

See here:

http://www.anna.aero/2009/09/04/ryanairs-new-portuguese-base-in-porto-serves-22-destinations-five-routes-served-at-least-daily/

My comments:

Of particular note, is the Porto to Faro route.

This is only the second time that an non-Portuguese Airline has been given traffic rights to operate domestic flights within Portugal. The first was a year ago when Easyjet began operating Lisbon to Funchal, Madeira after years of complaints from residents of Maderia about TAP/Air Portugal’s high prices and monopoly on that route.

Although much demanded, no airline has previously operated Porto to Faro. This has meant that it has been faster to get to UK and German airports from Faro than to the north of Portugal. By air, one has had to transit Lisbon on TAP/Air Portugal or take a 7/8 hour train or bus ride between the two regions.

Apart from tourists and families, I suspect that the biggest demand may be from University Students travelling North and South as there is a fairly large University in Faro.

I hope the route succeeds, but reserve my judgement. Two years ago, Ryanair launched services from Spain. The Madrid to Faro route should have been successful but was pulled after 8 months owing to only 48% average loadings.

My opinion, for what it is worth, was that the route was not publicised enough in the local and expat media in the Algarve and the far south-west of Spain around Huelva, showing Madrid as destination for week-end breaks. Many people were not aware of the service till it was too late.

Nor was Madrid Barajas promoted as an airline hub access point with onward access to many more destinations than Lisbon. Finally, the route was initiated as a daily service and then frequencies were reduced. It should have been the other way around.

I hope that the same mistakes will not be made with the Porto route. It needs to be publicised in the local Algarve Portuguese and Expat media. As regards the Algarve portuguese media, this needs to include billboard adverts near Faro Airport, and advertising on local tv/radio as many more locals listen to radio and watch national TV than read papers.

By the way, the Algarve (Faro FAO), still needs the Faro - Madrid route back!

Granada to Albuferia

The fastest and most direct way from Granada to Albufeira is by bus. There are no direct train services nor flights. Flights would mean Granada to Madrid to Lisbon to Faro and then bus/cab/transfer to Albufeira.

Unfortunately, the most direct daily service operated by alsa.es gets into Vale Paraiso/Ferreiras Bus Station at 02:30 in the night. It is unlikely there would be local buses or taxis to take you the 8kms to Albufeira at that time of night.

Consquently, you best option would be as follows:

1) Alsa.es - Granada to Seville (El Prado)

Dept: Arr:
Granada Seville
03:00 06:40
12:00 14:45

From El Prado Bus Station to Estacion Plaza das Armas I would recommend the C4 Bus in which runs from just after 6 in the morning till 23:30.

2) DAMAS/EVA Bus from Seville Plaza das Armas bus station to Albufeira Bus Station. (Daily)

Dept Arr
Seville Albufeira
07:30 10:00
16:15 19:40

You will have to buy two separate tickets for each sector as they are operated by different companies. Tickets for the Seville to Albufeira service cannot be bought online and can only be purchased in Seville so allow time to buy your ticket.

Ryanair - New Porto Base - New Flight - Porto - Faro

Ryanair have just announced that they are to launch the first direct Porto to Faro route 4 days a week as from 26th October 2009.

See:

http://www.ryanair.com/site/PT/news.php?yr=09&month=aug&story=rte-pt-050809

and

http://www.lowcostportugal.net/faro/ryanair-lanca-rota-domestica-porto-faro-e-duas-internacionais/2009/08/

Flights will operate Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

At present according to the Ryanair site, flights will operate as follows:

Porto: 12;00
Faro: 13:00

Faro: 13:25
Porto: 14:30

This flight will certainly change the dynamics of travelling within Portugal as for a long time the South of the country has been remote from the North. Flights operated by the national airline TAP/Air Portugal have meant plane changes in Lisbon and 5 to 6 hour flights.

The only negative aspect of this will be pressure on the existing long distance bus operators and Portuguese Railways who currently provide low cost services on the route.

It will also mean that travellers from the Algarve maybe be able to benefit from links to certain other destinations via Porto such as Las Palmas, Madrid, (albeit with a 6 hour wait.),Paris (Beauvais - 100km from Paris),

The airline has also announced the launch of routes from Porto to Karlsruhe and Dusseldorf (Weeze).

While I am not a great fan of Ryanair, these services provided they are maintained should revolutionise travel between the North and South of Portugal.

Madrid to Faro

Ryanair ran a service on this route 2 years ago for 6 months, However, because they advertised it badly, they only got 50% loadings.

They decided not to persevere with the service, which I think was wrong.

There are not low-cost flights between Madrid and Faro.

Your options are:

Low-Cost Flight - Madrid-Lisbon and then Bus/Train Lisbon - Faro

Bus/Train - Madrid to Seville

Bus - Seville to Faro

Have a look at these posts on my blog which may help.

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Madrid+Faro

Train/Bus Seville,Spain to Lisbon,Portugal

There is no direct train service from Sevilla to Lisbon.

You would have to take the AVE to Madrid and then the once daily overnight Lusitania Express from Madrid to Lisbon.

You best bet would be by coach.

There are two options:

1) http://www.alsa.es

This company currently operates 2 daily services between Sevilla and Lisbon as follows:


SEVILLA LISBON 15:00 21:15
SEVILLA(Prado) LISBON 23:30 06:00next day

2) EVA Transportes/DAMAS Change and buy ticket in Faro

Sevilha Faro 07:30 10:10
Faro Lisboa 11:00 14:15

Sevilha Faro 16:15 18:55
Faro Lisboa 19:00 22:15

Algarve (Lagos/Alvor/Portimão) to Valencia

There are no direct public transport links between the Algarve and Valencia. Further more there are no low cost airlinks between Lisbon and Valencia.

The distance is about 929kms.

The only realistic options are:


1) Air from Faro Airport.

Air Berlin have a regional hub in Palma de Mallorca. Their summer timetables may yet change. At present they are showing a flight Faro - Mallorca - Valencia (change in Palma) for a very reasonable price.

The only problem is that at present it only shows as operates as a through connection on Wednesdays.

site: http://www.airberlin.com

1) Bus/Air -

Renex Bus from Alvor to Lisbon Gare Oriente. Taxi/Airport Bus to Lisbon Airport

Then low cost airline Vueling/Easyjet to Madrid and then low cost airline Clickair/Spanair/Ryanir to Valencia.

2) Bus/Bus

Take the Daily EVA/DAMAS bus from Portimão to Seville and then connect with an alsa.es bus from Seville to Valencia.

Check Cubsur's site here for information on the Portimão to Seville Services:

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

Alsa schedule is below:

Current Daily Departure schedules : SEVILLA - VALENCIA

Seville Valencia
depart arrive € €
10:00 21:25 49,86 94,73
10:00 21:25 49,86 94,73
16:30 02:15 next day 56,79 107,90
16:30 02:15 next day 56,79 107,90
22:00 09:15 next day 53,20 101,08

See: www.alsa.es

It may also be possible to get a low cost flight from Seville to Valencia but I do not recommend it as getting to Seville Airport from the Algarve is a pain unless you have a car.

Train is not an option as there are no suitable cross Iberian Peninsula services.

Trip to Portugal and Spain

Firstly, there are currently no direct flights from any Scottish Airports to Lisbon.

There are direct flights, however, from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow - Prestwick, and sometimes Aberdeen to Faro Airport in the Algarve.

You should be aware that rail links between Portugal and Spain are difficult as are low-costs flights between the Algarve and Spain.

There are good rail links between the Algarve and Lisbon.

You should plan therefore on using long distance coaches.

Have a look at this recent article on my blog.

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/lisbon-to-algarve.html

In summary, I think that a routing as follows might be appropriate:

Scotland to Faro Airport.
Faro Airport to Lagos - Private Transfer or Bus/Bus or Bus/Train

Lagos to Seville - 2 x Daily Bus
(See: http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/granada-seville-lagos-madrid.html) and (http://thomasallen.home.sapo.pt/travel/001.htm)

Seville to Madrid - High Speed AVE train. (See: www.renfe.es)

Madrid to Lisbon - Long Distance bus (See. www.alsa.es) or Low - Cost Airline (vueling.com or easyjet.com)

As regards other places in the Algarve, consider Tavira.

Hope this helps.

Comment on Airports Serving the Algarve

I concur. Faro Airport is already seeing a decrease in frequencies, destinations served and traffic.

With Beja Airport ready for ops in the next year, the new Lisbon Airport at Alcochete only going to be 1hr. 45min by car from the Algarve, and Huelva considering building an airport, I cannot see how an airport in the Portimão/Lagos area would be profitable. Indeed Faro Airport itself would be economically at threat with all these potential alternatives.

What is really needed is services from Faro to other destinations to open new markets. Low Cost flights to Paris, Porto, Lyon, Milan and Madrid, and perhaps Helsinki, Budapest, Warsaw and Toronto/Montreal would certainly broaden the region's appeal and catchment area, essential at present if we are going to see a substantial downturn in arrivals from the UK owing to teh downturn and the £/€ rate.

However, methinks that the new race track near Portimão/Mex Grande will be an influential factor in a decision for a local airport.

Granada - Seville - Lagos - Madrid

You cannot book tickets for the DAMAS/EVA Transportes Service between Seville and Lagos online.

However, there are two services a day, every day and I am sure you will have no problem arriving at Estacion Plaza das Armas in Seville and buying a ticket there are then.

I used the 08:20 bus last Friday from Faro to Seville, and it was only about 20% full.

Have a look at Cubsur's page here for more info:

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

You are going to have great difficult getting back to Madrid Airport on time if your flight is early morning on December 22nd. You do not say what time your flight is. Be aware that Madrid Barajas Airport is a way out of town. You may need to sit the night at the Airport.

Your best bet would be to take an EVA Transportes Bus from Lagos to Lisbon Sete Rios, early on 21st December, 2008 and then connect with one of the buses operated by alsa.es for Madrid. Be aware that Estacion Sur Bus Station is on the South side of Madrid and you will then need to use the Metro to get to the Airport.

Timetable:

Lagos to Lisbon (Eva Transportes)

Lagos Lisbon
05:45 09:30 Weekdays
07:45 11:30 Daily
10:15 14:00 Daily
12:45 16:30 Weekdays and Sundays
15:30 19:15 Daily
18:15 22:00 Daily


Lisbon Sete Rios to Madrid (Click to enlarge)- www.alsa.es

Portalegre to Lisbon/Faro

According to the CP (Portuguese Railway), http://www.cp.pt, there are two trains daily running from Elvas through Portalegre to Entroncamento with onwards connections to Lisbon Gare Oriente where you can connect to trains to Faro.

Trains leave Portalegre:

Dept Portalegre: 06.19 Arr. Lisbon Gare Oriente 10:02
Dept: Lisbon Gare Oriente 10:20 Arr. Faro 14:20

Dept Portalegre: 15.24 Arr. Lisbon Gare Oriente 19:02
Dept: Lisbon Gare Oriente 19:20 Arr. Faro 23:20 (Only operates Fridays year round and 1st June throughh 31st August.)

The line through Portalegre runs in an east - west direction and only has a link to Faro via Lisbon. The station is situated 12km from the town in a southerly direction. The Council website indicates that there are local buses serving the station.

See this link (in Portuguese) from the council website here:

http://www.cm-portalegre.pt/page.php?page=622

Note that the daily Lisbon - Madrid Express train that used to pass through nearby Castelo de Vide no longer operates that route. It currently runs via Vilar Formoso near Guarda

Caceres - Badajoz - Lisbon - Faro

Please note that there is currently no train running between Caceres and Lisbon.

The Lusitânia Comboio train that used to run this route is now running via Vilar Formoso. I believe this is due to imminent construction works on the new high speed rail link between Lisbon and Madrid.

See:

http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=a6176e29d6b74010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD&lang=en

You can find a link to the Lisbon to Faro rail timetable on my blog here:

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/

Scroll down on the right hand side panel till you come to:

»» Algarve & Portugal - Travel Transport Links

»» Continue scrolling down in this section till you come to:

Portuguese Railways - 2008 - Lisbon - Algarve Faro/Lagos Timetable

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

Please note that the autumn/winter timetable will only be online after September.

You will probably need to get a bus from Caceres to Badajoz and then another one to Lisbon.

Alternatively, you could try getting a bus from Caceres to Seville and then the twice daily DAMAS bus from Seville to Faro.

Cubsur has timetables for the latter route here:

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

For Caceres - Badajoz - Lisbon try

http://www.auto-res.net

They have several daily service between Caceres and Badajoz and at present at least two daily service between Badajoz and Lisbon.

http://www.alsa.es

This company also has several services a day between Badajoz and Lisbon.

Check the timetables in October as the winter schedules are not yet available.

Ryanair - New route - Faro - Glasgow Prestwick

Ryanair have today announced a new twice weekly route from Glasgow Prestwick to Faro operating Wednesdays and Sundays beginning 29th October 2008.

My guess is that having burnt their fingers with the Faro - Madrid Route last year which we desperate still need and before that Faro - Girona, Ryanair, are sticking to developing routes out of Faro where others have already paid for the route development. In this case, Globespan with their services from Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports.

I hope that this route is more successful and that Ryanair, as is often the case, do not cancel the service a couple of months later without announcement.

This could be a useful addition to services between the Algarve and Scotland, but be very careful booking to far in advance.

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

Faro to Salamanca

The only direct route from Faro to Salamanca by public transport is the service operated by alsa.es.

Dept Faro: 01:45
Arr: Salamanca: 16:30

Bus Change at ALBERGARIA (Same Company)

There is an also the option of train:

Dept: Faro 09:05
Arr: Lisbon Gare Oriente 13:06

Dept: Lisbon Gare Oriente 16:06
Arr: Salamanca 00:05

There is no direct train between Seville and Salamanca.

You would need to route via Madrid.

Note: Faro - Salamanca by Car is about 7 hours with stops.

Hope this helps.

Ryanair - Reduced Frequency - Porto - Milano/Bergamo

Just reported on Portuguese blog, Ryanair will reduce frequency on this route to three times a week as from 6th May. 2008.

Shades of Faro-Madrid??

lagos to madrid via bus

1) Flights - It looks like Ryanair have pulled the plug permanently on this route. See this article on my blog.

http://barlaventostravelblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/ryanair-faro-mardid-route.html

However, don't despair you do not need to go via Gatwick.

Vueling.com and Easyjet.com operate flights from Madrid to Lisbon. From Gare de Oriente, near the airport you can get a Renex Bus to Lagos for +- Euro 18.00 or a train t.o Lagos for not much more.

2) Buses from Madrid to Lagos. The cheapest route is probably to take a Socibus bus from Madrid to Seville and connect with the twice daily DAMAS/EVA service to Lagos. Note this operates only on weekdays in winter.

If you got the overnight Socibus service from Madrid at 22:00 arriving at 05:15 you could connect with the 07:30 DAMAS bus from Seville to Lagos arriving at 12:00.

Total cost should not be more than Euro 60.

It is possible to Madrid - Lisbon - Lagos via Lisbon Gare de Oriente but this route tends to be more expensive.

For more info, see http://cubsur's www.algarve-bus.info.

Ryanair - Faro - Madrid Route

It has now been confirmed via several sources that Ryanair suspended their service between Faro and Madrid last week. Once again Faro has no direct air links to a growing and important tourist market.

The company cited the fact that after only 10 months of operation they only were achieving a 48,6% load factor on the route. However, the reports quoting this statistic fail to point out that Ryanair, while initially operating 7 flights a week on the route, dropped the frequency to 4 a week in early summer. It would be interesting to know if the percentage figure quoted reflected this or was calculated on 7 flights a week.

It would be also interesting to know whether they considered dropping frequencies to 3 times a week - loadings then presumably would increase accordingly to in the order of 60%. Ryanair do operate thrice weekly services on other routes in Europe - Why not Faro?

After the debacle of the cancellation of their Girona - Faro route after 2 months of operation, one has to question Ryanair's strategy for entering the Spain to Faro market. They were receiving incentives from the authorities to operate a route which in the case of Madrid - Faro would have become profitable over time. I question their complete lack of apppropriate local marketing (e.g. billboards) in the Algarve and Coast da Luz (Huelva) areas. Many locals, especially from the expat communities in the Algarve, were simply unaware of the route because they don't read the local press. it appears that, as with its policies elswhere in Europe, unless it can make a quick buck, they will get out of a route as soon as they can with minimal public announcements etc. This also happened recently on their Dublin to Porto Service. As a result passengers who h ad already booked their flights were offered refunds or alternatives seats on flights from Faro (600km away.)

Let's hope the Algarve tourism authorities (RTA) can attract other airlines to routes such as Faro - Madrid, as well as Faro - Paris and Faro Milan.

However, hopefully, not Ryanair!

While I understand that low-cost airlines have to depend on turnover, they should not expect to receive incentives for a route and then drop it when they want to. They should also do proper market research beforehand to try ensure viability of a route or accept that it takes time for traffic to develop and "stay the course."

Late night Public transport between seville airport and ayamonte

Unfortunately, DAMAS.es the main bus operator on the Seville - Ayamonte route currently have their timetables off-line.

According to the TUSSAM site, there are buses from Seville Airport to Seville Sta. Justa station at 23:15,23:45,00:15 and 00:45. Sundays and Holidays last bus is at 23:45.

Once you get to Sta. Justa station you then have to get a local bus or taxi to the Plaza das Armas Bus Station. You will probably not arrive there till midnight at least.

From memory and a quick check of other websites, including Cubsur's www.algarvebus.info, there are no buses between Seville and Ayamonte between 00:00 and 04:00. The 04:00 departure is operated by Socibus and is the continuation of the Madrid Service. However, the Socibus site suggests that the service, while stopping in Seville does not pick up for Ayamonte.

Alsa.es has a departure at 23:59 to Ayamonte arriving 01:50.

You should check the availability of this service as it is an international service continuing to Faro in the Algarve and may be limited in winter. It will be a very tight connection unless you take a cab from Seville Airport to Plaza das Armas, which will cost +- € 30 methinks.

Their contact is:

ALSA Customer service
C/ Miguel Fleta, 4 - 2º
28037 - Madrid (Spain)

Telephone: 91 327 05 40
E-mail: alsa@alsa.es

Bus is the only way to get from Seville to Ayamonte by public transport. There is no train service.

My gut instinct is that such a connection will be very tight and that if your flight is delayed you will be in deep doggy-doo.

Better to overnight in Seville and take a bus the next morning from Plaza das Armas. Subject to DAMAS timetable revisions buses leave Seville for Ayamonte at:

0930, 1100, 1230, 1530, 1800 and 1900