Granada Airport Guide

Granada Airport is situated next to the River Genil: 16km west of Granada City Centre and 98km south of of Jaen. The airport handles domestic flights to Madrid and Barcelona with 707.268 passengers and 11.088 flight operations in 2015. The new Hispania Airways also offers direct flights to London, Rome and Paris. Its full name is Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport (after the famous poet Federico García Lorca from the area) but luckily just Granada will suffice!

It offers very easy access to Europe's southernmost ski resort in the Sierra Nevada mountains which is just a 53km drive away or you can reach Marbella on the Costa Del Sol in about 3 hours (200km journey). You are also within easy reach of the Costa Tropical with towns including Motril, Almunecar, Salobrena and La Herradura.

It has one terminal building and a single runway with with 25 aircraft stands, of which 11 are for commercial planes.

A new World Duty Free shop Abades has just opened in the departures area and it is open from 7:00 to 23:00. You can also get something to eat and drink here while waiting for your flight to be called from its cafe or restaurants.

There are regular buses and taxis outside the arrivals terminal to take you into the town centre. The bus costs for the 40 minute journey at a single fare of €3,00 and a taxi will be around €25,00 for up to 4 passengers.

There is no train service at the airport but there is a railway in Granada Avenida de Andaluces off Avenida de la Constitución which provides links to Almeria, Algeciras, Antequera, Guadalajara, Madrid (via Linares-Baeza), Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, Sevilla and Zaragoza.

Some of these trains make stops in Granada's provincial towns including Loja, Guadix, Iznalloz and Moreda. Granada is on the Talgo which is not one of the high speed lines (AVE) and takes about five hours and thirty minutes to get to Madrid. Seville is four hours awayby train. It is easier to use the bus when coming travelling from Malaga or Almeria.

There is a choice of car rental agencies grouped together in the arrivals hall of the terminal building. if you want to get to places like the Sierra Nevada then you do need to hire a car.

If you are staying in Granada check with your hotel where you should park as the centre has a number traffic restrictions: eg you can drive to Albaicin at appointed times during the day but are now allowed to drive along the upper part of c/Recogidas or any of the c/ San Matias.

By Linda Craik Google+