Discounted air-travel to the
Malaga
coast can be had fairly easily with just a little shopping around. There are dozens of charters
arriving from all over the U.K. daily and whilst prices will
generally go up in July and August you can undoubtedly find some cheap flights on offer in the off-season. (Spring and Autumn is less
crowded and the weather is still great … ask any golfer!)
Without a doubt the Web is fast out-pacing the high street travel agents for do-it-yourself air-travel bookings with many specializing in discount airfares, offering a huge selection from dozens of airlines. They save you time and money and are easy to check through to compare prices.
One excellent company that works for me and might work for you is .....
AVRO,
which is the UK´s leading charter flight booking company.
They fly from 15 UK airports and have competitive prices to Europes´ most popular holiday destinations. The web-site is fast and really simple to use and they even include a 5% online booking discount !
By the way when you find that discounted air-travel ticket … just book it.
Because sometimes instead of dropping as you might expect the
prices tend to jump up when you go back a couple of days later.
And if you’re like me and not a great planner as far as dates … bear
in mind when making your reservation that quite a number of airlines will
allow a travel date change for a small charge.
Malaga’s International Airport, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, has also changed so much through the years. It has
grown tremendously … and now presents an extremely modern face
to the ten million or more travellers coming through each year.

The airport boasts its own train station and the railway line
connects the coastal towns from Malaga to
Fuengirola
… and there
are advanced plans also underway to extend the line as far as
Marbella
within the next couple of years.
At the moment (and through to 2008) there are expansion works going on at the airport so
passengers need to walk through Parking Nº 2 across the road from
the Terminal 2 check-in to reach the station platform. For the
budget conscious (all of us?) it might be worth the effort as the train
fare to Fuengirola is a mere 1.75€ compared to the taxi charge of 27€!
This present expansion process of an extra Terminal and runway
is to accommodate the huge increase in visitors drawn to the
vibrant coastline of the Costa del Sol. An area which has experienced
an incredible growth in recent years … and which is now becoming
known as the Florida of Europe.
NEW ... AENA (Spanish Airports Authority) has also been working to help the thousands of physically-challenged passengers who travel through Spain’s airports each year. This month (August, 2008) they have introduced a new programme called Sin Barreras (no barriers) which provides staff to accompany disabled people during their time at the airport. Passengers are helped through the check-in process, through security controls and to their seat on the aircraft.
If the passenger is travelling to another Spanish airport a member of the Sin Barreras staff will be waiting and will escort them through baggage collection right through to the pick-up point in the airport terminal.
There is no cost for this service. Aena simply ask that passengers contact them at least 48 hours before their flight via the web-site www.aena.es or by telephone 902404704.
nOW, If you plan to come to the western side of the Costa del Sol, you might
want to consider Gibraltar as your air-travel destination. Air travel
times from the U.K. to Gibraltar are much the same as to Malaga;
around three hours.
But … the landing in Gibraltar airport is much more exciting. At the
start of the runway, there’s … sea. Then at the end of the runway,
there’s … sea! And as the runway appears to be not over-long it feels as
if the plane will skim the waters of the Mediterranean as the wheels
come down! Some passengers are so startled that they miss their first
enchanting view of that famous Rock of Gibraltar!

So … after your heart beat has slowed down … and after you have
entered into the airport terminal … you’ll find it is also a little bit
different. Quite homely and more old-fashioned than you might expect of an International Airport.
Everything is smaller … and even the distance from the terminal to the Spanish border town of La Linea is a mere 100 metres !
So, whichever way you decide, air-travel to the Costa del Sol gets
easier every day as the coast becomes more and more popular. So, what are we waiting for ?
From air-travel on to Malaga Towns

