Granada Travel Forum

Ryanair seems to have a very good deal to fly from granda to madrid ?? Any experiences ?? But the luggage restrictions seem to be very strict. 15kg per person.

Any other suggestions ?

Give a try to bus. ask if you require schedules and fares, I guess www.alsa.es is the website, its in Spanish but easy to use.
My friends did Cordoba to Madrid overnight by bus and they were satisfied, it was about 5 hours journey and they saved the cost of night stay. I did Granada to Cordoba and it was about 2 hours, so Granada to Cordoba must be about 7 hours or less.
I assume that train would be much expensive unless you get discounted advance tickets, otherwise train would have been the best option.
As far as Ryan Air is concerned, I guess they are very typical and one needs to know and follow all of their rules and regulations, some of them are really weird. My same friends, I mentioned above, took Ryan Air from Madrid to Marseille, they could not take web check-in print-outs with them and ended up paying 40 euro per person to get the boarding pass from Ryan Air counter.
I travlled from Vueling and clickair and found them better in all respects. I will be surprised if they don't run on this route.
I will once again suggest you to have a look at the bus option, probably you will find a better solution.

boodmark - I tried to find low cost flights from Madrid to Granada and ended up taking the 5 hour bus ride. Karl

Ryanair are a budget airline. They are safe and reliable but, like all European budget airlines (which I always use), you do need to be aware of the restrictions.

15kg is the maximum hold baggage (and there is a charge for this anyway). Other carriers alow 20kg. Excess weight carries a very high charge with all budget carriers. With all of them, if you are even a couple of minutes late for check-in you will miss your flight with no refund.

www.whichbudget.com lists European carriers and their routes. www.skyscanner.net will give you cheapest fares for your route/dates.

You could go by train (more comfortable than bus, imo). Journey time 5+hours, one-way fare from 62.20 euro. http://www.renfe.es/

bookmark

Keeping in view Roadquill's experience that road journey take 5 hours, the viability of taking a flight from Granada to Madrid diminishes further. I guess flight time will not be more than an hour but taking into account other lead times peculiar to air travel including check-in time, by air travelling will end up consuming 3-4 hours.
As far as cost is concerned, lets do a comparison:
Booking: Ryan Air books online which is a plus. But Ryan Air charges I guess 5 euros for payment through credit card,however, in case of bus one can book their seats via phone or by ticket machines at bus stations without any charges, so a plus for bus.
Airport/ Bus Station Transfer: In Granada airport bus, Gonzalez, charges 3 euros, while bus to Granada Bus Station charges 1.1 euro. Further, if you purchase a carnet, the cost of bus to station will come down upto less than half. This scenario can be implemented on Madrid Airport/ Bus Station. Someone please advise, if otherwise. So a plus for the bus. Travelling from Granada city center to Airport is slightly more than it is to the Bus Station, as both of them are on the sam route and Bus Station comes first if one is coming from the city center. So a fifty fifty.
Frequency: Bus is more frequent, so a plus for the bus.
Change of Booking: One can change the booking in case of bus without any extra charges, so a plus for the bus.
Meals: You can't take anything to drink

Keeping in view Roadquill's experience that road journey take 5 hours, the viability of taking a flight from Granada to Madrid diminishes further. I guess flight time will not be more than an hour but taking into account other lead times peculiar to air travel including check-in time, by air travelling will end up consuming 3-4 hours, if not more.
As far as other factors are concerned, lets do a comparison:
Booking: Ryan Air books online which is a plus. But Ryan Air charges I guess 5 euros for payment through credit card,however, in case of bus one can book their seats via phone or by ticket machines at bus stations without any charges, so a plus for the bus.
Web Check-In: In case of Ryan Air you have to check-in via web and you also need to take the print-out with, if you could not do it for some reason then you are going to regret travelling with them. So a big plus for the bus.
Luggage: luggae handling issues and weight restrictions are virtually non-existent in case of the bus, which is again a big plus.
Airport/ Bus Station Transfer: In Granada airport bus, Gonzalez, charges 3 euros, while bus to Granada Bus Station charges 1.1 euro. Further, if you purchase a carnet, the cost of bus to station will come down upto less than half. This scenario can be implemented on Madrid Airport/ Bus Station. (Someone please advise, if otherwise). So a plus for the bus. Travelling time from Granada city center to Airport is slightly more than it is to the Bus Station, as both of them are on the sam route and Bus Station comes first if one is coming from the city center. So a fifty fifty.
Frequency: Bus is more frequent providing you with flexibility, so a plus for the bus.
Change of Booking: One can change the booking in case of bus without any extra charges, so a plus for the bus.
Meals: You can't take anything to drink after checking-in in case of by air, so a plus for the bus again.
Cost: Bus will cost you less than 30 euros, so a plus for Ryan Air if it is cheaper than this.
Further, buses usually don't go full and there are usually some vacant seats so that you can relax. Seats in buses are definitely more comfortable or less painful as compared to those in a typical buget airline.
Also take into consideration the airport where Ryan Air will land in Madrid, as they are famous in utilizing non-mainstream airports which may add lead time and cost.
Happy Travelling!

Forget AIR!

Fly AVE with RENFE (train). Check out Tarifa Web on www.renfe.es. Two and a half hours each way, no baggage restrictions, lovely scenery, good food and drink, no airport transfer fees, and up to 60% reduction on the single fare (standard).

In Spain the train is the fashionable, popular and efficient means of transport nowadays for long distance domestic journeys. We have the fastest-growing and BEST high speed rail network in Europe, if not in the whole world. Enjoy it!!!