Alicante Airport (Spain) is located in the autonomous community of Valencia. The hub is halfway between the two cities. Alicante lies in the northeast, and Elche in the west. Therefore, officially the airport has a longer name - Alicante-Elche Airport. He holds an honorable sixth position in terms of passenger traffic among the Spanish air gates. It serves ten million travelers annually. If you plan to become one of them and fly to Alicante airport, then this article is for you. We will tell you how to get to the city of the same name, as well as other resorts in the province of Valencia, what services operate in the terminals and how to usefully spend time waiting for your flight.
A find for the thrifty traveler
This hub accepts low cost flights. He was especially chosen by the low-cost company Ryanair. Using this airline you can fly to the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea from Birmingham, Paris, Bremen, Bologna, Stockholm, Wroclaw, Dublin, Liverpool, Krakow, London, Eindhoven and many other cities in Europe. In summer, the number of flights increases sharply due to charters. In any case, this hub takes less for its services, for which it is dearly loved by low-cost airlines. Therefore, a thrifty traveler chooses to travel to Alicante airport for a trip to Murcia, Torrevieja and Benidorm. You can get here with another low-cost airline - Wizzair from Budapest and Bucharest. Budget company Iziget operates flights from Geneva, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, London and Edinburgh to Alicante. And from Russia, you can fly from Moscow (Aeroflot and Transaero) and St. Petersburg ("Russia" to this fertile place three kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea.
History
Alicante is an airport that was built as a hub for civil aviation back in 1967. It was specially built ten kilometers from the city so that the sound of aircraft engines does not interfere with the inhabitants. Since then, the resort has grown and liners have become less noisy. The airport was repeatedly reconstructed in accordance with European standards. The last one took place in 2011, when a new terminal was opened. Since that time, all international flights are made through it. And if you take into account that 80 percent of all passenger traffic arriving at the resort are foreign tourists, this is a lot. But there are only two lanes for takeoff and landing (both 3000 meters long). Therefore, they are very busy, especially in the summer.
Elche Alicante (airport): services
This air terminal is equipped to international standards. If we talk about a new terminal, then there is everything that a traveler may need: comfortable waiting rooms in the common area and for passengers who have passed passport control; cafeterias, restaurants and bars; souvenir stalls, newsstands and, of course, duty-free shops. There is also wireless Internet access, although for a fee (you must purchase a card with a code). Both terminals have ATMs and currency exchange points. You can buy or exchange tickets on the spot: air carrier branches opened their representative offices right at the airport. The information service is available in English, Spanish and Valencia. If arriving at Alicante airport late in the evening, travelers can spend the night in hotels near the hub, for example, in the Holiday Inn Express, Ibis Budget or other hotels. VAT is returned after a lengthy procedure. First you need to put a stamp on the store receipt (arrivals hall, ground floor, VAT Refund office). Then you should go up to the second floor of the hub and find the door that says Global Exchange.
Alicante: how to get from the airport to the city?
From the second level of the hub there is an exit to the bus stop. The city of Alicante runs the route S-6. The first flight is at seven in the morning, the last at eleven in the evening, the interval is about fifteen minutes. The trip lasts about half an hour, and its cost is two euros eighty cents (payment to the driver). The bus has free Wi-Fi. On the way, the car enters the train station (Oscar Espla) and the main bus station (Estacion de autobuses). Final stop - hotel "Melia", near the sea. The S-6 route can also be used by those economical tourists whose ultimate goal is Benidorm, Murcia and other cities of the region. But you can go to the resorts and directly from the airport.
How to get to Elche?
Alicante is an airport located ten kilometers from this city. In Valencia, the name is written as Elx, so look out for a bus with such a sign. The number of this route is 1A. Cars go there less often - once per hour, but from 5.30 to midnight on weekdays and from seven in the morning to ten in the evening on weekends. The fare costs one and a half euros. Travel time is about half an hour. City bus number 1B runs from Elche to the beach area of Los Arenal del Sol.
How to get from Alicante airport to Benidorm and other cities of Valencia?
Cute white cars with a green Radio Taxi Elche lettering on their side will cost you around 25 euros just for a trip to the nearest city. What can we say about other resorts! After all, Alicante is an airport located thirty kilometers from Torrevieja and sixty-five from Benidorm. The most budgetary option to get to the place of rest is by city bus to the station, and then by train. A train ticket will cost about three euros one way. The golden mean between the train and the taxi is the intercity bus. They run from eight in the morning until eleven in the evening. A ticket costs eight euros. Travel time to Benidorm is forty-five minutes.