Lagos Bus Station on the Algarve
"Look there's the Lagos bus station!" called my wife as I was putting our suitcases into the boot of the car in the morning. We had spent the night at the Marina Rio Hotel in Lagos before moving on to San Bras de Alportel, inland from Faro for another two nights over Easter. She knows my interest in bus stations and bus stops!
I grabbed my camera and got a picture of the Marina Rio Hotel to show how close it was to the Lagos bus station in the background on the left. Coincidentally when I got back there was an email waiting for me from Katie asking about travelling to Portugal by bus from Granada via Gibraltar and La Linea , so refreshed by my latest trip to Portugal I put together a page for her about taking the bus from Granada to Faro on the Algarve
Let me just say along the way that the Marina Hotel which overlooks the marina is brilliant value for money. The hotel is clean and modern and the direct reservation and check in experiences were excellent. It was 67.5 euros for the night including a first class breakfast, the kind you want to linger over.
We had left Marbella in pouring rain on Easter Thursday morning, been stopped by a hail storm just outside Sevilla, braved the western exit from Sevilla and then driven to the Algarve, exploring Isla Cristina in Huelva just before reaching Portugal. It was from here that Cristopher Columbus set off from here in 1492 to discover the Americas.
The weather in Portugal was fine over the weekend, the usual big Atlantic rain clouds but the sun shone and the wine and sea foor was great as always. On the way back, still on the Portuguese side we explored the stretch of coast inland from Olhao to Monte Gordo on the very banks of the river Guadiana just over the river from Ayamonte in Spain. A very interesting looking area.
We chose the Utrera Ronda route back from Sevilla, always my first choice for scenery in rainy or cloudy weather. The traffic was surprisingly disciplined. Maybe it was the eye in the sky helicopter.
Write to me if I can help you with any travel queries. Use the comments link below. I'll be putting up a new contacts page shortly.
Labels: bus stations in Sevilla, buses to portugal, estacion de plaza de armas, estacion de Prado de San Sebastian, lagos bus stop, marina rio hotel
posted by Mike Drury at
09:08
7 Comments:
Hi Mike... Thanks for all the info you have on your web site. It has been very helpful. I have one query though! In a previous question regarding the actual location of the bus stop at Malaga Airport for Marbella Bus Station, you said that it was only where it was temporarily. Has this now changed? If so, where would I be able to find it now?
Many Thanks,
Jackie.
hi there - I have a query about traveling by bus from Gibraltar to Marbella in a day. I understand that I must get a bus from La Linea which will take me to Marbella bus station, but was wondering whether you could advise me as to how to get from the main bus station to the coast and some of the best beaches in Marbella - whether it is walking distance, or whether I need to catch another bus. Similarily, I may also visit Estepona and would appreciate if you knew the situation with the buses and proximity to the beaches.
thanks for all the advice and timetables and etc on your website - extremely useful!
Natalie
Hi Jackie
Thank you very much for your kind words. Actually the Malaga airport bus stop is still in the same place, just outside the main arrivals hall to the right. The main arrivals hall opens out into a big noisy tunnel where all the taxis are waiting. I say this because with all the changes at the airport, some of the Easyjet flights are arriving at the old terminal and when you come out of this terminal, you walk into the open air. If this happens to you, turn left and walk diagonally across the bus park to your left, into the big tunnel and you will see the bus stop about 50 metres along.
It is amazing what is happening at the terminal and how they are keeping the traffic flowing. When I first came to Malaga on holiday in 1979 our friend who met us was able to walk out of the arrivals building and across the runway to where we were coming down the steps from our plane!
I will get a proper contact page back up very soon.
Thanks again Jackie, have a great visit.
Mike
Hi Natalie
Thanks very much for writing in and for using the gomarbella bus pages. Look, if you arrive at Marbella bus station without luggage you can easily walk down the beach front or Paseo Maritimo as it is called. It is about 20 minutes and it is downhill all the way and you will get a feel of Marbella as you walk. A taxi will be the minimum amount, about 6 euros. Maybe a little more, it is not so direct by car. Don't waste time on the local bus which also goes down through the centre if the sun is shining! If you take a taxi ask for the Parque Alameda which is the big shady park right in the centre of Marbella, two minutes walk from the beaches.
Along the Marbella beach front the sand is not as white and pure as you get down by Tarifa on the Atlantic beaches but it is clean and refreshed every day.
Dividing the Marbella beaches in the very middle of the is the Puerto Deportivo. The beach just next to the sport port on the Gibraltar side of the Puerto Deportivo is very popular with Marbella folk. My wife prefers the beach right next to the port on the Malaga side. If you look for Palms restaurant opening right onto the beach from the Puerto Deportivo club house building, John and Cindy will look after you really well. There are lots of beach beds all along these beaches. It's a great place to hang out and people watch. Nice breezes and tempting smells of sardines cooking on the spit. Lots of great bodies and minimum beach gear and some bodies which should really be a bit better covered up.
For natural sand and pleasant beaches you might want to try the Elviria beaches between Marbella and Fuengirola. If you take the bus from Marbella to Fuengirola then get off at any of these stops; COLEGIO LAS CHAPAS,LOS ALICATES, VIVEROS COSTABELLA,HOTEL MARBELLA PLAYA,RESIDENCIA TIEMPO LIBRE and walk down to the beach. You can pick up this bus at a number of stops in the main street in Marbella without going back to the bus station. They are only about 15 minutes out of Marbella and You will be on the seaside when you get off. In the evening on the way back to Marbella, whatever happens, you must use the overpass footbridges. You can find all bus timetables at www.gomarbella.com/costadelsolbuses and look for the listing of bus stops between Marbella and Fuengirola. The slope off the beaches is gentle so you can wade quite a long way out, there is usually a gentle current to move the water and there are beach bars and restaurants and loos every few hundred metres. These beaches are quite laid back and popular with families and young people alike.
In Estepona the bus station is 50 metres back from the main road through Estepona and which runs right next to the beach so it is very close to the beach. You will find timetables for buses on the page I have mentioned above.
Natalie I don't know if I would bus all the way from anywhere to Estepona to swim. Maybe check it out on the way up the coast to Marbella, but just look out the window of the bus. With great respect to the Estepona Town Hall and all they have done to beautify the Paseo Marítimo, the beaches are dead boring. Having said that, about 20 minutes walk back towards Gibraltar from the bus station, just on the other side of the Estepona fishing port, there is a neat little curved beach with a gentle sloping bottom which is ideal for young children. You will see it as you come into Estepona on the bus on the way up from Gibraltar. Rod Stewart used to have a house overlooking this beach in the early days. Now he hangs out in the Caribbean.
Often over the weekend we will take off to the Tarifa beaches, just through the Straits of Gibraltar. That's a different scene altogether, I hope you have been there or get the chance to visit those parts.
Natalie let me know if I can help any more, I hope you have a really good visit to the beaches along the coast.
Best wishes from Marbella
Mike
Hi Mike, I'm staying in Torremolinos shortly and would like to visit the beach at Cabo Pino. I was thinking of getting the train to Fuengirola and then a bus to the beach area, but I've drawn a bit of a blank of whether the bus runs any where near to the beach. The other option might be taxi from Fuengirola station to the beach, but I've no idea of the distance/cost involved and not sure how that'd work for the return part of the journey. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Cheers, Chris
Hello Chris
Thanks very much for writing in. You are right about taking the train to Fuengirola and then the Fuengirola to Marbella bus.
The good news is that the bus goes right past the Cabo Pino bus stop and it is not more than 5 minutes walk to the beach or the Cabo Pino complex.
On your way there you will get off the bus on the other side of the road from the beach so you will need to use the road overpass to cross. When you catch the bus back your bus stop will be on the sea side of the road.
Cabo Pino beach is very special in that it has survived the attacks of property developers over the years and is one of the few unbuilt areas between the road and the beach all the way along the coast. It is now a protected area because of its sand dune growth and vegetation.
There are lots of places to eat in the Cabo Pino and you can have lunch in your beach gear with no problem
Chris check out www.gomarbella.com/costadelsolbuses You will find under Marbella buses, a listing of all the bus stops between Fuengirola and Marbella and the Cabo Pino bus stop is listed on it.
Have a great visit and thanks again for your contact
Mike
Mike, many thanks for your help. Hoepfully I'll make this trip without any hitches with all your information! Cheers, Chris
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