We are heading to Spain in a few weeks and are spending a few nights in Tangier. After Tangier, we are heading to Granada. We would rather not spend an entire day schlepping between the ferry, a bus to Algeciras and a slow train to Granada. I looked into private transport (a car with a driver) but the cost was prohibitive. Does anyone know an affordable transport option besides the bus/train from Tarifa to Granada? Looking for a minibus (with a small group is fine) or a private car for approximately 200 to 300 euro for 2 people. Help, please!
Posted by
Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada
629 posts
Have you thought of just renting a car? The drive from Algerciras to Granada is about as easy of a route as you will find in Spain. Great highway & scenery and not that long of a drive (3+ hrs). Don't know your situation but I would rent a car in an instant rather than pay big $$$ for private transport.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
It's a two-part problem. I can only picture one car rental joint in Tarifa and it's one of those small ones where you have to bring it back to the same place when you're done. Otherwise you need to get to Algeciras to get a car you can drop elsewhere. This option would be a non-starter. It's easy enough to get a car in Algeciras from one of the major outfits. You can get a ferry from Tangier to Algeciras instead of going to Tarifa. The trip takes about an hour. The only kicker (workable) is that this ferry doesn't leave from the old Tangier ferryport, it leaves from Tangier Med. Med is about twenty-five miles out the coast to the east. The price of the bus (which leaves from the CTM depot in town) is included in the price of the ferry ticket whcih is about sixty bucks per head. After that, do like Bob said. I'm guessing that it's close to a three-hour drive. I'd make a day of the whole project and stop in Gibraltar. My preference would be the inland route once you're about abeam Malaga - - it's a bit shorter. Tarifa doesn't offer much, I'd leave it out of your thinking.
Posted by
OP
Carlsbad, CA, USA
5 posts
We are only going through Tarifa to get to Tangier. We are heading to Barcelona, then Sevilla, then Tarifa to Tangier, then Granada, then Madrid. We are taking the train or bus the entire trip and would rather not do the hassle of renting a car (international insurance, etc.) for a few hours for one day of travel. Was just hoping someone knew of another option that didn't cost a fortune. Also, can you do a round trip ferry ticket that leaves from Tarifa to Tangier but returns to Algeciras instead of Tarifa? Is that an option? That would at least leave out a step (bus from Tarifa to Algeciras).
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
There's really no such thing as international insurance. Some credit cards will cover the cdw - - if you don't like that idea, you can get it from the rental outfit for maybe twenty-fve bucks a day, absolute max. A small car (without cdw) will stiff you less than a hundred and a quarter for a one day rental with a second-city drop-off (Spain tends to charge you for this, don't ask me why). The stickler is the short-term rental. You could probably keep the car for a week for three hundred bucks if that would replace some of the other transportation. Gas to Granada would run maybe thirty-five buck. I can't remember if there are tolls on those roads. I don't think a round trip from the two Moroccan ports is possbile on one ticket since I think it's two different ferry companies.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17435 posts
But if you really don't want to rent a car, the train from Algeciras to Granada take four hours, only an hour more than the driving time suggested, and costs only 24,80 euros. Use what you save to have a nice dinner in Granada.