DRIVING SPAIN -- MALAGA TO BARCELONA

That's a loaded question. Door-to-door flying is going to be pushing four or five hours, not a couple. Flying for a crowd is going to cost more than driving.

Assuming Granada is not on the agenda, that you don't already have a car, that you don't need one around Barcelona:

if you hug the coast instead of using the interior freeway, it's going to take you twelve or fifteen hours; the coast road is view-blocking condos interspersed with some really run-down areas

if you use the interior motorway, there's not much to see -- it's really boring

the scenery picks up after Valencia, but by that time your butt's starting to get numb

In short, the drive's one of the worst in the country, but I'm cheap and you're still in a quandry.

If I knew how trains worked, I'd explore that option.

I agree with Ed....long drive, and boring. Even on the motorway, it'll take 12 hours....you've gotta stop every once and a while. And much of the run is a toll road..and they're expensive in Spain.
With advance planning, you can probably fly Spanair or Vueling for about 50 Euro per person. Fast trains via Madrid will cost about 80 Euro pp. You could take a bus to Granada (about 2 hours...virtually one bus per hour) and take the overnight train for about 90 Euro per person...for that price, getting a bunk in a four-bunk cabin. You have to book all four to avoid the gender segregation rules.

We just drove the opposite direction in April. Sitges (south of Barcelona) to the Costa del Sol. The difference is that we had stops in Valencia & Grenada. If you have no interest in stopping on route, just fly. The Autovia is inland freeway and it'll take longer than 10 hours even if you just stop for gas,food and tolls. We traveled at about 130 kph or just above the speed limit.

Gracias para los informacion(?)! Exactly what I wanted to know. Seems like the most attractions toward Valencia are still in the major towns like Albacete & Jaen. And we'd be searching for lodging for a night or two as well.

We have a place reserved for 10 days near Malaga, incl. car. I toured Andaluz 20 years ago and suspect there's still a lot to see on more relaxed day trips in that area... saving us a long drive to Barccelona. Thanks !

Don't forget Granada...and Jaen, which is actually north of Malaga, not really on the route to Valencia, is an under-appreciated gem, IMHO.

We've been looking into the same thing for a trip in July with 2 teens and have gotten great advice from this helpline. Because we're not sure of our plans, I checked into flying from other nearby cities, and it's a lot cheaper to fly from Granada to Barcelona than from Malaga.

Oh how I wished we'd thought of that...we just made our plane resrv last night when it looked like the flights from Malaga were shooting up in price. I didn't even know Granada had a major airport. Thanks for the tip anyway. Dennis

Dennis...what price did you get, and for when? If you jumped on the prices stated earlier, you won't find much better deals out of Granada.

THe price we saw first was about $90 per seat. We then chewed it over until they went up to approx $140 US. Glad I finally learned about this web page...should have looked earlier!