Spain Bus Transportation in RS Books

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your response. That site actually does not show a connection from Granada to La Linea. I found that site earlier today and was hopeful, but it only shows a route from La Linea to Granada and no service in the reverse direction. In the Granada chapter of Rick's book, it says the service from Granada to La Linea is five times a day (provided by http://www.movelia.es/). However, this provider says they only offer service from Granada to La Linea once on Friday and once on Sunday. I am not trying to criticize the guidebook. I also have found Rick's books to be more or less reliable (hours generally within an hour of the correct hours), and I certainly would like all the information in the book to be correct. However, I've faced a number of problems using the "Transportation Connections" sections in this book, and some of the discrepancies could really affect my planning/chosen route. I haven't been able to confirm his information for multiple connections through the sites he lists and have found information that greatly conflicts from other sites. Since I'm guessing several people on this forum have used this book succesfully, I thought other travelers may have faced similar challenges with this information and could thus provide me with other sites/books they consulted or the bus providers they used if different than the RS guidebook.

Correction to my last post: The RS book says there are two connections a day (per my first post).

It is strange, but that provider has many outbound services from cities with no corresponding inbound service. They have no departures from Granada at all. The 14:20 schedule is the one I have, but that's only one departure on Friday and one departure on Sunday. That is the provider that the RS book lists, which is why I was so confused. Two departures a week is very different than two departures a day. I've searched for a few hours now and am now fairly certain the connection is impossible. Disappointed, but glad I found out now rather than when I got there of course. Thanks for your help.

Good grief, Linda! Here I sits way out on the far end of the colonies, puttering around the house after waking up from a nightmare about taking the M1 north when you said all the really cool people use the A1(M). You, who had already been naturally awake at a respectable time forever could have cleaned up Steve's mess and translated it any way you wated to.

Me! You left me to do it. Me, who hasn't ridden a train or a bus in fifty years. (Ummm....not counting the one that took me to prison a couple of times).

Okay, AS, I speak the language and read the ctsa website.

Here's the deal: Granada to La Linea and the reverse are on the same page, in the same box.

It makes the trip once each way, each day, every day of the week.

It leaves from La Linea at 8:50 each morning and from Granada at 2:00 each afternoon.
The trip takes five hours and twenty minutes.

Using my information you should be able to figure out the rest. A couple of things:

Spain lists things from Monday to Sunday, still seven days, but not the way we express it in the U. S.

The "a" with the accent mark can be translated as either "to" or "through". "Through" would fit better idiomatically in English, but the person that translated the stuff into English used "to".

"Salida desde" means "departing from".

"Through" would fit better idiomatically in English, but the person that translated the stuff into English used "to".

True for American English but not for English English LOL!

You might find more convenient connections by taking the bus from Granada to Malaga, then catching one of the 4 or 5 daily buses from Malaga to La Linea. Buses leave Malaga for La Linea at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 2 and 4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, with an extra bus at 7:15 pm on Sundays, taking three hours to make the run. There are 18 or 19 buses/day from Granada to Malaga (2 hour run) so with half an hour's pad, the total journey would be about 5 1/2 hours. If you want to reduce that, there is a semi-express bus from Malaga to La Linea that also leaves at 1030 am...it takes about two hours stopping, I believe, only in Marbella.
See the Portillo website for Malaga-La Linea (click on Malaga then scroll down...the return departures are listed in italics in the same area) and see the Granada-Malaga bus journeys at the Movelia website. Schedules do change, so get the latest just before you leave.
Be aware that there is assigned seating on Spanish buses, so check your ticket for your seat number.

P.S....can I assume you're going to La Linea to visit Gibraltar? La Linea itself is not a very attractive town, although they have prettied up the waterfront heading towards Algeciras.

Ed - but it was more fun leaving you to do it!

Thank you all so much for your translating and route-planning help! Yes, I was just heading there to visit Gibraltar. I wanted to get there earlier in the day, because I expected the views would be better earlier in the day. I had never thought of a connection through Malaga & it looks like that will be perfect, so thank you Norm! I'm also hoping that if I get down fairly early in the evening, I might be able to make it to Algeciras or Tarifa and stay there for the night.

I have one follow-up question so I can try to understand other schedules like this. When it says "V" and "D" under days, does that mean V-D? That's what confused me about the "daily" thing. I was thinking that meant it only ran on certain days. I'm bad at interpreting these sites, and they are all graphics-based, so I can't use Google Translate to decipher them!

One other question for those more familiar with the area: I will be visiting in early April, so it could be rainy and cloudy then. Are there still decent views at the top in those weather conditions? I'm unusually enthralled by impressive views and that was my main motivation for going. Not the little apes. :)

Couldn't find any V D, but it sounds like a week-end schedule. V might be viernes (friday) and D domingo (sunday); if that makes any sense contextually.

As far as your second question goes....post a link to one using the V and the D and we'll try to help you figure it out....but Ed's suggestion sounds logical. I've seen "L V" or something similar, which means Monday to Friday.
As for your second question....it depends on how low the cloud is, and whether it's raining constantly. I've been there in mid-April with high overcast, and again in early May with mostly cloudy skies and rain showers sweeping through, and still found the views to be pretty good. The only exception was views to the north weren't as good during the rain showers. You will rarely find the kind of rainy days in southern Spain where you get the foggy, misty, all-day drizzle that you see in the Seattle area.
If you do plan to stay overnight, aim for Tarifa. Algeciras is only a short local bus ride (or a cheap taxi run) away from La Linea, but it's not a terribly attractive place....a big port town. From the Algeciras bus station to Tarifa, there are several runs/day operated by the Transportes Generales Comes (TG Comes), and it takes about 45 minutes. Find the schedule here
You will likely encounter the following type of schedule setup on this and other Spanish websites, the description "Lunes a Viernes Laborables." Literally, it means "Monday to Friday, working days." So if your travel weekday is a holiday, then you must check the "festivos" schedule, which is usually (but not always) included with the Sunday (Domingo) schedule. And remember that there are many holidays in Spain that are specific to a city or town...and nowhere else! Regional transportation companies will probably ignore most of those, but double check.