FLYING TO THE COSTA BLANCA Our area, on the South-Eastern coast of the Spanish mainland, is mid-way between Alicante & Valencia airports, with flight times from the United Kingdom and Ireland at about two hours:- ALICANTE AIRPORT is a vast, major holiday destination airport serving many surrounding resorts, and many airlines operate services there, as do an increasing number of low-cost budget airlines. Future expansion includes a second terminal. Traveling time to the villa is about 1 hours' drive, door to door, via good coastal motorway route North. VALENCIA AIRPORT has traditionally been for schedule airlines to this the third largest city in Spain, but now has increasingly been included with routes from low-cost budget airlines flying to this destination from the UK. Traveling time to the resort is about 1½ hours' drive, door to door, via good coastal motorway route South. MURCIA is about 150km further on from Alicante. Traveling time to the resort is about 2½ hours' drive, door to door, via good coastal motorway route. THE SECRETS TO ONLINE BOOKING There are no golden rules to booking flights. Low-cost airlines sell cheapest tickets first then crank up prices as seats are sold, where others may reduce prices nearer the travel date.
FLIGHTS TO ALICANTE AIRPORT
	The first port of call would be the major holiday flight operator AVRO for the best deal on flights - access their site for instant price, availability and, of course, to book. Avro is part of The Monarch Travel Group which is made up of Avro, Monarch Airlines, Cosmos Holidays and Archers Direct AVRO fly from ALL MAJOR UK AIRPORTS
	EXCEL AIRWAYS fly from BELFAST, BRISTOL, CARDIFF, EAST MIDLANDS, EXETER, HUMBERSIDE, STANSTEAD, MANCHESTER, GATWICK, BIRMINGHAM, NEWCASTLE & GLASGOW. Visit their website to book on-line
	flybe. fly away for less! fly from SOUTHAMPTON, BIRMINGHAM, EXETER & NORWICH on Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday only. Fares as cheap as £38.50 each way. Bookings taken on-line.
	IBERIA airlines of Spain for schedule and charter flights direct from ABERDEEN, BIRMINGHAM, DUBLIN, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, MANCHESTER, NEWCASTLE &ALL LONDON to ALICANTE, VALENCIA, MADRID &MURCIA
	EASY JET flies from LONDON GATWICK, STANSTEAD & LUTON, EAST MIDLANDS, LIVERPOOL, NEWCASTLE, BRISTOL & BELFAST Visit their website to book on-line.
	No-frills service of British Midlands airline. BMI BABY fly from BIRMINGHAM, CARDIFF, DURHAM, NOTTINGHAM, LONDON HEATHROW &  MANCHESTER as cheaply as £25 each way. Visit their website to book on-line
	MY TRAVEL LITE fly from ALL MAJOR UK AIRPORTS. Visit their website to book on-line
	JET2 fly from BLACKPOOL, LEEDS BRADFORD & MANCHESTER. Visit their website to book on-line
	THOMSONFLY Fly from All major UK airports to ALICANTE & VALENCIA. Visit their website to book on-line
	AER LINGUS fly from DUBLIN & CORK to ALICANTE & VALENCIA. Visit their website to book on-line
	FLYGLOBESPAN Scotland's low cost airline fly from GLASGOW & EDINBURGH. Visit their website to book on-line.
	AIRTOURS is one of the UK’s leading tour operators offering great value flights from ALL AIRPORTS. Visit their website to book on-line.
FLIGHTS TO VALENCIA AIRPORT
	EASY JET flies from BRISTOL, LONDON GATWICK & STANSTEAD to VALENCIA. Visit their website to book on-line.
	JET2 fly from MANCHESTER to VALENCIA. Visit their website to book on-line
	THOMSONFLY Fly from BOURNEMOUTH, COVENTRY, & DONCASTER SHEFFIELD to VALENCIA. Visit their website to book on-line or telephone 0870 1900 737.
	RYANAIR Fly from DUBLIN & LONDON STANSTEAD to VALENCIA Visit their website to book on-line or telephone 0870 1900 737.
	AER LINGUS fly from DUBLIN to VALENCIA. . Visit their website to book on-line or telephone 0818 365000
Having problems getting flights to ALICANTE or VALENCIA? Have you considered an alternative airport?
MURCIA is about 200km further on from Alicante (in all about 2½ hours' drive door to door via good motorway route) MADRID is about 400km from Moraira (in all about 3½-4 hours' drive door to door via good motorway route). Many airlines fly there including the no-frills EASYJET (below) from Luton. They also organise cheap car hire
	FLYBE.COM fly from SOUTHAMPTON, BIRMINGHAM, EXETER, GUERNSEY & NORWICH to MURCIA Fares as cheap as £38.50 each way. Bookings taken on-line
	No-frills airline EASY JET flies from GATWICK & BRISTOL to MURCIA. Visit their website to book on-line.
	JET2 fly from BELFAST, BLACKPOOL, EDINBURGH, NEWCASTLE, LEEDS BRADFORD & MANCHESTER to MURCIA airport. Visit their website to book on-line
	RYANAIR New service from LONDON LUTON & STANSTEAD, SHANNON, LIVERPOOL, EAST MIDLANDS, GLASGOW & DUBLIN to MURCIA. Visit their website to book on-line or telephone 0870 1900 737.
DRIVING If you are considering driving down, either to Santander/Bilbao in northern Spain or through one of the French ports, there are excellent motorway connections that bring you directly to Moraira. It takes about 17 hours to drive down directly from Calais on the motorway and the tolls are about £85 one way. See our Driving page.
TRAVEL ADVICE We would be delighted to discuss your travel arrangements with you and give advice as we have continuous experience in schedule and charter flights and of driving down from most ports.
OTHER ONLINE BOOKING AGENTS We can recommend an agent that we have found reliable for bargain seats - please access Flight Club for sample fares and contact telephone number. www.easyvalue.com is an excellent site which trawls upto 30 online booking agents, including the low-cost airlines, to find the best available deal. Click on their Flight Finder and they come-up with, after some minutes - be patient, a range of genuine fares that you can book immediately. When booking scheduled flights you can make substantial savings through www.opodo.co.uk which has access to fares that are not available to agents. Also worth visiting is www.cheapflights.com and www.dialaflight.co.uk who offer half-price fares for children if you are a single parent.

Driving to Spain If you plan to drive there, either to Santander/Bilbao in northern Spain or through one of the French ports, there are excellent motorway connections that bring you directly to Moraira. It takes about 17 hours to drive down directly from Calais on the motorway and the tolls are about £85 one way. Recommended routes for driving down to the villa 1) FRANCE/SPAIN motorway route Dover - Calais - Moraira Calais - Reims - Dijon - Lyon - Montpelier - border - Barcelona - Tarragona - Valencia - Moraira (Total motorway route bypassing all towns & cities) Fast, direct and simple, but costly, motorway (toll) route to take if you want to go straight to the villa. Takes 17 hours (1,154 miles) and would recommend that you stop overnight at the mid-way point of Lyon (East) to refresh and enjoy the journey (see 'Overnight Stops' below). Dover-Calais 20 minutes on Shuttle, 2½ hrs on ferry. Calais-Lyon 7 hrs, Lyon-Border 4½ hrs, Border-Moraira 5½ hrs. This allows channel crossing and travel on the first day, then a day's travel on the second to arrive at the villa by 6pm. Tolls are about £40 in France and £30 in Spain. A lot of monotonous motorway traveling, and costly due to the tolls, but it is the best route if you want the shortest channel crossing and the simplest, sign-posted, mostly traffic-free, motorway route down to the villa. 2) FRANCE/SPAIN minimal motorway/mainly A-roads route Dover - Calais - Moraira Calais - Rouen - Orleans - Châteauroux - Limoges - Toulouse - Perpignan - border - Barcelona - Tarragona - Valencia - Moraira (Direct south, mainly motorway route, some free, generally bypassing all towns & cities) Excellent route that cuts through France with a mixture of road types, without too much fuss. Takes 17 hours (1,154 miles) and would recommend that you stop overnight at possibly Toulouse to refresh and enjoy the journey (see 'Overnight Stops' below). Dover-Calais 20 minutes on Shuttle, 2½ hrs on ferry. Calais-Toulouse 10 hrs, Toulouse-Moraira 7 hrs. Best to catch a very early channel crossing and drive the bulk of the distance on the first day, allowing you to get to the villa by 6pm. Tolls are about £20 in France and £30 in Spain. Our favoured route as it leads directly south, as the crow flies, and uses good A-roads and many free motorway stretches, as well as the toll ones. The scenery is diverting and plenty of places to stop. 3) SPAIN ONLY mainly motorway/some A-roads route Portsmouth/Plymouth - Bilbao/Santander - Moraira Bilbao - Gasteiz/Vitoria - Logrono - Zaragoza - Teruel - Valencia - Moraira Very good, quiet, traffic-free, direct route using motorway (part tolls) and excellent free A-roads. Firstly you have 186 miles of excellent motorway between Bilbao and Zaragoza (3 hrs) then you go around, bypassing Zaragoza, to the opposite south end, following the signs for N330 Teruel. This very good free A-road (3 hrs) takes you over the mountains and past Teruel to Valencia where you take the motorway (1 hr), direction Alicante, to Moraira. Tolls on the motorway are about £35. The ferry arrives early in the morning and allows you a leisurely 6-7 hours drive through Spain to arrive at the villa on time, but the drawback is the 36 hours on the boat. 4) Portsmouth - Le Havre/Caen - Moraira Le Havre/Caen - Alencon - Le Mans - Tours - Poitiers - Angoulême - Bordeaux - Biarritz - border - San Sebastian - Pamplona - Zaragoza - Teruel - Valencia - Moraira Very good, quiet, traffic-free, direct route using mainly, excellent, free A-roads and motorway (tolls). A good route, especially if you are traveling from Northern Britain, as you take the overnight ferry to Le Havre or Caen, arriving very early morning, and have the whole day to drive down (about 10 hrs) to spend the night in Biarritz, or Bayonne, (see 'Overnight Stops' below) to break the journey - the route is mainly good A-roads. The next day cross the border and take the excellent motorway up to Zaragoza then the underused N330 past Teruel and onto the motorway at Valencia to take you to Moraira (about 8 hrs). Tolls are about (£10) in France and (£20) in Spain. Very good route, especially if you have a long drive in the UK to get to the port, as you sail overnight and arrive very early, are mainly using very good A-roads, and seeing the beautiful countryside, thus avoiding costly tolls and boredom Overnight stops We use the motorway-side hotels which are perfect for the purpose and for the price of £15-£20 you get a modern, simple room with a double and single bed (sleep 3/4), with ensuite and tv, and the choice of taking breakfast at a small extra cost. They are usually situated on retail parks, with a choice from the major chains (Village Hotel, Formula 1, Premire Classe, Etap, B & B etc) very close to the motorway and with a limited choice of fast-food restaurants also there (or venture out and seek out that ideal bistro in a nearby village or town). You will usually find the large supermarket chains here (to stock up on groceries) and, most importantly, petrol stations linked to them that sell cheap petrol. Another tip when using the motorway is to, where possible, come-off the motorway and find these sites to fill-up on petrol as you will save about 20% on the motorway sites. 5) FRANCE/ANDORRA/SPAIN minimal motorway/mainly A-roads route Dover - Calais - Moraira Calais - Rouen - Orleans - Châteauroux - Limoges - Toulouse - Andorra - Tarragona - Valencia - Moraira (Direct south, mainly motorway route, some free, generally bypassing all towns & cities, going over the high Pyrenees at Andorra) Excellent route that cuts through France with a mixture of road types, without too much fuss. This allows for a couple of nights' stop-off at Andorra to see this beautiful country and do some duty-free shopping whilst there. The accommodation can be at our apartment in Arinsal at a special offer discounted rate. Full details on our Andorra Apartment page. Dover-Calais 20 minutes on Shuttle, 2½ hrs on ferry. Calais-Andorra 13 hrs, Andorra-Moraira 5 hrs. Best to catch a very early channel crossing and drive the bulk of the distance on the first day, allowing you to get to Andorra by 7pm. Tolls are about £20 in France and £30 in Spain. Our favoured route as it leads directly south, as the crow flies, and uses good A-roads and many free motorway stretches, as well as the toll ones. The scenery is wonderful, especially in Andorra. A great opportunity to do duty-free shopping on a wide range of goods.

A good starting point to find cheap ferry crossings

A website set up by the PSA – Passenger Shipping Association, to promote the value and flexibility of sea travel on behalf of a group of nine leading ferry companies operating in the UK. They aim to make your trip abroad as pleasurable and hassle-free as possible. With so many routes available and frequent sailings throughout the day, they offer you choice, convenience and prices that are impossible to beat. Go directly to their website to compare prices.

Travel Advice We would be delighted to discuss your travel arrangements with you and give advice as we have regular experience of driving down from most ports.

Don't know which route to take? Click here for driving itinerary, with map, door to door