Coach Rental Across Spain

Granada Airport by Minibus, with the Alhambra in Sight

Granada's airport, named after Federico García Lorca and shared with Jaén, is a small, single-terminal place west of the city. The building is small, and a minibus can have your group in central Granada while the afternoon is still young.

The pick-up

No collection zone for group vehicles appears on Aena's pages for this airport, so the meeting point and the stopping place are settled with the operator in advance. The covered car park beside the building has a height limit of 2.5 m, which rules out high-roof minibuses, so drivers wait outside it.

Mercedes-Benz Vito passenger van, front view
Mercedes-Benz Vito passenger van, front view

Into Granada and up the hill

Plaza Isabel la Católica, in the centre, is about 19 km by road, roughly 30 minutes. Granada's low-emission zone covers nearly the whole city, but private-hire buses and minibuses are among the vehicles that enter freely. The Albaicín and the Realejo are different: their camera-controlled streets are too tight for coaches. Groups walk, take the small city buses, or use a small vehicle for which the operator has secured an access permit.

For the Alhambra, group vehicles use their own area, P-4, in the monument's car park. Groups are capped at 30 people and must be led by a licensed guide. Each ticket also fixes a time for the Nasrid Palaces, which has to be kept, so plan the visit for a full morning after you have settled in.

The terminals in brief

  • One passenger terminal

Worth knowing at Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport

  • For Alhambra visits, see the Granada city facts: timed tickets and the coach access rules apply.
  • There is no railway station at the airport.
  • The Granada - Aeropuerto bus line (metropolitan transport consortium) stops at the bus station, the Gran Vía de Colón and the Paseo del Violón, next to the Palacio de Congresos; the full trip takes about 45 minutes.
  • The airport is west of Granada; Aena gives about 17 km to the city centre (the road route used here is about 19 km).

Into the hills

From Granada, Pampaneira in the Alpujarras is about 67 km, around 1 h 30 min of winding road, and Guadix with its cave houses about 54 km. In winter, the Sierra Nevada ski station is about 40 km.

What travellers ask us

Can we take a train from the airport?

No, there is no railway station. The Granada - Aeropuerto bus stops at the bus station, the Gran Vía de Colón and the Paseo del Violón, taking about 45 minutes end to end.

Our flight is into Málaga instead. Is that far?

Málaga airport is about 137 km from Granada, roughly 2 h 15 min. A minibus can collect you there; the Málaga page covers the meeting arrangements.

Do Alhambra tickets need passports?

Tickets are personal, and each visitor carries an original identity document, which can be checked. Keep them to hand on the morning of the visit.

Can the minibus take us up into the Albaicín?

Only if the operator has a permit for those camera-controlled streets, and even then the lanes are narrow. Many small groups walk up to the Mirador de San Nicolás for the view across to the Alhambra and are met again lower down.

Other places for your group

Other vehicles with a driver