Most of our properties are in rural locations and we strongly recommend that you hire a car, for many of our properties it is essential. Plus, hiring a car will give you an opportunity to explore the many wonderful and varied hidden corners of Andalucía.

Car hire in Spain is easy and quite affordable. All airports and train stations will have a good selection of competitive car hire offices on site.
We recommend you check online for the most up to date offers, some favourites are:

Sixt
Europecar
rentalcars.com
Avis
Alamo

Bus services run regularly between all major cities and at least once a day to the more remote villages. The trouble with this though is that the local bus schedule may not always coincide with your arrival and departure times. The main bus company in Andalucía is ALSA.

Each area (or province) also has a local bus company. If you can’t find what you are looking for please do not hesitate to ask us for help.

Travelling by train in Andalucía is mostly limited to connecting the major cities: Cordoba, Malaga, Seville, Huelva and Cadiz (Jaen and Almeria are not very well connected and Granada train station is being modernized). The two major gaps in the train network in Andalucía are between Huelva and Cadiz – trains can’t pass through the Doñana National Park, so you have to go to Seville; and also between Jaen and Granada, which has no line connecting the two cities. There is also very little coastal track, with the exception of Malaga-Torremolinos-Fuengirola on the “Cercanias” service.

For full details visit the official Spanish rail website www.renfe.com or you can use a service such as TrainLine which covers the major transport services in one place.

There are also some lovely scenic railway journeys which, depending on your location, make a wonderful day out. One of these is Mr Henderson’s Railway. The line was originally built between 1890-92 by the Algeciras (Gibraltar) Railway. Nowadays the train journey from Algiceras or San Roque to Ronda makes a lovely day trip through stunning scenery and historic sites. The route takes sites like the beautiful Genal valley, in places where there is no road access.

If you require a taxi we are always happy to help organize taxi transfers. This must be requested in advance and is payable directly to the taxi driver.

Andalucía has the most southerly location in continental Europe (at Tarifa—see our region, Costa de la Luz) and its coast is one of the sunniest, receiving a total of 3000 hours of sunlight each year.

Andalucía has typically Mediterranean weather with warm, dry summers and mild winters. That said, the range of weather can be hugely varied depending on where you visit. Almería and Cabo de Gata, located on the south-eastern Mediterranean coastline, is dry all year round and is the only region in Europe with a desert climate. By contrast, the High Alpujarra and Sierra Nevada can have snow as late as April … and Grazalema, in western Andalucia, has the highest rainfall of anywhere in Spain.

Generally though, Andalucía is what most people think of when they imagine a typical Spain—summers are hot, reliably sunny and ideal for those who enjoy lazy days by the pool or on the beach, and long, warm, evenings on the terrace.

Spring and autumn are cooler with a little less sunshine than the summer. These quieter spring and autumn months are good times of the year for walking holidays and to visit the beautiful cities of Andalucía. Spring is the season to experience an explosion of colour as everything comes back to life. The flowers and blossom are abundant and rich, the countryside is green and lush, it’s all so pretty. Some showers can still be expected but it is already heading into summer.

Autumn or fall, is beautiful for colours too. The yellow and orange leaves of trees contrast with the dazzling, clear blue sky. All the nuts are coming into fruit now, and don’t forget the all important grape harvest!

Spring and autumn are best for long hikes in the high mountains and a midday rest under the shade of an olive, chestnut, or cork oak is sure to be welcome.

Even in winter, one of the great things about Andalucía is that the forecast is almost always sunny, somewhere. Along the coast it is not unusual to see people sitting in the sun having their “aperitivo” in the middle of January. At this time of year you can go skiing in Sierra Nevada and sunning on the coast in little over an hour – then home for a cosy evening in front of an open fire.

For a reliable forecast of the area you wish to visit see: AEMET (Spanish meteorological website)