Flights

Malaga Airport is between 90 minutes and 2 hours’ drive from Cortijo El Peso.  It is very well served by budget airlines, most of which can be booked on the internet.  Of these, Easyjet, Go and Monarch are the most flexible, with a selection of flights daily to suit most timetables.  British Airways’ franchise, GB Airways, offers daily flights which can be very economical if booked well in advance, as does Spanish national airline, Iberia.

Other budget airlines which can be booked through ‘bucket shops’ in the UK are: Air 2000, Britannia Airways, Airtours International, and others.  A good number to contact for charter airline tickets is the Air Travel Advisory Bureau, based in London.  Their number is (020) 7636 5000.  They operate as a clearing house for the charter airlines.  If you tell them the dates and destinations, they will give you several numbers of bucket shop operations to call so you can check on availability.   Our experience, albeit not recent – i.e. before the introduction of all the low-cost airlines – was that this was a very cost-effective way of finding a cheap flight, and was always reliable and completely above-board.

Ceefax and Teletext list cheap and last-minute flights via your TV, and of course there are big travel portals that can help, like Expedia, although these seem to focus on scheduled airlines.

(If you know of any good travel portals, let us know, and we’ll add their links to our website) 

From the UK you can choose from:

Easyjet - Flights from London Luton and London Gatwick and also from Liverpool. www.easyjet.com

Monarch - flights from London Luton and Manchester.  www.fly-crown.com

BMI - (budget division of British Midland) starts operating flights to Malaga from East Midlands airport on March 23, 2002

JMC - flights from London Gatwick

Gibraltar Airport is even closer to Cortijo El Peso: only an easy hour’s drive.  It is not as well served as Malaga as it’s a small airport.  You should also be warned that out of season, when the weather is more unpredictable, flights can get diverted due to adverse weather conditions (wind, sea fog, etc.).  However, during summer months it’s a good option.

The two UK airlines serving Gibraltar are GB Airways, from London Gatwick and Heathrow or Monarch, from Luton or Manchester.

CAR HIRE

There is a huge quantity of smaller budget car hire companies based at or near Malaga airport and it’s worth shopping around.  All the big car hire companies have desks at the airport: Hertz, Avis, Europcar, etc. but do be warned that in high season the queues for these can be quite lengthy.  An alternative is to use the Spanish company Niza, which has a desk in the same area, but is not so well known by tourists, and the queues are never as long or we use Brunos Car Hire.  All of these have internet sites.

The smaller companies will meet you at the airport and then take you on a shuttle bus to their premises to pick up your car.  The bigger companies have their cars parked in the airport parking.  Whichever company you choose, during summer months you should allow an hour to pick up your car. 

We recommend that you get a car with air conditioning, if you are visiting between May and September. (Anything B class or upwards usually comes with a/c).  We also recommend that you hire a car with a slightly bigger engine than the basic A or B class. It won’t cost you a lot more, but it will make your visit a lot more pleasurable, especially if you plan to take in some of the many places worth visiting in the area. A minimum of 1.6 litre engine size is a good idea if you do plan to do a lot of driving.  Cortijo El Peso is in the mountains and most of the driving in the area will be on mountain roads, with a fair bit of climbing and some twisty turns (but the views make up for it!). You might therefore  find a lower-powered car rather a frustrating, and certainly a slower drive.

Distances in Spain are much greater than in the UK or northern Europe generally, so a day’s outing to e.g. Jerez, Seville, Tarifa, etc. will entail a lot of driving.  The more comfortable you are, the more you will enjoy the trip.

Previous guests have used:

Helle Hollis - which can be booked over the internet

Crown -  also on the internet

Record TSI -  tel: 00 34 952 932 946    fax: 00 34 952 930 107

Brunos - web: www.brunoscar.com tel: 00 34 952 891 415    fax: 00 34 952 891 461

At Gibraltar, it’s best to pick up a car on the other side of the border, rather than at the airport itself.  This is quite commonly done by various companies.  We use Brunos Cars who are efficient and have competitive rates. They will also meet you at Malaga or Jerez Airport.