Local airports

Many guests ask our advice on which airport to use for their visit to the Alpujarras. There are three airports feasibly in reach of Bérchules; Málaga, Almería and Granada. Our advice would be to use Almería if you can, Granada is you can't, and Málaga if you must.

Almería is a small airport with easy access, good parking and a fairly quick plane-to-terminal time. The really good thing is that traffic to and from the airport is almost always quite light. It is definitely the low-stress option and is also the closest to Bérchules. The journey between the airport and the hotel takes just over one-and-a-half hours.

Granada airport (or Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén, to give it its full name) is about the same size as Almería and has similarly good access and parking. The negative is that the motorways on that side of Granada do get horribly congested during the morning, afternoon and evening rush hours and you have to give yourself extra travelling time should you flight check-in be around 9am, 5pm or 8pm. The journey at present between the airport and the hotel takes just under two hours.

Málaga is the airport to use only if you can't get to either of the other two. It is currently undergoing major redevelopment and both access and parking are difficult and stress-inducing. It also lies on the opposite side of Málaga to Bérchules and hence you need to be aware of the severe traffic conditions around the city during rush hours. The journey between the airport and the hotel currently takes just less than three hours.

The positive side of using it is that you can fly direct to Málaga from virtually every international airport in western Europe plus you can fly from there to Morocco and Canada on scheduled flights.

There is a fourth option. Four-and-a-half hours drive north from Bérchules is Murcia-San Javier airport, which is served by a few low-cost airlines. There doesn't seem to be any reason to use it except if you are coming from Norway or Scotland. Neither Almería nor Granada airports have direct flights to either country.