A traveller to Seville wrote in to me a few days ago.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO BOOK IN ADVANCE FOR A BUS TRIP FROM SAN PEDRO TO SEVILLE ON THE BUS?
I wrote back:
Yes you can book the trip to Sevilla up to six days in advance. The Portillo bus service leaves the Marbella bus station and then stops in San Pedro de Alcántara before climbing up through the hills to the Ronda bus station and finishing at the Prado de San Sebastian bus station in Sevilla
I am wondering if you have to do the actual booking at the Marbella bus station because right now the San Pedro bus station is just a small office on the bypass next to the big roundabout below San Pedro whilst the tunnel under San Pedro is being built. I'll phone the Marbella bus station and ask them if you can do the booking in San Pedro de Alcántara.
I phoned the Marbella bus station ticket office: Tel: 952 36 01 91 but the girl in the ticket office who attended me couldn't answer my simple question and asked me to phone the general transport enquiries office on 902 450 550. There I was told, yes, you can go to the ticket office in San Pedro and buy the ticket up to 6 days before travelling but you need to go there and buy the actual ticket. It isn't possible to make a telephoned seat reservation without a ticket purchase at the same time.
She suggested I try the www.avanzabus.com online booking system. I did. San Pedro de Alcantará comes up as a point of departure but Sevilla doesn't show up as a destination so that was not much help. It looks like you need to go to the San Pedro bus "station" on the bypass and buy the ticket. Is that possible for you? Let me know if you get to the San Pedro bus stop ticket office (limited opening hours) and the person inside just looks at you and tells you to go to Marbella to get your ticket. Best wishes and thanks again for writing in, I'll be interested to hear what happens. Mike
Saturday 8th January 2011
I drove out to San Pedro de Alcántara, took this photo of the bus station and spoke to the girl in the office. She answered my questions well and confirmed that bookings can be made in all directions from her little bus station. The San Pedro bypass runs from left to right in the photo. Up to the left is San Pedro and down to the right is the sea.
In case you are taking the bus into San Pedro de Alcántara then check on this list of bus stops between Marbella bus station and Estepona bus station for the location of the San Pedro stop and bus schedules.
The definitive San Pedro de Alcántara bus station will be close to the Marqués del Duero Avenue roundabout and will be finished before the end of 2012. Final planning depends on the tunnel under San Pedro.
In case you are taking the bus into San Pedro de Alcántara then check on this list of bus stops between Marbella bus station and Estepona bus station for the location of the San Pedro stop and bus schedules.
The definitive San Pedro de Alcántara bus station will be close to the Marqués del Duero Avenue roundabout and will be finished before the end of 2012. Final planning depends on the tunnel under San Pedro.
8 comments:
Hi Mike, I just saw you on my blog. Thanks for joining . I will be down your way at the end of the month so thanks for all the info that you have on your site. I will have a read before I go.
Hi Mary, you are welcome, thank you for visiting my blog!
The Parc de Mercantou looks a great place to walk.
Let me know if I can help you with your visit in any way and especially if you want to get into the mountains along the coast.
Best wishes from Marbella.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Tried to open your link to the list of bus stops between Marbella bus station and Estepona bus station, but it wouldn't work. I did see your excellent earlier (?) list with the warnings about the change of bus and walk in San Pedro because of the tunneling.
Is this still the case or is the tunnel suficiently finished to allow a bus trip from Marbella to Bena Vist without changing in San Pedro?
We will have come from the UK on the train to Malaga, then bus to Marbella, and will want to be getting to our destination with as little hassle as pos!
Many thanks and keep up the excellent work!
John
Hi John
Thanks very much for writing in. I've just tried the page again and it worked OK. I took the opportunity of linking to this blog from the San Pedro stop listing on the page. Google it again asking for - List of bus stops between Marbella and Estepona.
Yes, the traffic is running very smoothly and there won't be any interruption to your bus service from Marbella all the way through to Bena Vista.
What an epic trip to come all the way from the UK by train! After the trip when you have a spare moment would you please write in and tell us about it?
Last tip, if you don't have to wait too long, try to get the Directo service from Malaga bus station to Marbella. It does not stop along the way and is quicker than the normal service stopping in Torremolinos and Fuengirola. You'll find those timings on the Gomarbella Costa del Sol bus timetables page.
Best wishes for your trip John and let me know if I can help at all with those last 80kms!
Mike
Hi Mike,
My friend & I are planning a trip to Spain in mid-Jun. Since it's the 1st time for us visiting Spain,we need some expert like you to advise us. We'd like to visit the beautiful costal area & cities like Marbella. Looking at all your sharings in the Blog, it seems that taking a bus is a good way. So, we plan to visit Granada first & then take a bus to Marbella. But when I visited the bus company internet Avanzas, I can't find the bus tickets leaving from Granada to Marbella. I'm a bit lost with all those bus stops. Would you pls advise what'll be the bus stops I should book the bus ticket in order to leave from Granada to Marbella pls? Also, how long does it takes for such bus travel pls? Or it'll be easier to travel from Sevilla to other Costa Del Sol city?
Millions of thanks for your help!
Cheers,
Candy
Hi Candy, thank you very much for writing in. I am sorry to have taken so long but I've been on my bike doing the Camino de Santiago in the north of Spain and it took longer than I thought!
This is the best link to use: www.gomarbella.com/marbella/online-bus-reservation-spain.htm
Copy and paste it into your browser and it will take you and from all the places you want to visit. The Avanza bus site is good for bus journeys along the coast but to go inland, the link above is the best.
Candy I'm away again for five days from today but when I get back, I will be more than happy to answer any questions. Plan your itinerary and then I'll be pleased to look at it and help you with any suggestions.
Best wishes from Marbella Mike
Hello Mike,
We will be traveling to Spain in July and were wondering what is the best way to get from Granada to Marbella. It looks like there are no train routes, so we are looking into bus options. Which bus company do you recommend and which bus stations would we leaving from and arriving to? Can we purchase our tickets online and in advance?
Thank you very much!
Amira
Hi Amira, thank you for writing in. It is possible to travel from Granada via Malaga to Fuengirola just before Marbella by train but this particular journey is simplest by bus.
You'll leave from the Granada bus station, stop at Malaga bus station to pick up and drop off passengers and then end your trip at the Marbella bus station.
The journey takes between 2h 45m and 3h 45m depending on which of the four daily buses you catch. The cost varies from €15,78 and €16.19 (2012).
You can book your seats online and bring the printout to show the driver. He may not even look at it! You usually get a choice of seats as well.
Copy this URL into your browser, check out the timetable: www.gomarbella.com/marbella/online-bus-reservation-spain.htm and make your booking.
The public transport system in Spain works very well. Just yesterday I came back from Cáceres to Seville by bus and then by train from Seville to Fuengirola where my wife picked me up. It was a very easy journey with minimum waiting around.
Oh Amira, you can normally only book 30 days ahead or at the beginning of the month you want to travel in. To check out the timetable in advance, use a date from next week for example.
Please let me know if can help with any other suggestions. Best wishes from Marbella for your journey. Mike
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