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Peak Season:
Different regions of Spain all have similar peak season, however some do vary slightly. Southern Spain benefits from staying warmer most of the year so tourism continues through part of winter too. Generally, anywhere from late spring is when most tourists start booking flights to Spain, with July to September the busiest. Make sure to book your flight tickets as early as you can during the peak of Summer as cheap flights to Spain will become harder to find. Once you’ve chosen a place to visit, do a quick check of any festivals that might be happening on or around when you want to go. If something is on you’ll need to secure your flight tickets well in advance to save yourself high costs.
Off Season:
You’ll find the cheapest flights to Spain during the off season, which is typically from around October to March. Tourists do still visit certain regions though, with Benidorm and Alicante staying drier towards the winter season. Thanks to Spain’s almost year round sun, not only can you find cheap flights to Spain during the winter, but you’ll also find beaches a lot less crowded.
A general rule is to book your flights to Spain as soon as you possibly can. The earlier you secure your flight tickets, the cheaper they will be. First determine where in Spain you want to fly to and decide what time of year to visit. You’ll find the cheapest flights to Spain outside of the summer months, so if you plan ahead and book in advance you can find great deals. If you are flying to Barcelona then try to sit on the right side of the plane to get great views of the country as you descend. Madrid offers good views from both sides of the plane so don’t worry too much, as long as you don’t choose a sit next to the wings.
Flights from London to Madrid – 2 hours 30 minutes
Flights from Manchester to Barcelona – 2 hours 20 minutes
Flights from Birmingham to Valencia – 2 hours 20 minutes
Flights from Glasgow to Madrid – 2 hours 40 minutes
There are a host of airlines that all operate flights to Spain, some vary to where exactly you are flying to but in general you can expect easyJet, Ryanair, Norwegian, British Airways or Monarch. First decide where you want to see as this will affect the cost, and then narrow down variables such as the additional cost of adding checked in luggage. Ryanair are notorious for putting their prices up during the summer making a checked in bag very expensive. British Airways offer a free executive service so you can earn points for discounts on future flights to Spain, or anywhere for that matter, as well as a range of other things to spend them on.
Barcelona Airport:
One of the most common ways is the catch a RENFE train from the airport to Estacio De Sants. If you purchased a T10 ticket at the airport you can change here and jump onto the metro at no extra cost to get to your final destination. If you arrive at terminal 1 then you can get a free shuttle bus to the station to catch the RENFE train. There is also the TMB airport bus (number 46). This normally takes a little longer as it makes a few stops but you can use your T10 ticket to get on and off easily.
Madrid Airport:
There are quite a few ways to get into the centre of Madrid, a cheap and reliable one being the Expres Aeropuerto. It’s a bus which runs very regularly from the arrival Terminals at the airport for a low cost. However, it only makes 2 or 3 stops during its journey so you’ll have to then jump on the metro to get to your final destination. A slightly easier option is to get the metro directly from the airport to the centre of the city. Again you might need to transfer once or twice depending on where you want to end up but it’s a much faster and convenient way to travel. Lastly, you can get a taxi from outside of the airport although this will be a lot more money than the bus or metro. If you have a few friends travelling with you though then you can split the fare and make this more reasonable.
Valencia Airport
The quickest and easiest way to get to the centre of Valencia is to jump on the metro from the airport. It’s reliable and frequent and a lot quicker than the alternatives. You can opt to get the aero bus which also goes to the city for a couple of euros, however the journey takes close to an hour and it can sometimes be confusing as to where to get the bus from. If you’re not concerned much with the price then you can get a taxi from the airport, it will be considerately more than the public transport but it saves you having to navigate your way around, just be sure to agree a price beforehand and ask for a receipt.
(prices quoted are from London)