Ciao!
Have you ever visited Spain? The home of intense flamenco artists and incredible guitar players, land of unbelievable food and historical fairs, beautiful territory, plenty of art and architecture, amazing people… I could go ahead endless! As you can tell, I deeply love Spain and it’s probably my favorite holiday Country.
In this post, I would like to give you some advice about how to visit Spain, without a car, planning most your trip from your mobile or your laptop using our beloved internet. I’ll list the most sustainable options, even thou for some destination there won’t be much choice.
Note: I’m not going to speak about how to get to Spain from a foreign Country, this post will only speak about the domestic transferts.
Train for the bigger cities around the whole Peninsula, and for Costa Brava
Are you planning a cultural holiday between the main Spanish cities? If you need to cover wider distances, the train is the best option. It doesn’t matter if you will reach Spain by plane: with the company RENFE, which serves all the Mainland territory, you’ll be able to book online all the tickets and plan in advance the best route for you, starting from every location.
Even if you plan to visit Barcelona and the Cataluña Coast, train is a great solution. Just keep in mind that the trains in the night stop relatively early, and force you to go by bus, which is way slower.
Renfe website accepts all the main online payment options, and also has an app to avoid print your tickets.
Tip: if you stop in Madrid and want to get a plus, choose Atocha station and have a look at this lovely indoor jungle
Ferry from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands
Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
These four islands will give you an experience of pure pleasure, under so many different points of view. Mallorca is the biggest and the easiest to reach. Needless to say, they are all overcrowded during high season, the flights are usually expensive (furthermore, we don’t like planes that much 😉), and on the top of that, it’s complicated to find direct flights to get to the 3 little ones. My suggestion is to move between the islands using ferries, and even if you are departing from Barcelona you can go by sea. It’s a trip of about 7/9 hours, so you can travel during night time.
To have a look at rates and departure times, go to the BALEARIA website, or download their app.
You’ll probably find some very cheap flights from Barcelona to Palma, and maybe also between the archipelago, but below you can find the compared Co2 emissions, so make your choice wisely. One way flight from BCN to PMI is 108 kg of Co2 per person, but the ferry is about 35 kgs.
And how to move in the islands?
Mallorca: the biggest island is usually considered the less interesting, and I’m totally ok with that belief, since is my favorite and I really want it to remain as underrated as it is, sorry. For the ones who enjoy Mediterranean beautiful nature and waters, or if you are into climbing, this is your target island. In Mallorca you can move with the train line and the buses, and most of the territory is covered (map here), but you’ll probably miss the wildest beaches.
I suggest to look carefully at the departure times here, because in the weekend the service is usually less frequent.
Tip: the FERROCARRIL DE SOLLER is an experience you can’t miss: a route on an original 1900 train, proceeding on an historical railway.
Menorca is 697 km2 of beautiful nature. I have to say that won’t be easy to reach all of the beaches using public transport, but if you want to have a look at the options, check them here.
Ibiza is the party island, you may go there for its dj sets, but just in case, here is the link of the bus routes map, and here the time tables.
Formentera, the little one, is one of the most popular. Here is the link for the public bus line.
In any case, I suggest you to follow the tips to book the right stay in order to limit your impact on the environment, here.
The Mediterranean Coast and The Atlantic Coast by bus
How can we visit the coasts of Spain? With some flexibility, because it will be necessary to move by bus, which may be annoying sometimes, but we are speaking about high class busses so your trip will go smoothly. The route is easy, and passes through all the hot spots on the way. Here is the link to the ALSA website.
Here it is, I don’t include the Canary Islands as they need a page apart, in my opinion.
Do you have more tips or suggestions to travel Spain in a sustainable way? Tell us!
Baci.
The Beauty of EcoTravel 