My DH and I are travelling from Madrid to Granada on October 22. It looks like the
Alsa bus would be better for this trip than the train because there are far more busses each day than trains.

My questions to those who have made this this trip are: (a) Do the Alsa busses have
bathrooms on board? and (b) Is it wise to wait until the day of travel to buy tickets.
I understand that the Alsa internet purchase is no better than the RENFE site.

Thanks for any advise.

Pat

I did the trip last year and bought the ticket on line a couple of days before. I didn't want to risk not being able to get the departure time I wanted.

I think there are toilets on board (didn't need to find out) but in any case, there is a stop about half way at a roadhouse.

We took an Alsa bus from Seville to Granada. There was a toilet on board. For whatever its worth, we bought our tickets (round trip) at the bus station about 30 minutes or so prior to boarding the bus.

Thank you both. I hope that someone can answer my question about the Madrid to Granada route and the usual avalability of tickets on a Friday.

Pat

wanttogo,

Who can foretell who and how many could turn up for your preferred journey in the same way you might? As you are aware there are plenty of journeys, go with the next, if full. If it is very important purchase the day(s) before.
You may in any case want to go beforehand if leaving from Estacion Sur, which is, as I recall a huge interchange.

Best wishes.

We took a number of journeys using ALSA last December/January and were able to pre-book. If you go to the ALSA website you can see how many seats are vacant on selected bus trips.

If you go to 'ticket purchase' and select your journey date a list of available departures is provided. When you select one of the departure times and hit 'continue' a plan of the bus comes up with available seats.

Hope this is of some help with your planning. We pre-booked because one of our trips was to Porto a couple of days before Christmas and we were able to get a discount.

Can anyone make general comments about the ALSA bus along this route, or about long-distance bus travel in Spain?

Would there be any concerns about theft from the luggage compartments? Thanks!

If the bus makes several stops i would just get off and check my luggage visually.

I enjoy the buses in spain. at least the ones i have taken have all been clean and correct.

Sometimes people can talk too loudly on their cell phones, just when you are nodding off.. they get a call.. but other than that.. quite civilized.

Some have toilets, but I am not sure all do.

I have used Alsa buses several times. The longest nonstop ride I've done is from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela, approx 5 hrs. There was a toilet on that bus, which I used. It was a better experience than expected. I can't recall on the others because I never had to look for one (they were shorter trips).
I really like the Supra service, bigger buses and less stops. They cost more, but if the schedule works for you I highly recommend it over the regular buses.
I always placed my lugagge in the compartment. I could visually looked at what was taken out during any interim stops when I was seated by the window, or if not, I would just stand up and watch. I can't see there being an issue with this. Most times there were not so many people in the buses and I would think highly unlikely any of them would be thieves.

Forgot to mention that I have never been able to do a reservation/ purchase a ticket on ALSA online. I usually called to reserve on the phone because I had a specific departure I needed. But as noted in my prior post, buses were usually not full, so buying the ticket the same day would have been ok. The two routes were the buses were full was Madrid- Salamanca , and León to Oviedo.

The craziest thing, though, is that even though my date is in January (Jan 13th) I am seeing only two seats remaining on the 8:30am bus from Madrid to Granada!

I had planned on taking the train on that morning, only to learn yesterday that the early train that day is marked as "blocked" on the RENFE site. So perhaps all the people that planned on taking the train have booked the bus! This sounds like an unlikely scenario, no?

Is there some holiday or futbol match in Granada on that weekend?

So, what to do--grab those last two bus seats, or wait to see if the train becomes "unblocked??" They are seats #1 and #2, so great seats...

Strange, no?

Also, for some reason I cannot see the designation for the SUPRA services on the Alsa site---where would I find that designation?

I just looked, they are all "normal" service, unfortunately no Supra for this route , at least on that day.

Odd, right? Thanks for all your help so far!

Just wanted to add that in my experience (admittedly from a few years ago), long-distance bus travel in Spain is generally easy and comfortable, and a very common way to travel for many Spaniards.

The buses I've taken have always been clean and well maintained, and the whole system is (surprisingly) well organised. I always keep an eye open when the bus makes a stop to be sure that nobody is trying to make off with my luggage, but to be honest I think such thefts are pretty unlikely.

About the Supra class with increased comfort: wider leather seats, on-board hostess service, catering, control and receipt of luggage, childcare service, cold drinks, books, magazines etc.
http://www.alsa.es/portal/site/Alsa/...002301005eRCRD

Thanks, all...The Supra class looks great, but I do not see any departures for 13 January.

Not sure whether to attempt the 8am bus, which is showing only two seats remaining, or take the afternoon train....

Hi ekscrunchy I bellieve that train tickets usually are available 60 days prior to departure. Trains are fine and buses too. As Cruiseluv recommends take the Supra class it is worth it, in the train usually second class is fine.