Alicante to Galicia in five hours by direct rail – and Valencia up next

HIGH-SPEED trains will soon run from the Costa Blanca to the far north-western region of Galicia, covering 928 kilometres (577 miles) in just five hours.

National rail board RENFE reveals the AVE line to Ourense – capital of Galicia's only land-locked province, just above the Portuguese border – will set off from Alicante for the first time on September 13.

This has been made possible thanks to an express train tunnel opening between Madrid's two largest stations, Atocha and Chamartín, allowing the AVE to cut straight through the capital.

Before, the ultra-fast rail service was able to run from Madrid to the west and north-west, or east and south-east, but anyone wanting to travel right across the country would have to book two trains and change in the capital.

They would need to catch a metro, or underground train, from Atocha to Chamartín to head west, or Chamartín to Atocha to go east, adding extra inconvenience and journey time, as well as waiting around – the two AVE rides would have to be booked far enough apart in time to allow for delays in crossing the city.

Now, passengers will just sit on the same train from departure to destination.

The AVE line to Ourense only opened on December 21 last year, so it has only been on track for eight months, but is already set to be one of the best-connected routes on the express network.

RENFE is exploring linking the Ourense AVE to Valencia, also on the east coast and around 200 kilometres north of Alicante.

As yet, Ourense is the only destination in Galicia on the express line, since the region's other cities farther north have a different, narrower track network which is not suitable for the AVE, meaning anyone travelling from Madrid to the rest of Galicia would have to change onto a slower train at its southernmost provincial capital.

With the first trans-Madrid direct AVE route, passengers will be able to get from Alicante to Ourense, non-stop, in just five hours and 10 minutes, and the return journey will be shorter still - four hours and 56 minutes.

Driving between the two cities, even by motorway – AP-7 from Alicante to Valencia, A-3 from Valencia to Madrid, then A-5 and A-52 from Madrid to Ourense – takes just over eight hours and 40 minutes, net of service-station stops.

Even bearing in mind that the traffic flow is constant on Spain's motorways and drivers rarely, if ever, have to drop much below the upper speed limit, the journey from the Comunidad Valenciana to Galicia would be difficult to complete by car in under 10 hours.

An internal flight between Alicante and Ourense would typically take around an hour and 40 minutes, not including at least an hour or two at either end for checking in and baggage collection, and costs an average of €75.

Direct flights are not always available, meaning a typical plane journey would involve a connecting flight and take about three hours and 45 minutes which, with checking in and collecting bags, is likely to take at least as long as, if not longer than, the new train ride.

As well as offering east-coast residents the chance to explore the very different, very green and beautiful region of Galicia – which is often compared with Scotland and Ireland in terms of its scenery – the AVE link could see a sharp boost in national tourism to Mediterranean destinations.

Already, the coast of the province of Valencia is hugely popular with summer holidaymakers from Madrid, many of whom own holiday homes or rent villas or apartments in the same town every year.

Now, Galicia residents may well follow suit and become a standard presence on Spain's eastern beaches in summer.

During the pandemic years, staycation visitors effectively saved the tourism industry in much of Spain, and increased in number as those who would otherwise have gone abroad took their holidays at home.

They were helped by French visitors, particularly those from southern France, who were able to drive to Spain's northern and eastern shores and avoid the extra hurdles involved in air travel which holidaymakers from other major markets, such as Germany and the UK, would have faced.