A brand new toll motorway giving more or less direct access from Murcia (St Javier) airport to Desert Springs and Villaricos in the Almanzora Valley has been opened. Improved accessibility to the more plentiful and cheaper flights into Murcia makes the toll of between 9€ and €11.50 maximum, depending on the exit used, well worth the money for travelers to the region.
It cuts journey times by approximately 30 minutes, reducing the trip to between 75 to 85 minutes and putting the airport within a very easy and pleasant drive along this all but empty stretch of well engineered motorway. Practically the whole of its length passes through very beautiful undeveloped countryside and cultivated areas.
Although the motorway was built in a creditably short period of time, its opening was briefly delayed by, depending on which story is to be believed; either the need to satisfy recent tunnels regulations, there are 4 of them on the route, and/or the belated discovery, on opening, that someone had surreptitiously extracted and stolen all the copper cables linking the toll booths. It is now open and functioning with a very low level of traffic.
Traveling to the airport from Desert Springs or Villaricos, access to the new road is straightforward. Likewise access to and from the airport at the other end is very easy indeed.
A potentially even quicker route will be available shortly, when the Cuevas del Almanzora – Los Lobos exit, currently well under construction, is completed. This will provide all but immediate access to Villaricos, as well as more direct access to Desert Springs. It should cut journey times even further.
In the meantime, it is also possible to leave the new motorway at the St. Juan de los Terreros turning and head over the hills to the sea and follow the coast road to Villaricos. But be warned the initial section of this short cut is precipitous and narrow! It is reminiscent of the old coast road to Carboneros before it was” improved”.
New travel directions have been posted on the Almanzora web site here.
For further information contact: Dana Urquhart
Telephone: +34 950 467 104
