by Victor Sesma

Victor Sesma is an Alicantinian living in London. He is a Software Engineer who likes writing about the city he was born.
Your Guide to Alicante [By an Alicantinian]
The train station is situated in the heart of Alicante. It connects the city with short, mid and long-distance trains, including AVE high speed to Madrid. Let’s go and find out more details.
The train station address is 1 Avenida Salamanca. 03005 Alicante. Click here for opening it on Google maps. It is situated in the centre of the city:
Many buses have a stop very close to the station. The Tram underground station is a 5 min walk away, in Plaza de Los Luceros.
Alicante has also a rail service called TRAM. It is a mix of a slow TRAM train for moving around the city and a slightly faster train for longer journies to places such as Villajoyosa, Benidorm, Altea or Denia.
So, for example, if you need to go to Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia you need to use a long-distance Renfe or -from June 2023- Iryo train. If you need to go to Benidorm, Altea, Villajoyosa or Denia you have to use one of the TRAM stations such as the one in Luceros. As a curiosity, Alicante-Benidorm by TRAM train takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes and costs 2,80€ single with no travel card.
All the short, medium and long-distance trains from/to Alicante are operated by Renfe at the moment. Iryo is selling online low-cost tickets for high-speed and long-distance to Albacete and Madrid trains scheduled for June 2023 and onwards. Ouigo is selling tickets from the 1st of March 2023 and the service starts on May 2023.
There are a few ways to buy train tickets from or to Alicante:
A funny contra intuitive situation is that buying a ticket in person is not so easy.
The Renfe’s office at the station has two different queues: one for trains that are leaving soon and another for the rest of the requests, including complaints and trains that are not immediately leaving.
To add more confusion, the queues for buying the tickets for trains that are leaving in a few hours/days need to get queue number from the small machine at one of the entrances. The same is true for complaints or other requests.
However, the queues for the trains that are leaving in the following minutes don’t have this electronic machine and you can just stand in line as you would wait for the teller at the bank or at the cashier in the supermarket.
Inside and outside the train station there are a few services that can help you in your journey:
On the left exit at Alicante Terminal railway station (left when the trains are at your back), there is a taxi stop. There are usually taxis waiting for customers at any time trains operate.
The terminal offers services for medium and long-distance trips, including AVE high-speed trains.
Murcia is a common commute for many Alicantinians and Murcians. There are two trains serving the route:
Both trains stop at Elche but at different stations. Cercanias takes longer and has a few more extra stops than Media Distancia to Murcia. Prices go from 9.85€.
Another common route is the train from Alicante to Madrid. The cities are connected by the high-speed train called AVE which stands for Alta Velocidad Española or Spanish High Speed. Times average 2:30 hours for 260 mi (420km).
Valencia, Barcelona and other further cities are connected with our without transfer with slightly slower long-distance trains.
Here is a list of a few of the direct trains from/to Alicante Train Station:
Destination | Type Of Train | Time |
Madrid | High Speed | from 2h |
Valencia | Long Distance | 2h |
Barcelona | Long Distance | 5:20h |
Elche | Regional/Mid Distance | 33min/20min |
Murcia | Regional/Mid Distance | 1:30h/50min |
Santander | Long Distance | from 7h |
Ourense | High Speed | around 4:56 |
Zamora | High Speed | around 3:45 |
Leon | High Speed | around 4:52 |
If you live in the centre it is very easy to reach the station. Getting there on foot is probably the best way to get to the station if you live less than 20 minutes away. If you are not in the centre, you live, for example in San Vicente del Raspeig or Playa de San Juan, you can use public and private services to go to the train station. Your options are Tram, bus, taxi or Cabify.
There are many bus lines stopping less than 5 minutes walk away from the station: 06, C-6, 22, 21, 04, 03, 04, 07 and a few other lines will drop you up close enough. Google Maps makes it easy to navigate by public transport in Alicante or you can check this article about the buses in Alicante for more info. They have an app as well.
The station has a taxi stop. It is on the right side hand when you look at the front facade. Here are the ways to order a taxi:
If you want to be picked up anywhere in Alicante you can call the number +34 965 101 611 or +34 965 252 511. They will ask you for your current address where pick you up and give you an estimated time of arrival. You will then tell the driver where you want to go to estación de tren.
PideTaxi stands for asking for a taxi. This app is available on iPhone and Android phones. It offers a similar experience to Uber where you can estimate the time of your trip, see where the taxi is while you are waiting and pay by card using your smartphone. You can download the app from the App Store or Google Play.
To get more information about taxi apps in Alicante you can check the article about taxis in Alicante.
Tram de Alicante is a lightweight train that offers services to San Vicente del Raspeig, Universidad de Alicante, Playa de San Juan, Campello and further places like Benidorm and Altea.
The railway station of Alicante is 5 min away by foot from the “Luceros Tram Station“. All the Tram lines stop in Luceros as it is the first/last stop. You need to walk from Plaza de Los Luceros to the train station to reach the train station. It is only one street called Avenida de la Estacion. It is a walk of fewer than 5 minutes.
Sadly, Uber is not available in Alicante yet. Their website is confusing as the city is listed on one of their pages but the app won’t allow you to request the service and will show an error message: “Unfortunately, Uber is currently unavailable in your area.”
If you want a similar service you can use the taxi app PideTaxi. Read up in this Get a Taxy using the App PideTaxi.
Another option is to use the Spanish service called Cafiby. They are very similar to Uber.
Cabify is the most popular Uber-like application in Spain. It is available in more cities than Uber and works very similarly.
Cabify has been available in Alicante for a while. It allows you to see where the car is on the map, and to have a preview of the route and an estimation of the price before you book.
They will usually give you a bottle of water and give you the option of choosing the radio station you want to listen to. Prices might vary in comparison with taxis. You can compare it with the app PideTaxi.
Alicante train station is 9 mi or 14,8 km from Alicante Airport and it takes around 16 minutes by car and about 30 min by the airport bus C-6.
There are several ways to get from the train station to the airport in Alicante. The cheapest is the bus. The most expensive is the private service Cabify. Finally, the taxis are a bit cheaper than Cabify.
There are a few companies offering private transfers as well.
If you are travelling from or from the airport to the train station in Alicante the cheapest way is to take the bus Line C-6. You can check the schedule and more information on this page. The fare is 3.85€ to pay by contactless card (no cash) and there is a travel card available.
Alicante Airport has a taxi stop where you will find a cab most of the time. The taxi companies are dependent on Elche city hall as the airport is situated in the neighbouring city of Elche. They can drive you to Alicante railway station.
The fares are fixed and can be checked on the website of radio ElcheTaxi. When booking online the fare is 27€ and it is fixed. If not booked online fares might be higher.
Forgoing from the train station to the airport the company operating is Radio Taxi Alicante. I asked them the prices and here are the not-fixed rates:
Prices using the Uber-like service Cabify are around 25€. You can install their iPhone and Android apps from here.
I hope this article helps with the train station in Alicante. If you have any questions or experiences you want to share, please, use the comments!