TWO friends from the UK who decided to catch up over Christmas met in Málaga, because it was cheaper than catching the train to each other's home cities.
Lucy Walker, from Newcastle and Zara Quli, from Birmingham were great friends during their time as students at Nottingham University, but went back to their respective cities after graduation.
They decided to meet up again after Christmas, but the cost of a return raiil fare between Birmingham and Newcastle was £105 (€120).
Instead, English as a foreign language teacher Lucy, 27, booked a return flight to Málaga with Ryanair for £19.98 (about €23) from Newcastle airport and charity worker Zara, 26, bought a return with Catalunya airline Vueling from Birmingham airport for £55.59 (about €64).
The result was that it was cheaper to travel the more than 1,350 miles (2,160 kilometres) to the Costa del Sol than to cover the 213 miles (340 kilometres) between the centre and the north of England.
Even after paying for two nights in a budget hotel in Málaga – which cost just £10 (about €11.50) a night, they had still not exceeded the cost of a return rail fare between Birmingham and Newcastle.
But whilst in southern Spain, the girls decided to book a third night in Granada to see the Alhambra Palace.
The girls found a hostel in Granada for £11 for the night (just under €13).
This meant that excluding the rail fare from Málaga to Granada, which would have been around the price of their flights or even less, the whole trip including airport transfer in Málaga had cost just £2.25 more than a return ticket on the train between their two home cities in the UK.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com