30/80 meeting: alkaline vents 30th; Mike Russell's 80th

Arriving in Granada

Granada airport is about 17 km from the city centre and there are buses linked to the arriving flights which take you from the airport to the city centre. A single fare costs €3. You can also take a taxi, €25-30.

Public transport info.

There are direct flights to Granada airport from some European cities, including Barcelona, Berlin, London , Madrid, Milan, Palma de Mallorca and Paris.

Airport destinations 

You can fly from further afield to Granada via one of these cities as a hub.

Alternatively there are many more direct flights to Málaga. Málaga airport, the main international airport in southern Spain with fights to the rest of the world, is approximately 130 km from Granada. There are direct buses from Málaga airport to Granada. The trip by bus takes about 2 hours.

If you fly in to Madrid, you could also take a bus to Granada of about 5 hours, but in general it is better to add a connecting flight to Granada (about 1 hour) to your flight ticket.

Bus trips to destinations in Spain

Accommodation

The conference is being held in the Science Park, which is on the edge of the city centre, 10-15 minutes from the historic centre of Granada. It is perfectly possible to stay in the historic centre and walk to and from the conference. Regarding accommodation, neither we nor COST imposes any particular site on the conference participants. We suggest that participants book an hotel according to their preferences. Two popular and useful sites for hotel booking are Tripadvisor.com and Booking.com; with both these sites one can look for hotels according both to their rating and to distance from the conference site. This Travel Agency tourist secretary offers special rates for the 30/80 meeting participants. 

There are no registration fees for the meeting. COST funding will allow us to fund fully (travel and accommodation) some 60 participants from (European) COST countries involved in this network. If are from such a COST country and you wish to be funded, you should preregister but wait until you receive by email your official invitation to the meeting from COST before making any travel arrangements, otherwise you risk not being reimbursed. We cannot guarantee that you will be reimbursed unless you follow these guidelines.

Few useful comments:

Arriving in Málaga airport: Those of you arriving at Málaga airport will find the ticket office for the bus to Granada straight in front of you as you exit arrivals into the open air. The ticket office says the bus company name ‘Alsa’, and the buses depart a few metres further on, but you buy the ticket from the office first. Some buses take one straight to Granada, while with others you need need to change bus in Málaga bus station, so of course the former is better. Timetables and so on are here:

https://www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/home

Arriving in Granada airport: Those of you arriving at Granada airport should turn right as you exit arrivals, and then go through the doors into the open air. There should be a bus to the city waiting in the bay in front of you, as the schedules connect with arriving flights. You pay when you get on. Taxis are on the left as you go through those doors to the outside, and please note: 1, COST will only refund taxis taken late at night. 2, I have had a poor experience with a previous visitor being charged 300 euros by one of those taxis for the ride to Granada (yes, really…). The fare should be about one tenth of that; still much more than the bus and it’s not so much quicker. Caveat emptor.

Arriving at Granada bus station: From here to the science park you can take a tram from in front of the station. Alcázar del Genil is the nearest stop to the park. The stops are announced and indicated on board.

Arriving at Granada railway station: Likewise, from here to the science park you can take the tram to Alcázar del Genil.

See

http://www.parqueciencias.com/parqueciencias/menus/como-llegar.html

for a map of arriving to the science park.

We shall be at the science park from 8 o’clock onwards on Monday morning. When you enter the large entrance hall you should find one of us to the left of the ticket office for normal visitors. We’ll put up some sort of sign indicating the meeting. In any case, the park is not open to normal visitors on the Monday, so it should be quiet.

- The travel direction from the bus and railway station towards the science park is Armilla (i.e., towards the south).

- The weather is expected to remain mostly sunny with highs of 20 Celsius or over and lows of 2 or 3 Celsius (Granada is at 650m altitude next to the mountains, and always has huge day/night variations. In Granada we dress like onions, with layers.)

- Yes, the ski station is open, there is snow; there is a bus from the city centre and you can rent skis there.

- In Granada when you order a drink in a bar you get a portion of food - called a tapa - included in the price. (Many students live using this principle).

- Those who have never been in these parts and don’t know should keep in mind that people hereabouts keep what would be considered odd eating hours in most of the world. Breakfast is pretty much as anywhere, but lunchtime peaks around 15:00 - we have set the conference lunchtime to 13:30 as about the earliest possible time in Granada - and dinnertime is from 21:00 on. If you want to eat outside these times you will only find the most touristy places catering to you, and they usually serve the worst food. Please be warned.