Coach and Driver Hire for Group Trips in Spain

A full-size coach or a midibus with a driver, booked for a group travelling in Spain. You describe the trip; a licensed partner operator provides the vehicle and the driver.

Who does what

We are a booking service, not a coach company. Your plan goes to a partner operator, the quote comes back to you, and once you accept we confirm the booking. The operator owns the coach, employs the driver and runs the day on the road.

In Spain, carrying passengers by road for payment needs a public transport authorisation under the national road transport law (LOTT). Group hire is what that law calls discretionary transport, and as a rule the whole vehicle is contracted, not individual seats.

MAN Lion's Coach 49-seat touring coach, front three-quarter view

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 16-seat minibus, exterior

Start with the headcount

A full-size coach (autocar) seats 49 to 57 and carries luggage in holds under the floor. A midibus takes 29 to 35 and copes better with tight old towns. For 9 to 16 passengers a minibus is enough. A small party can travel in a car with driver, known in Spain as a VTC: at most nine seats including the driver's, and only on pre-booked services. Any vehicle with more than nine seats counts as a bus, and bus rules apply. When some passengers use wheelchairs, an adapted minibus swaps seats for secured wheelchair positions.

What changes the plan in a Spanish city

Low-emission zones. Every Spanish municipality of more than 50,000 people must set one up, and each city writes its own rules around the DGT environmental label. A coach registered abroad carries no DGT label, so each city treats it differently: Barcelona wants it on the metropolitan register before it enters, and Donostia / San Sebastián asks for an authorisation in advance. Rules move, so they are checked again shortly before the trip.

Stopping. Old centres seldom take a coach. In Toledo coaches stop only at Safont, the Paseo de Recaredo or the Puente de San Martín, never at Zocodover. In Barcelona, Zona Bus stops at Sagrada Família and Park Güell must be booked, and a stop lasts ten minutes. Around Cordoba's Mezquita-Catedral only microbuses may drive.

Timed entry. The Alhambra admits groups of up to 30 with a licensed guide, and the Nasrid Palaces time on the ticket is fixed. The coach timetable is built backwards from it.

Long days and the driver's clock

EU rules allow a driver 9 hours at the wheel a day, 10 hours twice a week, and a break is due after four and a half hours. Some favourite days out come close to that. Malaga's cruise port to Granada is about 131 km, Marbella to Granada about 182 km, and Madrid to Salamanca about 213 km, each way. A same-day return on routes like these may need a second driver or a night away, and the quote says which.

One quote, no rate card

Every trip is costed on its own dates, hours, distance and vehicle, so there is no price list. You receive one quote that names the vehicle type and seat count, together with the operator's cancellation terms. Nothing is booked until you accept it.

What organisers ask us

Who is the driver working for?

The partner operator that supplies the vehicle. We remain your contact for the booking before and after the trip; on the day, the driver runs it.

Can the trip start outside the twenty cities?

Yes. Twenty cities have planning pages, from Santiago de Compostela to Cádiz and from Girona to Palma, but a coach can collect a group anywhere in Spain. Send the pickup address.

Will the route use toll motorways?

Possibly. Some Spanish motorways, usually numbered AP-, are toll roads. The operator plans the route.

Cities

More group trips we arrange

Send the trip for a quote

Group size, dates, the pickup point and the stops in order are enough to start. You see the quote before anything is booked.

Request a quote or call 35227647770