British uni friends meet in Málaga when rail fare from Newcastle to Birmingham proves too expensive – and save money

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.

And getting from the airport to Málaga city centre and their hostel was only €1.80, or about £1.50, and that it was much cheaper socialising and enjoying themselves in Málaga and Granada than it would have been in either Birmingham or Newcastle.

They discovered the Granada trend of giving free tapas with every beer – and at €2 a bottle, this is much less costly than in the UK – which 'started off basic', said Lucy, but after two or three beers 'included giant prawns and things', to the point where they were so full by the end that they did not need to go out for dinner.

Effectively, they had dined out and had several drinks 'for the price of one cocktail in London', Lucy said.

Not only that, but they were able to enjoy temperatures of around 15ºC for most of the day and up to 20ºC in the midday sun, rather than sub-zero climates and frost in Birmingham or Newcastle.

Their story has been reported by UK tabloids and once again sparked outcry over what readers call 'obscene' train prices in Britain, where the network is so complete that practically anywhere is accessible by rail but the cost of doing so is often as much as a weekend away in Europe.