Trains, festivals and finding you
Off the train at Villena AV with the keys still at home
The high-speed station sits about six kilometres south of Villena, near Santa Eulalia. If your keys are not with you, the time to sort it out is before you board, and if you are already on the platform, this is what helps.
Villena has two railway stations. The old one, on the conventional Madrid to Alicante line opened in 1858, is in the town. The high-speed one, Villena AV, is not: it stands on the Partida de San Juan, about six kilometres south of the town and two and a half from the A-31, near the Colonia de Santa Eulalia. It sits on the Madrid to Levante high-speed line, and the AVE from Madrid or Alicante stops there.
That distance is the whole point of this guide. Six kilometres is nothing in a car, but at eleven at night, with a suitcase and no keys, it is far enough to plan for.
Before you travel
- Check the keys are in your bag, not on the hall table. Obvious, and easy to miss when you leave in a hurry for an early train.
- If someone is meeting you, they bring a spare. Better still, leave a spare with a neighbour you trust in Villena and tell them which day you arrive.
- Know which door of your building needs which key. Many blocks have a street door and a flat door on two different keys.
- If the house is in a pedanía, save its location as a pin on your phone now. You will want to send it later. Our guide on directions to a pedanía house explains why.
If you are already on the platform
- Ring us before you leave the station. We tell you how long we will be from where we are, which decides whether you wait at the station or take a taxi into town.
- Send the address, or the pin, of the house, not of the station.
- Have something that ties you to the address: ID with the address on it, a rental contract, a bill on your phone. Without it we cannot open the door.
- Tell us the door. A flat in the barrios, a town house in the old centre or a house in the campo are different jobs.
The price is agreed with you at the door before any work starts, and opening through the lock is tried before anything else.
Festival weeks
In early September during Moros y Cristianos, and in August during Leyendas del Rock, the town is much busier than usual, the centre fills and some streets close for the parades. Allow for it if you are arriving late. Our note on Leyendas del Rock and the doors you lock behind you covers the festival side.