Santa Pola to Elche by bus
The short version: line 255A, about 35 minutes, up to 28 departures a day. And one thing no ticket comparison site will tell you — in summer there are two night buses.
It lives here, on the operator's own page — all three day types, both directions, always current.
And avoid the PDFs. Search for this route and one of the first things you get is a scanned timetable from the winter of 2015-16. Everything below comes from the operator, checked in August 2026.
The line, the operator, the time it takes
It is not an express. The route calls at around twenty stops through Elche's rural districts — Atzavares, Perleta, Vallverda, El Carro, La Manola — which is why it takes longer than the map suggests. The same 24 km is twenty minutes by car.
How often it actually runs
Averages out at roughly every 35-40 minutes, but it is not clockwork: there are hour-long gaps mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
Fewer buses, but the last one back is the same as a weekday.
The thin day — and watch the last one: an hour and a quarter earlier than the rest of the week.
We deliberately do not reprint the full timetable. It is 168 departure times that change twice a year, and a stale table is not incomplete information — it is wrong information. That is what the official page is for.
The two night buses
Fridays, Saturdays and the eves of public holidays only, and only in summer. There are none at all on Sundays and public holidays, so the real last bus those days is 21:55 from Santa Pola. Confirm on the official timetable before you rely on it to get back.
Where it drops you in Santa Pola
- Estació de Santa Pola — the bus station. The reference stop, and the one the timetables use.
- Gran Platja (Puerto Deportivo) — end of the line, five minutes past the station, at the marina.
- Càmping Santa Pola — just before you arrive, useful if that is where you are staying.
Coming for the Tabarca boat? Read this bit. The Gran Platja stop is at the marina. The Tabarca boat leaves from the fishing port, at Avenida de los Baños 1. Two different harbours, and not the same place. Both stops are within walking distance, but head for the right one. Ferry times and prices.
And the fare?
You will not find it here, and that is on purpose.The operator does not publish the fare on the line's own page, and the figures floating around ticket comparison sites have no source behind them. A specific price with no verifiable origin is not a fact, it is a number. You pay the driver, and there are travel passes — ask at the station, which is where the truth is.
Is the bus enough, or do you want a car?
For this particular trip the bus is genuinely fine — 28 departures a day is a lot of freedom, and in Santa Pola parking is free everywhere but full in August. A car starts to earn its keep when you want to leave this one axis — the coves under the cape, Torrevieja, the inland villages — or if you are travelling with children and luggage.
Line, operator, stops, journey times, the number of departures per day type and the night buses all come from Vectalia Elx Rodalia, line 255, checked on 22 August 2026. The fare is not published here because the operator does not give it on that page. That the marina and the fishing port are two different places comes from living here. Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you book through them we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it changes nothing above — including the part where we tell you the bus is fine.