Six days. Five overnight stays in five cities in Spain. Lunch in Paris. Stopover in Barcelona. Then Córdoba, Seville, Granada and Málaga. An Andalusia Whirlwind Tour where we visit the Mezquita and the Alhambra. We’re touring Andalusia in October 2023 to follow the trend of travelling to hot spots outside summer, as we did with Italy in 2022.

As unfortunately we only had limited time off of work (the main reason this tour became such a whirlwind) we decided to fly back home instead of travelling back by train.

Originally we were planning on flying back from Seville but flight prices sky rocketed on departure from Seville. Luckily Timothy spotted Málaga on the map, adding an extra stop on the itinerary and a cheaper city to fly back home from. When browsing through the different options of flights back home to Brussels we also stumbled on TUIfly’s almost daily (every day except for Monday) flights between Málaga and Antwerp, our tiny little hometown airport. It of course was a no-brainer to book this flight as it fit our schedule perfectly.

We left the hotel a tad early as even though we had a late check-out housekeeping came knocking on our door and we felt it might be better to head to the airport as we were ready to go anyway.

The trip to the airport was pretty smooth and fast forward, only 3 stops from Malaga main station on the C-1 Cercanias line from Málaga to Fuengirola. We arrived in the bowels of the airport and took some stairs in the open air to climb up to departures level. The airport building in Málaga consists of two distinctive buildings, the smaller and older 1990’s era ‘Andalusian’ style old terminal with gates B and C and the newer style main terminal which hovers sort as an umbrella over the entire site with the gates D.

While our check-in desks where located in the new part of the terminal we did first stroll around as the check-in wasn’t opened yet upon arrival.

It was clear that most of the action happened in the new part as the old part was rather quiet and deserted. After a while our check-in desks opened and we were amongst the first in line for check-in.

We quickly handed over our bags, received our boarding passes and passed through security which went quite fast and efficient despite the amount of people going through.

Once airside we strolled around the terminal and grabbed a bite to eat with a view over the tarmac while waiting for our gate number to display. Soon we saw that our flight would be boarding from gate D54 at the far end of the terminal. While we were expecting to be bussed to a remote stand as we were flying a small Embraer E195-E2, the plane was parked connecting to a boarding bridge right at the end of the terminal building.

Flight TB1004
From Málaga (AGP) 17:00 (17:21) to Antwerp (ANR) 20:05 (20:00)
Flight time 2 hours and 40 minutes
Embraer E195-E2 OO-ETC ‘Wallonia‘
Delivered to Belavia in May 2021, flying for TUIfly since July 2023

Boarding started with people needing assistance, quickly followed by the VIP selection customers and the rest of us. As we had booked the addition of the Fly Deluxe package we were assigned seats in the front part of the plane. First I ended up on 2F and Timothy on 3D, but during the flight we were able to move to the free 3AC to sit together.

Fly Deluxe gives you the option of reserving seats in advance, and while I did that the site did give me an error message end apparently the reservation didn’t go through, causing us to receive separate seats. The main reason we booked Fly Deluxe was that we would be bringing a bag to check, and the difference between just the price of the bag and the full Fly Deluxe package wasn’t exorbitant so we just chose the option to pamper ourselves.

The seating on-board the Embraer was in a 2-2 configuration with slim line seats. Despite the legroom looking quite tight, it was actually very bearable for the almost 3 hours back to Antwerp.

The seats were also equipped with 2 power outlets between the seats, one for each passenger. Something we don’t often see on low-cost and leisure carriers.

Boarding finished quickly and afterwards the captain did his welcome announcement and brought us the bad news that we would be slightly delayed departing Málaga as there was a lack of ground staff to load the plane. In the end we departed about 20 minutes late, but we made up time on the way as we landed 5 minutes early.

The engine had a deep whale sound when spooling up for departure and where noticeably quieter than the older generation engines found on other aircraft. The climb out provided us with a last scenic view over the coast of the Costa del Sol and the beautiful beaches before tuning north over the Mediterranean Sea to fly us to Belgium.

After take-off the purser started the Fly Deluxe service with a bag of olive crackers and a glass of champagne as an aperitif, while here two colleagues started the buy on board service for the main cabin.

A bit later as the cabin was being filled with the smell of freshly baked bread the purser first handed out some paper wrappings containing the metal cutlery (nicely engraved with the TUI logo).

Subsequently we received a tray with our light dinner. This consisted of a pasta salad, a main of vitello tomato and a fruity cream dish for dessert. The candy looking wrapped thing on the tray was not a candy but in fact a roll of butter.

The crew also came around with freshly baked warm bread and later during the meal came offering seconds, a very nice touch! Along with the meal we were offered drinks, I selected a nice white wine while Timothy went for his all-time favourite, water.

After the meal when the crew came around to clear the trays we were offered a coffee or a tea. Peculiar was that while there was cup on the tray, they only used it to serve coffee while my tea was served in a cardboard cup. The tea was nice and the fact you got your own teabag allowed you to determine your own strength.

Later during the flight the crew handed out some chocolate bites and a second drinks service. If ever you felt like having an extra drink this was also no problem whatsoever as the crew was super friendly and service oriented.

They clearly surpassed my expectations for TUIfly or any leisure carrier. I’m not sure if we stumbled onto a good crew or if this is the rule, but I will be able to tell you that after I flew my upcoming flights to the Dominican Republic on TUIfly.

Of course after enjoying all these drinks it was time to visit the toilet. The front toilet was a small cramped affair, wedged in between the entry door and the cockpit. It was however perfectly clean and in good working order.

The tiny galley next door must be a challenging working environment for the crew, but our entirety of food and beverage was able to come out of it.

As soon as the sun started to set we started our descent into Antwerp. Whit the darkness below us it was difficult to assess where exactly we were, but after a while we determined we overflew Dendermonde, turned over Boom to make our final approach over Kontich and Borsbeek into Antwerp Airport.

Antwerp International Airport always requires a firm smack down on the runway before braking very strongly to avoid an overrun of the rather short runway.

As the airport is so tiny, the crew had barely time to finish their arrival announcements before being parked at the stand. After the stairs where parked against the aircraft we were allowed to walk off the aircraft across the apron to the single baggage belt. We had to wait quite a while for our bags to appear as there was only a single ramper working the baggage and of course my bag was the last to come off.

All in all we had an excellent flight with TUIfly and I will for sure consider their flights and especially their Fly Deluxe service for my future trips. What are your experiences with TUIfly, where they just as good or did we luck out with an extremely nice experience? Let us know in the comments below!

2023 Andalusia Whirlwind Tour

1. PRELUDE | Visiting Gibraltar in 2013.
2. REVIEW | Eurostar Amsterdam – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris in 2023.
3. PARIS | Restaurant Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon.
4. REVIEW | SNCF TGV inOui from Paris-Gare-de-Lyon to Barcelona-Sants.
5. REVIEW | Hotel Barcelo Sants.
6. INTERMEZZO | Spain saw a surge of Belgians visiting in the first quarter of 2024.
7. SPAIN | Renfe Sala Club or Club Lounge at Adif stations.
8. REVIEW | Renfe AVE in Premium from Barcelona-Sants to Córdoba.
9. SPAIN | The Mezquita or Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.
10. CÓRDOBA | The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos or Castle of the Christian Monarchs.
11. REVIEW | Hotel Eurostars Palace Córdoba.
12. ANDALUSIA | Half a day in Córdoba.
13. TRAINS IN SPAIN | Iryo in Infinita class from Córdoba to Seville.
14. ANDALUSIA | Real Alcázar of Seville.
15. ANDALUSIA | Seville Cathedral or Catedral de Santa María de la Sede de Sevilla.
16. REVIEW | Hotel Posada del Lucero in Seville.
17. ANDALUSIA | Half a day in Seville ft. Plaza de España and Las Setas or Metropol Parasol.
18. TRAINS IN SPAIN | Renfe Avant regional ‘local’ train on high speed lines.
19. GRANADA | The Alhambra and the Generalife.
20. REVIEW | Hotel Catalonia Granada.
21. ANDALUSIA | Granada on Día de la Hispanidad.
22. INTERMEZZO | Spain demands your personal data before you travel there.
23. ANDALUSIA | Málaga ft. the Alcazaba and the Cathedral.
24. REVIEW | Restaurante Matiz, Málaga.
25. REVIEW | Hotel Barcelo Málaga.