Car Hire in Los Montesinos, Ciudad Quesada and Almoradí: the Vega Baja Inland Guide (2026)

Most people who look for car hire in Los Montesinos, Ciudad Quesada or Almoradí have already noticed the catch of the inland Vega Baja: the villas, golf courses and weekly markets are lovely, but they are spread across orchards and urbanizaciones that public transport only brushes past. This guide covers that inland belt between Torrevieja and Orihuela, not the coastal strip, and it sticks to things you can check: measured driving distances to Alicante and Murcia airports, the bus lines that actually exist, and what airport pickup or delivery costs.

We are WeOneRent, a local rental company based in Alicante city, so we obviously want you to rent a car, ideally from us. Where another option suits you better, we say so. If you are staying on the coast at La Zenia, Playa Flamenca or Cabo Roig, our Orihuela Costa car hire guide is the better read; this one is for the towns a few kilometres inland.

The inland Vega Baja at a glance

The Vega Baja del Segura is the southern end of Alicante province, the river plain of the Segura before it reaches the sea at Guardamar. Inland from Torrevieja it is a patchwork of citrus groves, old farming towns and large residential developments that are popular with international buyers. The places this guide covers:

• Ciudad Quesada: a large urbanización in the municipality of Rojales, with La Marquesa golf course on its doorstep.
• Rojales and Benijófar: the two older towns right next to Quesada.
• Los Montesinos: a small municipality beside the Natural Park of the La Mata and Torrevieja lagoons.
• Almoradí: a working town of the huerta with a big Saturday market.
• Algorfa: home of the La Finca resort and its golf.
• San Miguel de Salinas and Pilar de la Horadada: the southern edge, where Murcia airport starts to compete with Alicante.

Distances between these places are short. By our routing measurements, Ciudad Quesada is about 8 km from Los Montesinos, about 10 km from Almoradí and about 13 km from Torrevieja. That closeness is exactly why a car pays off: almost every errand is a ten or fifteen minute drive, and very few of them line up with a bus route.

Why a car matters more inland than on the coast

On the coast, buses run along the N-332 and many apartments are a short walk from a beach or a supermarket. Inland, homes sit in urbanizaciones on the edge of each town, and the things you need during a stay, from the big supermarkets and the golf club to Torrevieja hospital and the beaches, are each in a different direction.

The public network exists, but it is built for local journeys, not for visitors with luggage. The interurban operator here, Autocares Costa Azul, publishes its lines online, and several of them cross the inland towns:

• L139 Torrevieja - Elche (via Rojales): stops in Ciudad Quesada, Benijófar, Rojales and San Fulgencio on the way to Elche.
• L637 Almoradí - Torrevieja: runs through Daya Nueva, Daya Vieja, San Fulgencio, Rojales, Benijófar and Ciudad Quesada to Torrevieja bus station and the hospital.
• L639 San Miguel de Salinas - Alicante: calls at Los Montesinos, Benijófar, Almoradí, Dolores and Catral before Alicante bus station.
• L40 Torrevieja - Airport: the airport line, which runs from Torrevieja bus station straight to Alicante-Elche airport, with no stops in the inland towns.

So from Ciudad Quesada, Los Montesinos or Almoradí, reaching the airport by bus means at least one connection, in Torrevieja or in Alicante city. Timetables change with the season, so if you plan to use any of these lines, check the current times on the operator's website or app before you travel rather than trusting an old forum post. For a stay of a week or more, most visitors find a car cheaper and far less stressful than stitching together buses and taxis.

Distances from Alicante and Murcia airports

The figures below were measured with an open routing engine on OpenStreetMap data, from the terminal area of each airport to the centre of each town, then rounded. They assume normal traffic. Summer weekends and the evening rush around Elche and Torrevieja add time, so treat them as a minimum rather than a promise.

The pattern is simple. For Almoradí, Algorfa, Rojales, Benijófar and Ciudad Quesada, Alicante airport is clearly the closer one. Los Montesinos and San Miguel de Salinas sit roughly halfway between the two, and for Pilar de la Horadada the Murcia terminal is the shorter drive by a wide margin.

Alicante or Murcia airport: which one to fly into

Distance is only half of the decision. Alicante-Elche is a far bigger airport with many more routes, so it usually wins on flight choice and fares. Región de Murcia International Airport (RMU) is much smaller, and for the southern towns the shorter drive is a real advantage at the end of a long travel day.

For car hire there is a second question: who will hand you the keys. We meet customers at Alicante airport every day, while a handover at Murcia airport is on request only, so message us before you book flights if RMU is your plan. Our Murcia airport page and the longer Murcia airport car hire guide explain how renting at RMU works and what to check.

• Staying in Almoradí, Algorfa, Rojales, Benijófar or Ciudad Quesada: fly to Alicante.
• Staying in Los Montesinos or San Miguel de Salinas: choose on flight price and timing; the drive is similar either way.
• Staying in Pilar de la Horadada: Murcia is closer, but confirm your pickup option there before you book.

Pick up at the airport or get the car delivered?

There are three realistic ways to start a rental in the inland Vega Baja, and the right one depends mostly on your arrival time.

Collect the car at Alicante airport

This is the cheapest way to start with us. We meet you on the departures level, the top floor of the terminal, at the express parking opposite Starbucks. The handover is free between 09:00 and 20:00 every day; outside those hours there is a 50 EUR charge per handover, counted separately for pickup and return. There is no rental desk and no queue, and you drive the 40 to 45 minutes to Quesada or Los Montesinos in your own car instead of waiting for a connection. The Alicante airport page has the walking route from arrivals.

Delivery to your villa or apartment

If you arrive by transfer or want the car only from the second day, we can bring it to your address. Delivery within Alicante city is free in working hours. For other Costa Blanca towns there is a delivery fee per trip, in a published range of 60 to 120 EUR each way depending on distance, and the booking widget shows the exact amount for your address before you pay. A delivered car also has to be collected at the end, so budget for both legs. The town pages for car hire in Ciudad Quesada, Torrevieja and Guardamar show live prices for those areas.

Transfer first, car later

Some long-stay visitors take a transfer to the villa and only rent for part of the stay. That can make sense, but price the transfer honestly against an airport pickup, which is free in working hours, or against two delivery legs.

Town by town: what a car opens up

Ciudad Quesada and Rojales

Ciudad Quesada is the big residential area of the municipality of Rojales, and car rental in Quesada is mostly about daily logistics: the weekly shop, golf, and the beaches at Guardamar, about 9 km away by our routing, or La Mata. Rojales old town deserves an unhurried morning. The regional tourism board highlights its group of water works on the Segura from the 16th to 18th centuries, including a weir, a water wheel and a stone bridge, and the Cuevas del Rodeo, homes dug into the rock between the 18th and 20th centuries that now hold workshops, exhibitions and a museum. The municipal archaeology and palaeontology museum displays Miocene fossils. Rojales also holds a Fiesta de las Naciones, a good sign of how international the area has become. If you are comparing car rental in Rojales, delivery and airport pickup work exactly as they do for Quesada.

Los Montesinos

Los Montesinos sits beside the Natural Park of the La Mata and Torrevieja lagoons. The town's Ruta Salada is a 3.5 km circular walk from the centre through fields to the edge of the wetlands, and the birds listed by the tourism board include flamingos, stilts and stone-curlews. Friday is market day. For Los Montesinos car hire the practical point is position: Torrevieja is about 10 km away, Ciudad Quesada about 8 km and Zenia Boulevard about 14 km, so a car turns a quiet inland base into a central one.

Almoradí

Almoradí is a working town of the huerta, and its Saturday market is the reason many people drive in from the coast. According to the town's own tourism office, it fills the streets around the Plaza de la Constitución for more than a kilometre, with fruit and vegetables, plants and flowers, crafts, clothes and shoes. Arrive early if you want to park close. For car hire in Almoradí, Alicante airport is about 45 km away, and the town is also your gateway west to Orihuela, about 15 km away by road.

Benijófar and Algorfa

Benijófar sits between Quesada and Rojales and is served by several of the bus lines listed above, yet everyday life there is still much easier with a car. Algorfa, about 10 km west of Quesada, is home to the La Finca resort, which makes it a natural base for a golf week.

San Miguel de Salinas and Pilar de la Horadada

San Miguel de Salinas lies close to the Torrevieja salt lake. The ruined Molino del Marqués, a cylindrical stone windmill on high ground, gives wide views over the area, and there are cave houses dug at the end of the 18th and the start of the 19th century. Car rental in San Miguel de Salinas mostly serves golfers and residents heading to Orihuela Costa, about 10 km away, or Torrevieja, about 11 km.

Pilar de la Horadada is really a coastal municipality close to the Murcia border, with fine-sand beaches such as Las Higuericas and Los Jesuitas and a watchtower built against pirate raids that is now a protected monument. Inland it has the Río Seco natural area for family walks. Car hire in Pilar de la Horadada is the one case in this guide where Murcia airport is the clearly shorter drive.

Golf from an inland base

Golf is one of the main reasons visitors base themselves inland here, and the courses are close enough to play a different one each day.

• La Marquesa Golf, Rojales: an 18-hole course founded in 1989 as the Quesada Golf Club, with a hole modelled on the famous 17th at Sawgrass. It sits right by Ciudad Quesada.
• La Finca, Algorfa: a golf resort about 10 to 15 minutes by car from Quesada.
• Vistabella Golf, Jacarilla: on the CV-945, roughly 20 to 30 minutes from Quesada.
• The Orihuela Costa courses: Villamartín, Las Ramblas, Campoamor and Las Colinas are around 20 to 30 minutes towards the coast.

Our full guide to golf on the Costa Blanca compares the courses, green fees and booking tips. Two practical points for drivers: tee times are early, which is one more reason not to depend on buses, and clubs take space. Our fleet is economy and compact hatchbacks plus one SUV, so if two players travel with full bags, check boot space when you choose the car on our cars page, or simply ask us before booking.

Long stays: residents, overwinterers and second-home owners

Long stays are common in this part of the province: owners spending the winter in their villa, families visiting parents who have retired here, and residents whose own car is off the road for repairs. For them, the maths of car hire changes.

• Rental length: our minimum is 3 days, and longer rentals get monthly packages that the booking widget applies automatically, so you see the real total for the whole period.
• Deposit and cards: with our Zero Deposit cover the deposit is 0 EUR; the cheaper cover tiers carry a refundable deposit that is shown before you pay. Debit cards are accepted.
• Delivery spread over weeks: a one-off delivery fee to Quesada or Los Montesinos weighs far less on a two-month rental than on a long weekend.
• Mileage: if you plan long drives, read the included mileage in our rental terms before you book.

There is one legal point that catches out new residents rather than tourists. According to the DGT, Spain's traffic authority, licences issued in EU and EEA countries remain valid in Spain while they are in date. Licences from outside the EU and EEA, which since Brexit includes UK licences, are valid only for six months after you acquire normal residence in Spain; after that you must exchange the licence, where an agreement exists, or obtain a Spanish one. Check the DGT page on driving with a foreign licence if your situation has changed. Visitors on holiday are not affected.

For the numbers behind monthly rental, read our guides to long-term car rental in Alicante and monthly car rental on the Costa Blanca. If you are weighing renting against a subscription, the subscription versus long-term rental comparison sets out the differences.

Driving in the inland Vega Baja: roads, tolls and parking

From Alicante airport, sat-navs usually send you along the A-70 and then south on the AP-7. Know one thing about that motorway: the AP-7 between Alicante and Cartagena is a toll road run under concession. The Ministry of Transport raised its tariffs by 4.68 percent for 2026, and lists it among the motorways with discounts for regular users or reduced rates at certain times. Whether a particular trip is charged depends on where you join and leave the motorway, so check the route summary in your navigation app before you set off. If you would rather avoid tolls altogether, set the app to avoid them; it will use the N-332 near the coast or the free A-7 inland, which can take a little longer. Our AP-7 tolls guide explains the wider picture.

Our routing engine also sends some short local trips, such as Quesada to Almoradí or Algorfa, along a stretch of the AP-7, so the same quick look at the route summary is worth it on daily errands too. Around Torrevieja, the CV-905 is the main road linking the town with Los Montesinos and the Quesada area.

• Rural lanes: the roads between the orchards are often narrow, with irrigation ditches alongside and farm vehicles at harvest time. Take them slowly, especially after dark.
• Roundabouts: the towns are linked by chains of them, so a route that looks short on the map can take longer than you expect.
• Market days: Almoradí on Saturday and Los Montesinos on Friday fill the streets around the market early, so park a few blocks away and walk.
• Speed cameras: our guide to speed cameras, low emission zones and towing in Alicante covers fixed and mobile radars and how fines on a rental car are handled, useful before your first drive into the city.

What we offer in the Vega Baja, and where others fit better

We are a small local company with around 14 economy and compact cars: the Opel Astra, Peugeot 208 and Peugeot 308, the Hyundai Ioniq and Lexus CT200h hybrids, and one SUV, the VW Tiguan. They are modern, reliable cars for everyday driving, not a showroom. Our Google rating stands at 5.0 from 127 reviews.

• Free airport meeting at Alicante, 09:00 to 20:00, and delivery to the Vega Baja towns for a fee shown before you pay.
• 0 EUR deposit with Zero Deposit cover; other tiers are explained on the insurance page.
• Debit cards accepted and a full-to-full fuel policy.
• An additional driver costs 6 EUR per day, and child seats start at 36 EUR per rental.
• Support around the clock by phone and WhatsApp on +34 607 442 437.

Where others fit better, we say it plainly. We do not offer one-way rentals to other regions of Spain, vans or seven-seaters, and we cannot guarantee a specific model outside our list. If you need a people carrier for a large family, or you want to drop the car in Madrid or Málaga, a big international chain at the airport is the right choice. Answers to the most common questions are in the help centre.

FAQ: car hire in Los Montesinos, Quesada and Almoradí

Is there a car hire office in Los Montesinos?

We do not run an office there. We meet you at Alicante airport free of charge between 09:00 and 20:00, or deliver the car to your address in Los Montesinos for a delivery fee that the widget shows before you pay.

How far is Ciudad Quesada from Alicante airport?

About 50 km by road, which takes around 40 minutes in normal traffic, mostly on the A-70 and the AP-7. Allow more on summer weekends and at the evening rush.

Can I get a hire car delivered to Ciudad Quesada or Rojales?

Yes. Delivery outside Alicante city is charged per trip, within a published range of 60 to 120 EUR each way across the Costa Blanca, and the exact amount for your address appears in the booking widget. Collection at the end of the rental is a second trip.

Is there a bus from Alicante airport to Ciudad Quesada or Almoradí?

Not directly. The Costa Azul airport line L40 runs from the airport to Torrevieja bus station without intermediate stops; from there, lines such as the L139 and L637 continue to Quesada, Benijófar, Rojales and Almoradí. Almoradí, Los Montesinos and San Miguel de Salinas also have the L639 from Alicante bus station. Check current timetables with the operator before relying on them.

Should I fly to Murcia or Alicante for Pilar de la Horadada or San Miguel de Salinas?

For Pilar de la Horadada, Murcia airport is about 40 km away against about 75 km from Alicante. For San Miguel de Salinas the two are close to equal. Alicante usually has more flights and is where we meet customers every day; a handover at Murcia airport is on request.

Can I rent a car for a month in Quesada or Almoradí?

Yes. Rentals start at 3 days, and longer bookings get monthly packages automatically in the widget. Debit cards are accepted, and with Zero Deposit cover there is no deposit at all, which matters on a long stay.

Ready to see real numbers for your dates? Check live prices and availability on weonerent.es, where the total, cover options and any delivery fee for Ciudad Quesada, Los Montesinos or Almoradí are shown before you pay. If you are staying nearer the coast, the Orihuela Costa page is the place to start.

Related guides

• Car Hire in Orihuela Costa: La Zenia, Playa Flamenca and Cabo Roig
• Car Hire in Torrevieja and La Mata
• Murcia Airport Car Hire Guide