Aggregator sites quote this journey in dollars and describe it as a shuttle. It is neither: the bus up to Sierra Nevada is an ordinary public service with a fare set inside the same zonal system that covers the rest of the province.
The bus from Granada to Sierra Nevada is a public Consorcio line that leaves the city bus station and ends at Pradollano. What trips people up is that the line does not keep the same code all year.
How do you get from Granada to Sierra Nevada without a car? By public Consorcio bus, €5 a single and €9 a return. Departures leave Granada bus station at 8am, 10am and 5pm daily, with a fourth at 3pm at weekends and on public holidays, and reach Pradollano in about an hour. The Consorcio transport card is not accepted.
A public line with a fixed fare, not a tour
A single costs €5 and a return bought together costs €9, so the round trip saves €1 against buying two singles. The fare sits inside the Consorcio zone system, which runs A, B, C, D and an external band, rather than being priced against demand.
Autotransportes Tocina operates the service under the Consorcio, which is why searches often surface a private coach company and a public transport authority for what is one and the same bus. Departures leave from the Granada bus station with a single intermediate stop at the Palacio de Congresos.
Four departures a day is the whole service, and only 3 of them run daily:
- 8am. Every day, and the only one that leaves a full day on the mountain.
- 10am. Every day.
- 3pm. Weekends and public holidays only.
- 5pm. Every day, and too late for anything but an overnight stay.
The line changes its code with the season
Two separate line references cover the same road. The winter service is listed as SNI, under the name Granada y Sierra Nevada-Invierno, and the summer one as SNV, Granada y Sierra Nevada-Verano, according to the Consorcio de Transporte.
That rotation is the reason so many published timetables disagree. A schedule found out of season belongs to the service that is not currently running, so the first check is which of the two codes is active rather than which website looks more recent.
Both share their endpoints. Each leaves the Granada bus station, calls at the Palacio de Congresos and terminates at Pradollano, the built-up core of the resort, about an hour after setting off.
The transport card does not work, and the line is not adapted
The exception that catches out anyone holding a Consorcio card is written into the line sheet: the card cannot be used to travel on this service, even though the Consorcio runs it. The fare is paid separately from every other title valid across the metropolitan area.
Urban passes do not help either. The 9 city bus journeys bundled into the Granada Card cover the municipal network rather than the climb, so neither card removes the €5 fare.
One more line on the same sheet matters for planning: the service is not adapted for passengers with reduced mobility according to the Consorcio de Transporte Metropolitano del Área de Granada. Confirmation of alternatives belongs with the Consorcio rather than with Cetursa Sierra Nevada, which operates the lifts and resort services but not the road access.
Three more trips leave from the same city and share the same weak point. Los Cahorros in Monachil changes bus line by day of the week, the cave quarter of Guadix costs €5 at a single point, and the 13 Blue Flag beaches of the Costa Tropical sit in the same province.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the bus from Granada to Sierra Nevada?
A single costs €5 and a return bought together costs €9, which saves €1 against two singles. The Consorcio transport card is not accepted on this line, so the fare is paid separately from every other title valid across the metropolitan area.
What time does the bus to Sierra Nevada leave Granada?
Departures from the Granada bus station run at 8am, 10am and 5pm every day, with a fourth at 3pm on weekends and public holidays. The Palacio de Congresos stop follows about 15 minutes after each departure from the station.
How long does the bus take from Granada to Sierra Nevada?
About an hour between the Granada bus station and Pradollano, the built-up core of the ski resort. Almost the entire route is mountain road, so the journey time depends far more on conditions on the climb than on city traffic.
Is the Sierra Nevada bus wheelchair accessible?
The Consorcio line sheet states that the line is not adapted for passengers with reduced mobility. Anyone needing an accessible service should confirm alternatives with the Consorcio directly rather than with the ski resort, which runs the lifts but not the road access.
The line is public but the card is not accepted, and its code changes with the season, so check both before the stop.