Arriving at an unfamiliar airport is always a little nerve-wracking: it is not obvious where to go after landing, where to find your driver, or what to do if they are not there right away. Alicante Airport (officially Aeropuerto de Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, code ALC) is actually much simpler than it looks — it is a compact airport with a single terminal building, and getting lost in it is almost impossible. Here is a step-by-step look at how it works and exactly where your driver will be waiting.
How the airport is laid out
Unlike major hubs such as Madrid or Barcelona, Alicante does not split traffic between “Terminal 1” and “Terminal 2” — there is only one building, and every flight, arriving or departing, passes through it. That makes things much simpler: no terminal number to double-check, no shuttle ride between buildings, and no hunting for the right entrance across a multi-level car park.
After landing, passengers walk through the gallery (sometimes via a jet bridge, sometimes by bus across the apron if the aircraft parks further from the building) and arrive on the ground floor — that is where baggage claim is located. This is the key point of orientation: almost the entire route from the aircraft to the exit is marked with signs reading Llegadas / Arrivals. It is hard to lose your way — there is really only one corridor, with barely any forks along it.
The arrivals area on the ground floor has the usual set of amenities: currency exchange offices, a couple of cafés and kiosks, restrooms, car rental counters, and vending machines with local SIM cards. Nothing fancy — do not expect a wide selection — but everything you need while waiting for your suitcase or making your way to the exit is there.
Where your driver will meet you
Once you have collected your luggage and passed through the green channel (there is usually nothing to declare — like at most Spanish airports, checks at Alicante are random and rarely slow passengers down), you step into the general arrivals hall. This is exactly where drivers wait, right past the exit from baggage claim — it is the only place where standing with a name sign is allowed; beyond that point, back toward the carousels themselves, access is restricted to passengers.
Our driver will be waiting there with a sign showing your name — usually closer to the right side of the hall, though it is easiest to confirm the exact spot in messages before your flight. They already know your flight number and track it in real time, so if your flight is delayed, the pickup time shifts automatically at no extra cost — no need to pay extra or let us know separately, we will already be aware. For more on the route itself and the fares, see the Alicante–Calpe transfer page.
If you cannot find each other
Even with a sign and a precise arrival time, it can happen that a passenger and driver do not spot each other straight away — the arrivals hall gets fairly crowded at peak hours (usually evenings, when several flights from the UK and Scandinavia land close together). If you do not see your sign a couple of minutes after leaving baggage claim, do not head for the car park and do not jump into the first taxi you see. Just message or call the number you were given when your booking was confirmed: either the driver is already close by and you simply missed each other by a few metres, or they are still on the way because of traffic near the airport, and you will be told exactly how long to wait.
A few practical questions people usually ask before their first trip:
- The flight landed earlier than scheduled. No problem — we track the actual landing time, not the time printed on the ticket, and the driver adjusts automatically.
- The flight was delayed significantly or moved to another day. Also not an issue: message us as soon as you know about the delay, and we will recalculate the pickup time or reschedule the trip.
- Do you need to call ahead to confirm the pickup? There is no need to call specially — giving us the flight number once at booking is enough. But if you would feel better sending a quick “landed, on the way” message, feel free.
You can book a transfer and get exact instructions on where to find your driver on the day of your arrival via WhatsApp or Telegram — we will reply and quote a price within 5-10 minutes. And if you are still weighing up how to get to your hotel, check out the comparison in “Transfer, Taxi, or Bus: What Is Cheapest from Alicante Airport”.
