1. ARRIVAL TO CAMP

A) Location – Training week is El Puerto de Santa Maria

All our staff, no matter what camp you are working in, will have training week in our base camp, TECS Camp Puerto, in El Puerto de Santa Maria in the south of Spain.

Andalusia is well connected to the rest of the world and it is easy to get to El Puerto de Santa Maria once you’re in Spain. There are several major airports (Jerez de la Frontera, Seville, Malaga) in the area of El Puerto if you are coming from somewhere outside of Spain, and even Madrid airport is connected by a direct train. Have a look below of very useful information about booking any transport to and also from camp:

TECS Land Wales

Teachers in TECS land wales will need to make their own way to Swansea where we will pick them up and bring them to the house.

The TECS Land monitor and director however will need to make their way to El Puerto de Santa Maria as normal as their training will take place there. We will organise and pay their travel to Wales.

 

B) Arrival date + Time

Date: The date of arrival is written on your contract offer. Please make sure you have this clear and if not check with us.

Time of Arrival:

Although you can book your flight or train for whatever time, we will only be collecting people and accepting staff into the building during certain times:

  • Managers: 15:00 – 20:00 (Welcome dinner at 20:00)
  • Camp Support + Drivers: 10:00 – 13:00
  • Everybody else: 15:00 – 22:00

This means that any staff whose flight/train/etc arrives in before those times will need to wait until our collections begin during those times. If you need to arrive after the stated times, please check with us first to make sure that we can collect you.

 

Collection

As long as it is organised with us in advance we can collect staff from the following locations:

  • Train station in El Puerto de Santa Maria (buses also arrive here)
  • Airport in Jerez de la Frontera.

If you are arriving elsewhere then you should make your way to one of those two locations where our camp drivers will be there to collect you wearing their green TECS polos. Before your arrival in May/June we will ask you to choose a pick up time from one of these locations, eg) if your train arrives in at 16:15, you would pick the next available pick up time. Pickups will only take place between the times stated above.

 

Airports

Jerez de la Frontera is the airport that is closest to El Puerto de Santa Maria, and one of the places that our drivers can go to collect staff when they arrive. However, it is a small airport and only has flights from limited locations which you can see here. Often this can be a popular option for people to do Dublin – Stansted – Jerez de la Frontera.

Seville Airport is the next closest airport and is a bit bigger. It is very easy to get to El Puerto de Santa Maria from Seville airport as there are regular buses that take you from outside the airport (just go outside, turn left, and look for the EMT bus) to Santa Justa train station. From here you can take a direct train to El Puerto de Santa Maria which will only cost around €18 one-way and will take 1 hour 15 mins (check out Renfe link below).

Malaga Airport is the biggest airport in the province of Andalucia and has many flights each day to many cities and countries around the world. Malaga is a little bit further away as you will need to:

  1. Get train from Malaga airport to Malaga Maria Zambrano (8 minutes and leave very regularly)
  2. Get train from Malaga Maria Zambrano to Seville
  3. Then get a train to El Puerto de Santa Maria.

Madrid Airport (Barajas) is obviously one of the biggest in the entire country, and even though it is geographically a good distance away from El Puerto de Santa Maria is a very viable option as there are many very economical flights from all over the world that arrive into here. From Madrid airport it is just a €5 bus ride (EMT) or a trip on the metro to get to the Madrid Atocha train station where one can book a direct train to El Puerto de Santa Maria. The train can sometimes go up to €80 one way so going by bus can also be a cheap alternative.

2. RETURNING FROM CAMP

 

All camps have an end of camp staff dinner and part on the last Saturday night, so we highly recommend staff to stay for this night as this is a special evening that we put on for all of our staff to thank them for all of the hard work over the summer. Staff are permitted to stay on camp that night but must leave before 12:00 the next day.

Family Camp Puerto/TECS College:

Staff in this camp are already in the town of El Puerto de Santa Maria. Staff will be required to leave site by 12:00 the next day so book travel accordingly.

Magic Village/Little Village:

We will usually have a bus that leaves the camps between 12:00-13:00 meaning that this bus can drop staff off in either the train station in El Puerto de Santa Maria or the airport in Jerez de la Frontera at some time between 14:00-16:00 (time unknown until the end of the summer). This means that staff should make sure to have any buses, trains or flights planned for either late in the evening or the next day.

Family Camp Gredos/Anglo Camp Salamanca:

The bus that leaves this camp will usually leave between 11:00-13:00 sometime meaning that it won’t reach El Puerto de Santa Maria or Jerez de la Frontera until 17:00-20:00 as it is very long journey! For staff wishing to go to Madrid after camp it might be possible for them to be dropped off in either Salamanca (Anglo Camp Only) or Talavera de la Reina where they can get a train or bus to Madrid but the exact times and possibilities of this will only be known during the summer and so staff might think about not booking flights back until camp begins.

Useful Links:

  • Aena: To see the flights that operate to any airport in Spain. Select the airport you wish to see the connections for in “choose an aiport”.
  • Renfe: national train connections (note it isnt for local routes). Note that El Puerto de Santa Maria may be listed under “P” rather than “E”.
  • Cercanias: Local Train Connections, this is for when you are getting a train from somewhere in the province of Cadiz to El Puerto de Santa Maria.
  • Local Transport in El Puerto de Santa: this link is only in Spanish but it has useful links to buses (local and in the province), ferries as well as info on the local airports.
  • TECS (Family Camp) Location: find us on google maps in case we are not collecting you and you want to arrive directly yourself. We are TECS, Ctra. Fuentebravia Km.1, El Puerto de Santa maria, 11500 Cadiz. You can also ask around the town by asking for the schools name “El Centro Ingles”.
  • Buses: http://www.tgcomes.es/
  • Skyscanner: a userful website that will let you choose a from and to destination and will compare lots of different flight companies to find the cheapest option.