Research by Which? Travel found the cheapest Spanish city to fly to from London was Santiago de Compostela, at an average of £98 return. Since then Ryanair has said it is shutting its base there and cutting its Santiago flights by 38 per cent.
Which? worked from Skyscanner fares for return economy flights booked from London in 2023, across all airlines and 20 Spanish airports. Santiago, the end point of the Camino de Santiago pilgrim route, came in at nearly half the price of Tenerife, the dearest destination on the list.
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What the big resorts cost
Barcelona was the cheapest of the popular holiday cities, with returns averaging £108. Which? put Malaga at £115, Alicante at £134, Gran Canaria at £169 and Ibiza at £173.
The month matters too. Which? found Gran Canaria £222 cheaper in January than in August. Girona, the airport for the Costa Brava, averaged £30 return in February. Christmas pushes fares up. A Coruña averaged £60 in November and £265 in December, and Ibiza went from £99 in February to £291 in December.
Those averages leave out luggage and seat choice. Which? notes that easyJet and Ryanair charge extra for a cabin bag in the overhead locker. At Easter it found British Airways and Jet2 could work out cheaper on some routes once extras were added.
What Ryanair cut, and why
In September 2025 Ryanair said it would remove one million seats to and from Spain over the winter. Euronews reported the split as 400,000 seats in the Canary Islands, a 10 per cent cut, and 600,000 in regional Spain, a 41 per cent cut.
The airline blamed Aena, the operator of Spain’s main airports, which plans a 6.6 per cent rise in airline fees from 2026. Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, said the capacity would move to airports in countries including Italy, Morocco and Croatia.
The cuts fall hardest on smaller airports. Ryanair is shutting its two-aircraft base in Santiago and dropping Tenerife North from the start of winter. Vigo loses its Ryanair flights from 1 January, and Zaragoza faces a 45 per cent cut. The airline said it would keep growing at Madrid and Barcelona.
Euronews warned that fewer seats could make Spain dearer to reach, particularly its remoter regions. Which?’s averages predate the cuts, so the Santiago figure is a guide to 2023 prices, not today’s.
The view from America
Madrid also ranks well for travellers flying from the United States. Dollar Flight Club put it second on its 2026 list of cheap international destinations, at an average of about $438, according to Travel + Leisure. The club weighs how often deals appear as well as the lowest fare. It names Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays as the best days to find cheaper off-peak flights.
