Deals of the Week: With frills to Madrid, and on to Valencia

A PLANE

The Argentinian airline, Aerolineas Argentinas (020-7494 1001), used to fly a Boeing 747 between Heathrow and Madrid en route to Buenos Aires. It has downsized the aircraft on the UK-Spain link to a DC9 and switched to Gatwick, but it still offers excellent value fares for a with-frills flight to the Spanish capital: £78 return. The one snag is that flights are infrequent: they operate only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

For an instant briefing on how to immerse yourself in culture in the Spanish capital, see 48 Hours in Cultural Madrid in Traveller, with The Independent on Saturday, 18 January.

A TRAIN

Alaris is the name of the high-speed trains on the rail link between Madrid and Valencia. Spain's third-largest city is the only significant Spanish destination with no low-cost flights from the UK – so a good way to reach it is to combine a cheap flight to Madrid with this fast train. It departs from Atocha station in the capital six times a day, takes three-and-a-half hours to Valencia, and costs €36.50 (£24) each way: about one-third the price for a similar distance in Britain. Book online at www.renfe.es.