I've done the search, but I haven't found which bus company serves the route from Madrid to Malaga (or Benalmadena). We need to travel in July, so we may discover that flights are too expensive. Does anyone know which company to check?

Here is a link to ALSA which goes from Madrid to Malaga. It takes about 6 hours and costs about 20 Euros.

ALSA.ES

I've done this route (Madrid<->Málaga) on Alsa but it was about 8 years ago now. There was a 20-minute stop at about the midway point at a kind of truck-stop/bus-stop/tourist-stop at a place with a bar, restaurant, and snack-shop as well as restrooms. I couldn't bring myself to try going to the restoom in the broom-closet-sized bathroom on the bus. The bus, as I recall, was quite modern, comfortable, and they offered up a movie on the monitors - if you understood Spanish.

July will be HOT but the bus will be quite nicely air conditioned. Still, the sun shining through the big windows can be somewhat uncomfortable if you can't reach the curtain to shade yourself.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks, Arturo and MM!

I was just checking air fares and Air Europa has some low fares from Madrid to Malaga. Only 45 Euros in July. This is a pretty low air fare for July. It is cheaper than taking the train.