I've not stayed at either of these properties, but I have tried to negotiate around Toledo with a car and that should definitely be a major factor in your decision. Toledo is not a very big city, but just be prepared that anywhere and anything you do will involve walking either up or down a hill. It just can't be helped. However, while having a car, you must factor in parking and ease of getting in and out of a hotel.

Therefore, if I had to choose between these two properties, I would choose Casona de la Reyna for a couple of reasons. It is on the perimeter. That makes it easier to park your car, load/unload luggage. Getting a hotel in the middle of Toledo with a car means you must find parking in a car park on the perimeter and then walk to the hotel. This can be okay, but it also means you must arrive in Toledo very early in the morning, as the car parks do fill up rather quickly.

Also, getting into and out of Toledo can be confusing even if your hotel is outside of the city. (We stayed at the Parador) We saw many nice hotels along the perimeter of the city that allowed for parking and easy enough access to the city and still would have made for an easy exit driving-wise.

You might not have a restaurant right outside the front door of your hotel. But there will probably be one not far from it. As I said, Toledo is not all that big.

I didn't see the El Transito Synagogue when I was there, but when I brought it up on viamichelin.com, it appeared to be much closer to Casona de la Reyna than to Hotel Abad. You can try mapping this out yourself and see what you get.

Toledo is a beautiful city and I doubt you will be disappointed! We loved it and wished we had more than one day!

Driving time between Toledo and Seville is quite long, but it depends on the individual. We did a 2 week road trip through Spain (there is a trip report out here - we just returned in Oct), and one of the rules I had was to not drive longer than 3 hours to avoid road fatigue.

There are basically two routes you can take between Toledo and Seville, and they are both approximately 6+ hours long, so my personal recommendation would be to break the trip up. The first route would be to go through Extremadura (Cáceres or Mérida). The second route would be to go through Cordoba. Of course, the route you choose and the length of driving is completely up to you.

Sorry, don't know anything about the Festival in Toledo, but if it involves the Cathedral, you should be in for a treat. It was our favorite of all the ones we saw in Spain - and that includes the Catedral de Seville!

As to beds? It's sort of like anywhere else you go. It varies. Some beds were rock hard, others were like heaven, some were bargain basement. A lot of the time we were so exhausted from sightseeing, we just collapsed and didn't noticed.

Enjoy! I know you will have a great time. Spain is a fabulous country with so many different "faces" to her!

We stayed at Casona de la Reyna in April of this year and found it to be a very nice hotel, perfectly located in a quiet street and, most important to us, it has a garage with direct access by elevator to the hotel! In my experience, nowadays, most hotels have good, firm beds and Casona de la Reyna is no exception.

It is not difficult at all to walk to the various sites, they are all very near, but you do have to go up a short, steep street. As for restaurants, there are none next to the hotel, but everything is so near that it’s not a problem. You do need at least one full day to see the mayor sights, there is so much to see!

I hope this helps. Have a nice trip!