Tour Arcos (Spain) Full Day, Leave Luggge in Car

We just got back from Spain and rented a car for about 5 days. We too had to leave our luggage in the trunk of the car as we were visiting and were nervous but never had a problem. I would recommend asking for a rental car with an actual trunk - sounds simple but sometimes you get hatchbacks and then you can't even visually hide your "stuff". We were in Arcos - not very long - and Ronda and didn't have any problems. Even left the car with our stuff in trunk in Jerez which is notorious for car thefts, etc. and had no problems. We did bring along a bicycle cable and padlock and locked all of our luggage together in the trunk and looped it through something in the trunk so that if they did try to steal luggage they would at least need something to cut through the cable to get them out. Turns out we didn't need it but gave us some peace of mind

Thanks, Mary. Sometime last year, I read a post that when you visiting Arcos, it's best to the first parking lot you see as soon as you enter Arcos and just take a cab to the town as it's very hard to drive up to the town and to go out. What did you do?

Cheryl:
Mary Lewis told you much of what I was going to (smile). We used the bike lock, cable and had the rent-a-car, specified a trunk, got the hatch back etc.
My husband and I spent 7 weeks in Spain, by car and a plane or two. We included Portugal, Africa, France and The Baleric and The Canary Islands to round out our travels and were gone for 2.5 months in all.
Arcos is delightful. We had a truly wonderful stay at the Parador De Arcos de la Frontera. The Paradors are run by the government. You should look into trying to stay in one if you haven't already. For diner we went with the Chef's menu. Pricy but memorable. The drive was great and the countryside was lovely. We enjoyed Jerez and had excellent times at Tio Pepe, Sandeman and a bunch of other Sherry "houses". The plazas are lovely. I could go on and on but won't.
Hope this helps. I caution you to try and get two sets of car keys. My husband lost our car keys and..that's another travel tale.
Enjoy!

Cheryl - we actually spent most of our time in the Pueblos Blancos in Ronda - not Arcos. We kind of did a drive-through through Arcos - it looked O.K. but maybe not as interesting as Ronda (I really shouldn't say since we didn't stop)As Oaktown Traveler notes - you should try to stay in the Paradors. I can't comment on the one in Arcos but we stayed at the one in Ronda and absolutely loved it - had a room on the corner overlooking valley and gorge. Believe it or not we also found a lot of great shopping in Ronda (and we are not shoppers). Enough of my plug for Ronda. We also stayed at the Parador in Granada and Cazorla - both great!

Thanks, Mary. I have to apologize also, I loveeee shopping! What did you buy and where? We are also staying at the Parador Ronda. We fax our reservation and got a confirmation but was told that they will try to give us a room with a view but they cannot promise. Do you think all the rooms have views? Where did you dine? Did you have your breakfast at the parador? I heard they have good breakfast there. Thanks again.