Driving in Spain
 

We are an older couple planning a trip to Spain for spring 2017. We will be arriving off a ship into Barcelona. Have been there a few times before. We will be renting a car & driving to Algarve & making a couple of stops along the way. Planning to drive to Seville for a few days, but after researching we realize how difficult it is to find accommodations with parking. We have found a low budget hostel with parking included, but are rethinking that. As an alternative, considering flying from BCN to Seville & get a taxi to our hotel then picking up the car after our stay in Seville & go on to Algarve. Is that a better plan? Will we be able to pick the car up at the Seville airport without too much of a hassle? We'll then be driving to Ronda for a few days finishing up in Madrid airport for the flight home. Our time frame for this trip is 16 days from arrival in BCN . but we are locked into a 5-7 day period in the middle because we're staying at a timeshare in Portugal.

Have you looked at the cost of a one way rental? It maybe too much, thus you will need to get public transport to Portugal.
How you do that depends on where you leave Spain from. Are you locked into Seville?
The toll roads in Portugal have to be paid in advance with a non Portuguese car. This tells you how. http://www.portugaltolls.com/

Have you also checked how much the drop off is for renting in Spain and dropping off in Portugal.

Be sure to get an International Driver's Permit (IDP). Some rental agencies will ask for it and if you are stopped by the police and do not have one, it could be a problem. Also if you wear glasses, you must carry a second with you while driving.

Thank you for your quick replies. We just booked a car. Had to find a rental company that would allow us to drive from Spain into Portugal (another hurdle) we can work out the details of the rest of our trip now. Any further tips you may have would be appreciated. Thanks

I've never heard of a company that wouldn't allow you to drive from Spain into Portugal. It's normal, as far as I know. What company did you book with, and if it's not too much to ask, what did you pay?

On two occasions we stayed at the Seville Eurostars Regina.
It has parking, which you will have to reserve it when you book.

http://www.eurostarsregina.com/EN/hotel.html


Mark

<i>Driving in Spain
Posted by: golyn on Jul 5, 16 at 12:26pm
We are an older couple planning a trip to Spain for spring 2017. We will be arriving off a ship into Barcelona. Have been there a few times before. We will be renting a car & driving to Algarve</i>

If this is your first driving experience over there see http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap18/auto-1.htm for an illustrated introduction. Road rules are different in Europe. Portugal has some of the craziest drivers anywhere.

Just a note: P and ES are in different time zones.

<i>Just a note: P and ES are in different time zones.</i>

Oops, that should be E for Spain.

Why is there a Captcha on your link Spaarne? it has denied me access to the site. Clearly I missed a picture with grass.

<i>hetismij2 on Jul 6, 16 at 8:34am
Why is there a Captcha on your link Spaarne? it has denied me access to the site. Clearly I missed a picture with grass.</i>

Why? Many nasty organizations have attacked my site with robo hits. Captcha keeps some of them out. Sorry it has inconvenienced you hetismij2. Those things are difficult for a human to decipher, especially on a tiny mobile device. Your IP is now whitelisted so you won't be bothered with the grass, or whatever images the cloud puts up, again.

Thanks Spaarne. I wasn't inconvenienced, just surprised by the captcha that's all. I hadn't realised it was your own site. Sorry, and thanks again.

St. Cirq - I would have heartily agreed with you but earlier this year rented a car in Spain via Hertz. I am a bit of a stickler about reading T&C (don't trust rental companies) and was shocked to read the geographic restrictions on the rental. Not only not allowed out of Spain, but not allowed out of mainland Spain - i.e. no Majorca, etc. I did a quick check of other large rental companies and found it was pretty common. I phoned Hertz to ask about it and was given a different rate for a car that could cross borders. I didn't take it as I didn't need it (and by then we had decided not to go to Majorca) but it certainly was an eye opener.

Thank you all for your information. This trip to Spain has undergone many changes. We succeeded in getting a car from Spain driving to Portugal through Hertz. They reassured us that we can drive it into Portugal. If they give us a problem, we'll go back to Spain (not the worst thing that can happen) Elizabeth, can you tell me what T&C is? Rental agreement? I like to be prepared too.

T&C = Terms & Conditions

if you are renting in Seville and dropping off in Madrid there shouldn't be much if any drop off fee as you are renting and returning in the same country; do you have it in writing that you are allowed to drive into Portugal?

Anyway, that is certainly a much better idea than trying to drive from Barcelona to the algarve which is a long way.

as for accommodation in Seville there are quite a few threads here about the best areas to stay in; as a start you could put your dates and budget into Trip Advisor and see what comes up, then come back here with any of the places that appeal to you.

Driving in Portugal with a Spanish car might cause some inconveniences as it will not be equipped with the 'easypass' transponder required to go through the automatic tolls in the highways.

Not sure about how to avoid this as most toll stations do not have attendants you can pay or lanes where you can stick a card in to pay.