driving in Spain
 

I'm going to Spain for the first time. After spending a few days in Madrid, I want to
visit Andalucia (Seville, Granada and Cordoba). What would be the best way to do this?
I think that the driving would be most flexible. However, I am a bit nervous about driving
there, and I also heard that the parking would be a problem in these cities.
The next option would be to do 4 day excursion through these cities.
Could you make some recommendations? Thanks. Jae

First of all if you just want to visit Sevilla, Granada & Cordoba driving is probably not a great idea. The AVE train runs between Madrid & Sevilla in 2.5 hours - much longer than driving. It stops in Cordoba at the 1.45 hour mark. You can get between Sevilla & Granada by train or bus, either one is 3 hours. Granada to Madrid - train & bus connections are quite frequent. It may seem that driving is more flexible but when you factor in the frustration of trying to navigate centuries old city centers with roads that don't have a "grid" pattern and the cost of the car/parking for this area of the country the train/bus is easier.


Not sure I understand your comment about a 4 day excursion. I'd recommend at least 6 days to visit these 3 cities and not be too busy.

Hello Kathy;
Thank you for the info! Will it be OK to spend 2 days in each
of Madrid, Seville, Cordoba and Granada? Do the buses let us
take the big bags? There are 4 of us that we will have a bit
to carry even if we cut back on our luggage.

Thanks.

8 days for all of this is way too much in my opinion. If you're coming into Madrid from a transatlantic flight I'd advise 4 days - time to recover from jetlag and do a daytrip to Toledo or Segovia. With your limited time I'd probably visit Cordoba as a daytrip although it's great for a couple of nights you just don't have time. I'd advise 4 nights in Sevilla and visit Cordoba on the way from Madrid to Sevilla. The train stops in Cordoba and you can store your luggage at teh bus station across the street. (You have to purchase 2 separate train tickets). Granada really deserves 2 days. Depending on the tim eof your return flight you may need to be in Madrid your final nights. This is 11 nights and really what I'd recommend as a minimum.

Personally I'd rethink and drop one of the locations - Madrid, Sevilla or Granada. Logistically it would be easiest to drop Granada. It would be a shame to visit Andalucia for the first time and not visit Granada. But I just don't think there's enough time to do all this without a great deal of rushing. I'm biased towards Andalucia and would probably give up Madrid focusing the 8 days in Andalucia. I'd also see if I could get my flights from Malaga.

I assume you're not traveling in the summer?

If the others traveling with you are children I'd definately cut back the moving around and have more home bases w/daytrips.

Kathy;
You are my my savior! I do plan to be there this summer
(end of August to beginning of September) for a total of about 10 days. And I do have 2 children (11 and 17). I heard
so many good things about Granada that I really would like to
include it in my trip. I do realize that visiting 4 places
will be a lot of work just for traveling and moving from a city to another city. I actually thought about doing a 4 day
excursion that will visit all 3 cities in Andalucia. But, I
fear that I will only get to see the main attractions and miss
out the hidden treasures.

I agree the train/ bus seems a much better option,when driving in rutas nacionales be aware of speed limit signs they change abruptly, and you are supposed to reduce speed. Sometimes the guardia civil can be around. Again , if you are visiting only main cities go for public transportation.

We've done Andalusia twice by car and never had any trouble parking. However, we did pick hotels that had either garages or parking lots. For touring inside each city a car is useless (as in any other sizable city) - that's all done by foot - you would use the car only between cities and to stop in various villages. We visited ronda, Ubeda and a couple of others. You do need to be able to park in very small places (parallel park on eihter side) and be sure to tuck the mirrors in whenever you leave the car.

Driving from the highway into the center of Ubeda we were on one narrow street - with the wheels on the sidewalk on either side - just before we emerged into the central plaza. But as long as you are a confident driver - and have good parking skills - you should not have a problem - and do have the freedom to go where you want when.

"Driving from the highway into the center of Ubeda we were on one narrow street - with the wheels on the sidewalk on either side" Really? You must have picked the wrong turnoff to enter the city.

No - I don't think so. We followed the signs that said centro - and one way, naturally - there was one every couple of blocks. And there was another car ahead of us. Once we got there, there were other ways to exit - but not towards the direction we had been coming from.

I was excited about this post because my boyfriend and I are doing a month in Spain in sept. and are thinking about renting a car from Madrid and driving down through Ronda, Granada and Cordoba for six days. From these clues, I'm guessing that will work?