Easy auto pick-up:Seville
 

I tried to post yesterday-message lost in cyber-space! We plan to take the AVE from Madrid to Seville; and rent a car for the rest of trip to Costa del Sol. We do not want to drive withincity if possible.We are staying at Hotel Amadeus. Would the airport be the best rental pickup point (or railway station or other?) TIA

I just picked up a car from the railway station and drove out and it was quite simple to get on the autoroute. The rental company will give you directions. It's a 4 euro taxi ride from the Amadeus.
I dropped it off at the railway station in Granada and it was a challenge to find it. I think there's a higher drop fee at airports as well.

Take a taxi to Estacion Santa Justa. AutoEurope, Hertz, and other rental car agencies right there with easy access to highway to Costa del Sol. Make the reservation ahead of time, allow extra time to pick up the car, the lines are typically long.

bbw,
In my experience over the years, it has been far easier to pick up a car at the Santa Justa rail station in Seville than to return it, due to traffic congestion and signage. I
n general, it is always easier and less confusing to pick up in the city and get out of town than to drop off in the city.
If you haven't chosen a car rental agency yet, the following have offices at Santa Justa train station:

Hertz
Avis
Atesa/National
Europcar
Pepecar (is adjacent rather than in the station itself)

Autoeurope is a wholesaler who may subcontract with one of the above, usually Avis or Europecar. We use Autoeurope four times a year for our Spain car rentals.

Since I don't know your exact destination on the Costa del Sol, I can't give you specific directions, but if you're headed to Málaga and environs, ask the car rental agency to point you in the direction of the A 92 which will take you to Antequera then down the N 331 to Málaga.

bbw,
Forgot to mention that you can get specific driving directions on www.viamichelin.com Just put in Spain (country) , Estación Santa Justa (address) , Sevilla (city) as your departure point.

bbw-- I forgot to mention on my post that AutoEurope does not charge drop-off fees if returning to one of their pick-up locations all over Spain. We picked the car in Estacion Santa Justa and drop it at the Barajas Airport in Madrid with no charges.

Thank you all- we'll pick-up from the railway station! Now...where does one purchase a good road map in Spain- do gas stations carry them, or do we need to find a book store? Maribel- we hope to head to a timeshare in Marabella, via Rhonda and Jerez- does this sound like a possible route? Thanks!

bbw-- typically Barnes & Nobles and even Borders have an excellent stock of road maps on their travel section. Check them out because it is important you get a feel for the lay of the land prior to getting there. Also, just a quick note and hoping you don't mind, if you are going to be using maps it becomes critical to note the cities's names correctly; Marbella (vs. Marabella), Ronda (vs. Rhonda), Jerez de la Frontera (vs. Jerez). By the way, Fodor's have an excellent book called "Fodor's: Spain: Driving Routes" that is excellent, detailed with suggested stops, distances, maps, history, etc...Very well put together, including the illustrations and even the size (very convenient).

bbw,
The best maps for your drive are the regional michelin maps--you want the one for andalucia and they're easy to find at any bookstore. In Madrid the El Cortes Ingles bookstore near Puerta del Sol has them.
If you want to look at the route now, click on maribel's michelin link, and break your trip down sevilla to jerez, jerez to ronda, ronda to marbella. (Very slick website, even includes the tolls)
I just did the drive you're doing but continued to Nerja. It took me about 8 hours but that's mostly because the autoroute from Marbella to Nerja was jammed and we sat in traffic for a couple of hours.
From Ronda to the coast is very windy and scenic and you can get stuck in lines of traffic behind trucks.
Oh and watch out when you're paying tolls that you don't wind up in the line for locals with one of those quick pay cards. You want to get in line for the booth with a person. Personal experience. :-(

bbw.
About the road maps-I highly recommend the Michelin regional Andalucia, #578, as pluto suggests, which is very detailed and can be purchased online at www.randmcnally.com.
Click on world maps at left, then Europe, Spain, then Spain regional. Cost: 8.95

I've also purchased the Michelin series for Spain (I have all of them) at Barnes & Noble, Borders. They are also sold at gasoline stations on the autoroutes in Spain and at bookstores including the travel book department of all El Corte Inglés stores, as pluto notes.

I do recommend purchasing this map before you leave so that you can plan out your route leisurely and get even more specifiic driving directions, step-by-step plus estimated driving times, even driving costs at
www.viamichelin.com

(Note: www.ricksteves.com sells the general Spain/Portugal map but not the regional Spain maps.)

Since you are headed to Marbella from Sevilla and want to go via Jerez and Ronda, are you planning to overnight in Ronda before reaching your Marbella timeshare?

I highly recommend an overnight (or even two!) as the town has a highly picturesque setting atop a dramatic gorge, El Tajo, and is known as the cradle of modern bullfighting. A visit to the bullring's museum and excellent shop is quite interesting as is strolling the atmospheric Arab quarter (known as La Ciudad) in the evening. Or have a drink on the terrace of the Hotel Don Miguel perched directly above the gorge.

Your best route from Sevilla to Marbella via Jerez and Ronda, would be to take the toll road AP 4 / E 5 to Jerez to the A 382 through Arcos de la Frontera and Villamartín to Ronda. There is a prettier but slower route, the A 372 that goes through the perched Moorish white towns of El Bosque and Grazalema (very pretty), but I only take this route when I have plenty of time and am not headed to the coast on the same day.

And are you planning a stop in Jerez to visit a sherry bodega or attend a Tues./Thurs. noon performance at the Royal School of Equestrian Art (www.realescuela.org)
or simply planning to drive straight through?
If you're planning to stop and tour, this takes time, can easily take a half day, as inner Jerez is somewhat of a maze and bodega tours are at specific times.
(see winery info at www.turismojerez.com)

If so, I would advise an overnight in Arcos or Ronda (my favorite) before heading down to the coast.

From Ronda to Marbella you head down the serpentine (yes, km. after km. of curves) but safe, well maintained A 376 (tour busses and trucks ply this route regularly-I've driven it myself) to San Pedro de Alcántara, then east on the toll AP 7 /E 15 to Marbella.

Again, if you use www.viamichelin.com you'll see how much each toll will cost , get your estimated driving time from place to place and print out a small even more detailed map.

And to have very specific directions to drive from the Seville's rail station to the toll route down south to Jerez, simply type in "Estación Santa Justa" in the address/station box under Departure. Print this out and give to your navigator!

Also the broker, Auto Europe, does not charge an extra airport drop off fee in Spain, but they do now charge an extra fee for rental commencing at an airport location ($44) or rail station ($10).
We have just booked a 7 day rental with them for Nov., and the rental agency they have contracted with will be Europcar as it has been for our past rentals this yr. Europcar seems to be Auto Europe's preferred agency for Spain at the moment, or so the customer service agents tell me.

Hope this helps.