We're traveling to Andalucia in November for our first visit. Our flight is PHL-MAD and we plan to spend a few nights in Madrid before taking a train south for our 6 night stay in Jimena de la Frontera. Most of the board members agree a car is necessary for day trips to the "Pueblos Blancos". Jimena has no car for hire to my knowledge, so am wondering which is the best course to follow. It seems that Ronda would work since it's on the way to Jimena. Does anyone know if there is a car rental agency in Ronda? If so, how would I contact them? Has anyone stayed in this small town? What are the dining choices? I appreciate any and all responses. Thanks, Lissa

It seems to me there is a car car rental agency in Ronda:
http://www.rondarentacar.com/Ronda_R...ar/Inicio.html
Anyway, it's better to hire a car. It makes things so much more flexible.
Pueblos blancos: you should visit small towns/villages like Grazalema, Benaocaz, Zahara de la Sierra, Arcos de la Frontera...
And there are very nice walking routes in the Nature Park of Sierra de Grazalema!

Why don't you rent the car in Sevilla? You'll definately want to spend time visiting Sevilla anyways and you can do this before or after you pick up the car.

You will need the car when you leave the train (in Sevilla? Cadiz? Malaga? Marbella?). All these cities have rental car agencies, often right at the train station.

When you are staying in Jimena, you definitly need a car - it is pretty remote and in order to see some of Andalucia you will spend a lot of time with driving.

When I visited the region (not Jimena though), I found lots of useful info at http://www.andalucia.com/jimena/home.htm.
There are some Spain experts on the Lonely Planet forum as well--I hope no one minds that plug, I would refer anyone there to here for help as well.
The car depends on where you train to from Madrid, but you will certainly need one. It also depends on how much driving you want to do, but at the very least you'll want one for getting to hikes in the area. Ronda has car rentals, but I'd hate to miss that train ride from Ronda to Jimena.
http://www.turismoderonda.es/indexeng.htm

Thanks to all for sharing.

Traveller1959, I am happy to hear that Jimena is pretty off the beaten path. I searched for weeks to find the right place!

yorkshire, we plan on taking the train from Madrid to Jimena. Was going to stop in Ronda because I understood there wasn't a car-hire in Jimena, so thought we could get one there. I may have been mistaken about that. I will check out the andalucia web you suggest and LP.

walksntalks, have already checked the ronda car hire site you suggested. There are three companies if we go in that direction. Thanks.

Gracias todos! Melissa