Going to Spain with 2 other females mid-November & thinking of renting car when leaving Madrid to drive to Toldeo . . . then to Granada . . . then to Sevilla. Is this safe??? Is it too far??? Are the roads okay??? Or . . is this just a bad idea? Any thoughts appreciated!

Check out the responses to "Train, car or fly from Madrid to Andalusia"

I drove from Malaga to Granada to Sevilla with four female friends five years ago. The roads were great, the rental car was comfortable and easy to drive, the distances not to bad and the gas stations convenient and easy to use. The only problem we had was once we entered the main city we had a heck of a time finding our hotels. I thought we had good maps but they were inadequate and it was quite frustrating. We were very lost and did not speak Spanish so had a hard time getting directions. I also did all the driving for the entire week and was bone tired, no one else wanted to drive or was able to drive. It took some of the fun out of the trip for me because I was concentrated on the driving and I missed a lot of the scenery. As clarification, I was supposed to share the driving with my sister but she wasn't feeling well so I stepped up to the plate. Better maps, a compass and bit more pre-planning would have helped tremendously.

i love the flexibility of a car when there are soooo many off the beaten path places to visit.

as mentioned, EVERYONE´s main problem is navigating the cities.. finding your hotel and dumping the car!

i often suggest people stay on outside of city when arriving at night. have a nice meal and rest, and the next morning.. just go into town to your TOURIST venue which is usually well marked and drop car.

this also allows you easily to stay at the paradors that tend to be on edge of city, in country ( thus a little more complicated to visit)or well marked in center.

you can then also just stop at a parador for a coffee and enjoy the ambience on your way elsewhere.

www.pardors.com

It depends on how long you will be in Spain and some other things like if you are flying to/from Madrid, etc.

I would rent a car in Madrid to visit Segovia, Sepulveda and Pedraza as well as Toledo. I don't like long drives like Madrid-Sevilla (350 mi). I would take AVE Madrid-Sevilla; MotorCoach to Granada and maybe Granada-Madrid.

You might want to rent a car in Sevilla to do an Andalucia 'loop.' There are several car rental companies at Sevilla's Santa Justa main rail station (incl. Avis).