Rental car in Andalusia
May 31st, 2008 | 10:10 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
Rental car in Andalusia
Comments please.When leaving Seville we are considering renting a car at the airport and proceeding to Granada and then on to the coast(Estepona) for a week returning it to the airport for a flight back to Madrid.Type of car? Car vs. public transportation.Parking in Granada?.... Thanks
May 31st, 2008 | 10:58 AM
#2
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 0
Public transport is pretty good in Spain. Driving is often fast and furious and parking in towns is not easy (they tow away so use car parks). If you are not taking the car back to the original location, you could get hit by a hefty charge from some agencies, so shop around.
Estepona has a train link along the coast to Malaga.
Estepona has a train link along the coast to Malaga.
May 31st, 2008 | 11:09 AM
#3
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 141
Likes: 0
We rented a car through Kemwell at the beginning of this month. We thought we were getting a VW Passat, but ended up with an Opel Corsa instead. We got to the airport in Malaga later than expected on May 1st, a holiday and they rented our Passat. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise since a small car is much better and we got a refund of $130.
We got four people's luggage in the Corsa. It was very good to have a small car since we drove into Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Carmona, etc. Sometimes there was only four inches on either side- some of the streets are quite narrow.
We didn't dare drive in Seville! We dropped our car off at the airport there and didn't find the charges excessive.
We usually drive on our European vacations and have done so in Scotland, Ireland, France, and Poland. Spain is much easier than Ireland or Scotland.
I say go for it if you are a reasonably good driver. Our hotel in Granada was easy to find and up by the Alhambra, so we didn't have any trouble there. Many people say downtown Granada is difficult.
We also had a GPS unit and good maps.
We got four people's luggage in the Corsa. It was very good to have a small car since we drove into Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Carmona, etc. Sometimes there was only four inches on either side- some of the streets are quite narrow.
We didn't dare drive in Seville! We dropped our car off at the airport there and didn't find the charges excessive.
We usually drive on our European vacations and have done so in Scotland, Ireland, France, and Poland. Spain is much easier than Ireland or Scotland.
I say go for it if you are a reasonably good driver. Our hotel in Granada was easy to find and up by the Alhambra, so we didn't have any trouble there. Many people say downtown Granada is difficult.
We also had a GPS unit and good maps.
May 31st, 2008 | 12:12 PM
#4
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 8,247
Likes: 0
Why do you want to rent from Sevilla airport and not from a downtown location? Should be easier for you, since I guess that you will be staying in Sevilla first, before you want to rent the car.
Unless you plan to drive into the old town (which is either not possible, or not advisable), I did not find driving in or getting in/out of Sevilla remarkably demanding. Get a good map, or GPS.
Type of car.. Anything up to a Compact, which should be a VW Golf or Ford Fiesta or similar, should be okay. The big fullsize cars may cause more problems in narrow village streets than give you pleasure.
From an overall perspective, I think that driving in Andalucia is fun, you get to see much more of the not-so-touristy villages and countryside, the roads are well marked, and the "hot blooded" Spanish drivers are more a myth than reality. Just be so nice to use pullouts to let local drivers pass since they have to use the scenic roads for a purpose and can't afford to crawl with 60kph thru the mountains
Unless you plan to drive into the old town (which is either not possible, or not advisable), I did not find driving in or getting in/out of Sevilla remarkably demanding. Get a good map, or GPS.
Type of car.. Anything up to a Compact, which should be a VW Golf or Ford Fiesta or similar, should be okay. The big fullsize cars may cause more problems in narrow village streets than give you pleasure.
From an overall perspective, I think that driving in Andalucia is fun, you get to see much more of the not-so-touristy villages and countryside, the roads are well marked, and the "hot blooded" Spanish drivers are more a myth than reality. Just be so nice to use pullouts to let local drivers pass since they have to use the scenic roads for a purpose and can't afford to crawl with 60kph thru the mountains
Jun 2nd, 2008 | 03:01 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 954
Likes: 0
We were in Andalusia last month so I will offer some thoughts.
We started in Granada, took a train (3 hours) to Seville and picked up a Hertz rental car at the Santa Justa train station at the end of our Seville stay to drive to Marbella by way of Ronda.
All worked out just fine. Unless you are planning to do some touring or overnight stays between Granada and Seville, I would recommend the train. It was comfortable (although 30 minutes late) with vending machines for snacks. Lots of cabs at Santa Justa station and easy to get the rental car at the tail end of our stay. I think the cost of a one day car rental equalled that of our four train tickets so money isn't a factor.
Driving to Ronda and Marbella was very easy.
We started in Granada, took a train (3 hours) to Seville and picked up a Hertz rental car at the Santa Justa train station at the end of our Seville stay to drive to Marbella by way of Ronda.
All worked out just fine. Unless you are planning to do some touring or overnight stays between Granada and Seville, I would recommend the train. It was comfortable (although 30 minutes late) with vending machines for snacks. Lots of cabs at Santa Justa station and easy to get the rental car at the tail end of our stay. I think the cost of a one day car rental equalled that of our four train tickets so money isn't a factor.
Driving to Ronda and Marbella was very easy.
