We will be travelling in Spain for 2+ weeks in late March, early April. We've read alot of advice about the pros & cons of renting a car, and decided we will need one for the places we will be visiting. At the same time, there are some cities (like Sevilla and Toledo) where having a car appears to be a major hassle. We originally planned to drop the car off and use the train system, but renting for several days at a time is far more expensive than keeping it the entire 2 weeks. Any suggestions on where one can safely leave a car during stays in the above cities? Could one leave their rental at the train station & pick up when leaving town? Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

We rented a car for a 10 day trip to Spain where we visited Seville, Toledo, Granada and Marbella, and had our car the entire time, leaving it parked at the hotel (paradors) overnight or at parking lots when we used it during the day. I don't recall experiencing any hassle whatsoever, but it was 8 years ago. Don't know if things have changed since then, but we didn't have any trouble or any safety issue.

Ask the hotel where you'll be staying about secured parking locations and keep the car for the two weeks. In Toledo we parked outside the city walls nearby the Puerta de Bisagra and walked into the old town. In Seville we parked in an underground parking by the hotel and left the car there for the days we were in Seville, same in Madrid. We loved the convenience that a car gives you in Spain. Have fun!!

Hi<BR><BR>When we visit Barcelona, we always take a hotel outside, leave the car at a parking on the outskirts and use public transport.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com<BR><BR>

Several years ago, I read a warning to British visitors of the high road traffic accident rate between Malaga and Gibraltar, especially around Marbella. However, I did not see any RTA's when I travelled that route once.<BR><BR>In the USA, Americans use the word &quot;accident&quot;, American ambulance medics use the word &quot;MVA&quot;, but in the UK they say &quot;road traffic accident&quot;. Funny, the difference.

In my experience, parking was not the challenge, but driving certainly was! Most, if not all of the hotels we stayed at offered parking. However, bear in mind the narrow streets(and sometimes alleyways) you will be negotiating when you choose the size of your rental car. We had a midsize, which was comfortable for getting from city to city, but nearly impossible within the old parts of the city. I'll never forget driving into Seville -- once we found our hotel (Las Casas de la Juderia), which was no small feat, I needed someone to drive the car to turn a sharp corner and drive down the tiny alleyway into the parking area. To this day, I'm convinced the car was wider than the alley, but somehow, the bellman did it! Have a great trip!

My husband was THRILLED that we parked the rental car at the Seville train station for 3 days. I admire you, Iregeo, for finding Las Casas de la Judeira (which is also where we stayed); I'm not sure I could have done it even though I was armed with about 8 maps plus driving directions. Even if we had found it, my husband would have been in misery by the time we arrived.<BR><BR>We were a little confused when picking up the car, though ... we found out that first you must pay in a machine at the front of the train station, then use the paid ticket to exit the parking lot. This is probably common in Europe, but I'd never seen it in the States.

Most large European cities have underground public parking. This is true of Barcelona and Seville. Just park the car and leave it there until you are ready to leave. Just make sure that you leave nothing in the car. However, the parking will not be cheap.

I found street parking in Seville that was convenient to several sites I wanted to see. Although the parking was free, I paid an organization to &quot;watch&quot; my car for me; this is a common practice in Spain. In Cadiz, I parked in a parking garage and didn't understand the system of paying ahead that LauraA mentioned, which created a disturbance when I exited. My compact car was about half the size of an American compact, which made driving and parking easier. A business associate had a mid-size car and received an enormous fine for not parking properly. Another problem was in not knowing the Spanish words for the kind of gasoline for the car. Having a car made a big difference, especially regarding getting to the smaller towns such as Ronda.

Keep the car .Believe me and the othersposting that driving and parking is not a big issue either in larger places like Seville nor small towns like Ronda.

We enjoyed having the car. We also had no problem finding Casas de la Juderia with the directions they gave us, and they happily parked the car. In Toledo we stayed at Hostal de Cardinal which we could easily drive right up to, but then did need to park our car in the huge garage near by. Cordoba, was a little tricky, but again our hotel provided underground parking, as did our hotel in Segovia. But we were glad to get rid of it when we reached Madrid!

Patrick or Laura,<BR>My husband and I will also be driving around Spain in May. You mentioned driving directions to Las Casas de La Juderia. I requested directions from the hotel, but never received any. Do you still have directions you could e-mail me? I have another concern regarding driving the &quot;scarry road&quot; up to Ronda. Others have mentioned other less precarious routes. Can you recommend any? We will be making several day treks around the area from the Parador there.<BR>Thank you,<BR>Kelley

I have the Seville map the hotel sent by e-mail, with arrows showing the route. If you post your address, I'll send it to you. The other thing you can do is go to viamichelin.com or mappy.com and put in start and end addresses to generate directions.

Thanks Laura,<BR><BR>You can e-mail the map to [email protected] Do you recommend trying to park the car at the hotel or a nearby parking garage and walking to the hotel?<BR>Kelley

I had heard that driving in Seville was a great big hassle, but we really had no problem at all. Like so many other posters we had underground parking at our hotel and left the car there for 3 days. And if you get lost or are having trouble finding your hotel, have your mate get out and hail a taxi- then just follow the taxi to your hotel.

Just got back--the driving was an absolute blast on the open road. My only recommendation is to ensure that you have maps of the major cities that you plan on going before you reach them. If you can't get your hands on one, park the car outside any hotel in the city and ask for a map of the city. We got seriously lost in multiple towns and this strategy worked very well.

Laura,<BR><BR>Thank you so much for sending me the map for Sevilla hotel directions. Unfortunately, my computer wouldn't let me minimize or print it. We must use different computer operating systems. I'll contact Las Casas de la Juderia again and ask them to send me directions.