elowenstein

We will be spending 3 nights in Granada. Here are my questions:

Will we need a car while in Granada?

Some of the apartments we are looking at do not have parking and are in a pedestrian area.

How important is it to have a car to get from Granada airport to Granada apartment and would we need a car while in Granada to get to Sierra Nevada?

Is it worth going to Sierra Nevada if we are only staying 3 nights?

One more... how hard would it be to rent a car after our three days in pedestrian only Granada apartment to drive to our next location Riogordo?

Thank you so much for any advice or input.
Evelyn

Alec

You definitely don't want a car while staying in Granada. Most places of note are within easy walk (though the city is quite hilly) and buses are also convenient. There are some no-go areas for private cars, and ignoring signs can mean a hefty fine sent to the rental company, and eventually to you, and parking is difficult. On my last stay in Granada, I had a car but the place came with private underground garage so the car stayed there almost the entire time. I did use it for a daytrip to Alhama de Granada (pleasant) and for the Carthusian Monastery near the university, but the latter trip could easily have been made by bus. Didn't go to Sierra Nevada but there are buses.
Most car rental outlets are in the outer areas like near train station or airport.

emily71

If your spending most of your time in the city then no. The historic part of Granada is walkable and the city has a good bus system. I also recommend getting the rental car outside the center as Granada streets are not for the faint hearted.

Taxis are also plentiful and reasonable.

kja

I agree that a car would be a liability in Granada.

(And FWIW, I visited the Carhusian Monastery by foot -- though bus or taxi would have been an option.)

You can take a bus to the Sierra Nevada. Whether it makes sense to do so really depends on what you want to see / do in each location. I had 2.5 days in Granada and felt hard-pressed to see everything there that was of interest to me. I took a bus to the Poqueira Gorge where I spent some time hiking. As I recall, it was about 3 hours each way, and I did it with a separate stay in Capileira. I suspect there are places you could that are closer....

I haven't been to Riogordo, but I believe you can take either bus or train -- check rome2rio.com for options and then do some internet searches to identify specifics. That said, I can't believe it would be hard to pick up a rental car in Granada....

Good luck!

maitaitom

Picking up our rental car in Granada was a snap. Took a taxi from our lodging to the rental car place. It took us about three minutes to get on the highway toward Ronda.

elowenstein

Thank you everyone for your replies. This is so helpful! I think we will rely on public transport from airport to Granada and while in Granada. We'll pick up car at Granada train station and drop off at airport after out week in Riogordo. We will be making day trips from Riogordo so will need a car. Thank you for your advise!!! Also, any recommendations on car rental companies at the train station?

Again - your advice is invaluable!

Thanks,
Evelyn

Nelson

Last fall we used Europcar which we booked through Auto Europe. We picked up at Cordoba train station and returned to Granada station.

Can't recall why we used Auto Europe instead of Europcar directly, it was cheaper or they were showing the car we wanted, had to be one of those reasons.

In any case, no problems at all.

elowenstein

Again thank you all for sharing your experiences and advice!

Evelyn