Only people that have been to southern spain.....

I don't know what you mean by good. The place won't be closed or anything. Temps are going to be around mid-forties at night, to mid-sixties in the day. The chance of rain is slim to none. It won't be crowed.

Ed when I said good I mean with the shortage of hours can we still do things we would do in the summer like going to the attractions and you said it wont be crowded but are there going to be still people around. and when you went did you drive i wanna know if its safe to drive down there.

Okay, I can tell you our experience in driving around the south of Spain.

Driving in the towns is a huge challenge, so have a GPS with you. However, that will not protect you from the traffic, which was the worst we experienced anywhere in Europe. The inner congestion was incredible. Outside the cities, there was little traffic - none, practically. But the driving distances are further then you might think. We spent a lot of our time there just driving in the car.

We were there in early December, so the weather was probably harsher then it will be in February, but only marginally different. It rained - hard, when we got to Granada late in the day, and that night it turned into a snow storm.

(On a side note, we went to Granada without a confirmed hotel reservation and a festival of some sort was taking place that took up all the available hotel rooms. We slept in our car that night facing the Alhambra and nearly froze to death. Point being, it may be the "off" season, but stuff still goes on locally. Be sure to check each city you plan on going for the dates you plan on being there to see if an annual event will be happening then. Spain and its cities seem to have quite a few.)

The trains are great in that area of Spain. I can't think of a reason to have a car unless you are really going off the beaten path.

Continued...

In Seville, because of the traffic, my wife tried to quickly start the car after we parked (to merge into the traffic stream - you have to act FAST there and drive aggressively or you won't get anywhere, believe me) and broke the key off in the ignition. We spent half a day replacing the car.

Fortunately, our car rental company had an office two blocks from where it happened - unbelievably fortunate for us - and just gave us a replacement car. That night, I mistakenly left two Toledo swords in the back seat after we parked on the street near our hotel. The next morning, both door locks had been popped out and the swords were gone. They were inexpensive, considering, but still....

Since we were going to Morocco the next day and too embarrassed to return yet another damage car, we drove down to the ferry location and left the car right in front – illegally parked, for the four days we were in Africa. Nothing was left in it this time, and we could not lock it, so we took the chance. It was still there, unticketed, upon our return.

okay how was the gas prices at the time. and where did you guys drive.. was everything far away i know the places we are going to are like no more then four hours away.

pearl was it the AVE that you took do you think its more expensive the car plus gas....

One last item. When we left Granada after that looooong night there, we drove back north across the famous plains of Spain. As we left the mountains where Granada is located, we passed a pointed peak off to the right that had a huge, perfectly round cloud clinging to its top. It was so bizarre a sight I kept an eye on it as my wife drove. As I watched, the cloud started to waver back and forth like someone was shaking the peak. It then rolled down the side like a ball and started to speed at an angle across the plain, going at great speed in a northwestern angle that intersected the highway we were on. It was going much faster than us, so passed over the highway about 2 kilometers ahead of us. When we reached the area where it crossed the highway, everything on both sides of the roadway was frozen, with icicles hanging from the fences, farmhouses, and the few trees in the area. Biggest snowball ever.

We had compact cars, so the gas mileage was good - to make up for the high gas prices, which are very high throughout most of Europe.

We picked the car up in Madrid, which was a huge mistake - because of this experience, we have never picked up a car in a larger city since. We also returned it to Madrid after driving to several towns near Madrid (Avila, Segovia), then over to Lisbon, back down south to Seville, Cordoba, the ferrys to Morocco, then Granada, and finally back north to Toledo (where I replaced those stolen swords) and Madrid.

Honestly, I would not do this type of trip again if we go back to Spain. Most of our time - like 90 percent of our awake time, was spent dealing with the cars - either driving them or trying to park them. Driving in the big cities was difficult.

I have told people since this trip that everyone in Spain owns three cars - two they are driving simultaneously and the other is parked leaning up a tree or blocking a sidewalk perpendicular to the road.

If you manage to get through an intersection while there, it probably means someone died in a car and momentarily blocked the on-coming traffic just long enough for you to avoid the few thousand pedestrians running across the street as you speed around a bus that is blocking the view of the other drivers trying to cut in front of you by driving with their wheels up along the side of the bus as they push to pass you.

If the trains are that good, by all means take them.

Rafael...this is the second post on the same issue, with the same answers you received in the first post. Are you actually reading any of the information that's posted???
"The highways in Spain have improved by leaps and bounds over the past 30 years. You shouldn't have any more difficulty than you do driving the interstates up and down the eastern seaboard, and it'll probably be less crowded. Roads in the mountains can be very twisty, but they've also put a lot of work into widening them and installing safety barriers and the like. A reminder, though, that driving in the old centers of these cities should be avoided. "
With all the stops you plan in your eight days, a car is the ONLY way to go. And no, the AVE won't service any of those locations from Sevilla, except for Cordoba.
Gas prices in Spain when I was there were about 1.05 euro per litre.

well if i am posting the same questions and receiving the same answers then just don't post please its because the questions i asked you you gave the info in general mode instead of giving facts and experiences.

"you gave the info in general mode instead of giving facts and experiences."
Well, with that response, I know definitely now you did NOT read the information posted earlier. I suggest you re-read all the responses in your several posts before wasting our time any further.

Rafael - I'll try to respond without getting too snippy. You've certainly managed to offend several of the most informed, most helpful posters here. It seems at first glance that you wish us to predict the weather, cost out the various transportation options and provide you with detailed GPS driving maps.

The point of these forums is to help people with advice and insight and leads to information that can help you, the traveler, to make informed decisions. Only each traveler can know their own interests, levels of risk and styles. It has to be up to each person to take the advice given and make your own decisions accordingly. This forum is also only a supplement to the many guides and resources available out there, RS included.

Having said that, here is my input. Paris will likely be cold, wet and dreary in February. The chances are far more so than in southern Spain, though I have not been to southern Spain in February. Lisbon is often dreary and rainy even in summer; its weather is a lot like San Fransisco.

If you wish to visit towns off the train lines, you will need to either rent a car or take buses. Several posters have cautioned you about driving in cities, and given your many hesitations over it, I can only assume that it may not be your best bet. There are also many worthile places to visit that can be easily reached by train. Most of the places you mention are on train lines.

If the weather concerns you that much, then delay your B-Day celebration for spring or summer when the likelyhood of nice weather is far better. The days are also shorter, so you'll have several hours less of sightseeing then in summer. That may mean losing whole days for driving or driving unfamiliar roads and in towns at night. There's a reason far fewer people visit Europe over winter.

FYI, Rafael is only 15 years old. That explains some things...

okay this goes to norm let me tell you something i am 15 years old planning a trip and i also want to put info on the table when my parents come to tell me what my final decision is. Norm let me tell you something else i read your little advice which by the way it didnt help so thats why i kept asking the same question until someone else answered better then you did.

Know this goes to Douglas look i already have info on paris.. Andrea was very nice in helping me along with other people. The only question i am asking if feb. is a good time to visit Malaga second of all i dont need help with the GPS i know every place i want to visit follwed by the duration and distance all i was also asking was gas expensive and i got the answer on my own..

one thing also you guys keep on saying that southern Spain has good weather in feb. which is not true because this previous Feb was the worst in the history with so much rain so thats another point i am only asking for those who have been in Andalucia in the winter which so far no one has been or stated if they have been....

Thank you Andrea....

Sigh...Rafael, I apologise. I thought it would have been obvious from the detailed replies I gave earlier that I was speaking from a great deal of experience in southern Spain...including the month of February on several occasions. Having been in Paris, too, in February, I thought my comparisons might have been useful to you.
It is now completely unclear to me exactly what information it is you seek. It is impossible to forecast what the weather will be in either place next February. But based on personal experience, and meteorological averages, I would still opt for southern Spain. To base your decision on what happened last February in Spain would be a bad move. You might also remember that no one said it would never rain in southern Spain in February....just that the weather has a much better chance of being nice in February than it does in Paris.
Unfortunately, you are a rude and ignorant young man.
Instead of bothering us here with your repeated questions, your refusal to read the information that people have already supplied, and your petty insults, you should head on down to your local library and do a little work on your own. There are plenty of different travel guides available that will give you the information you desire....if you choose to actually read and digest it.

If weather is your main concern, delay your trip until May or June.

Norm don't worry i wont post anymore here on this website if thats the problem. I just wanna say one last thing you can ask some people that gave me some advice that i went to get the book they recommended me and i did go to the library and got some DVDs on the countries i wanted to go to i asked one simple question that i guess many people interpreted very wrong.. Them main essential question was about the AVE train and last thing was about the weather if it was good to go i kept repeating the same question because i felt that the answer that was given wasn't clear to me.

Rafael....you DID get responses to both those questions (you asked many more than two, by the way.)
You asked whether the AVE was used by one poster. Based on your itinerary there was a response posted that the AVE only ran to one of your proposed destinations....Sevilla-Cordoba....and with your planned itinerary and time available, a car would be the best route to take.
You ask whether the weather is "good." Actually, your first question was that you had heard that it "rains a lot" in southern Spain in February.
"Good" and "a lot" are very subjective terms, open to wide interpretation. "Good" compared to what? "A lot" compared to what? Based on the fact that you needed to travel in February, and your alternate destination was Paris, you were given several well reasoned answers that the odds were the weather would be far nicer in southern Spain than in Paris...less chance of rain, more sunshine, and warmer temperatures. You were even given long-term averages to compare the two.
You asked (in two separate posts) whether it was safe to drive in southern Spain. In both posts, you were advised that driving is generally safe on the modern highways, but some of the mountain roads may be twisty, and that you should try to avoid driing in the old centers of the cities you plan to visit.
I still fail to see what questions you have asked have not been answered.
From your earlier posts, it seems to me you had your heart set on Paris, but your cousin had tried to convince you to go to southern Spain instead. If you really want to go to Paris for your birthday in February....then my advice is GO TO PARIS!! Even if the weather is crappy, you'll still have a great time.