5 days in Andalusia with car

Since you’re spending essentially all your time in Sevilla, I see no reason to have a car. In the area of your hotel, there is no easy street parking. Parking for a car you won’t be using is 25€ a day. I suggest you take a Google street view of the area to get an idea. The streets are poorly labeled or the signs hard to see (half way up the buildings) while driving, and streets are very narrow and often one way. The closest parking garage is a few blocks away at Interparking Cano y Cueto, Av. de Menéndez Pelayo, 3. We parked there back in 2011 when we stayed at Hotel Amadeus. When there, I recognized the parking garage only because I had done a virtual drive by.

Thank you for the insight. Unfortunately due to the exorbitant cost of a one way rental (we are flying in to Lisbon and staying in Lagos prior to coming to Spain), we will have a car. I will look up that parking garage and note it on my maps.

I looked at your hotel and I see no way to drive to it to drop off your bags. Better stated, it would drive you crazy trying to do so. Hopefully you don’t have a lot of luggage. I suggest you drive straight to the parking garage, unload the luggage and one person to watch it, then park. The garage is a decent size. Plug the garage into your GPS. It’s off a main road and easy to turn into.

I stayed at El Rey Moro a couple of years ago. It's in a pedestrian area and even a taxi can't get within a couple of blocks.

Best to find a cheap parking on the outskirts of town where you can store the car for those 5 days, then get around using public transport. I don't think you can even enter the pedestrianized zone where your hotel is located with a car.

Thank you for the helpful parking advice!

You don't mention your full itinerary, but have you considered dropping the car in Lagos and taking the coach to Seville? And while it will cost a lot to return a Portugese rental car in Spain, you have to compare that to the cost of paying for five days of rental while is sits in a parking garage. Plus €125 in parking fees.

I have exhausted all options with the car. My rental for 10 days is $800. The rental picking up in Lisbon and dropping off in Seville was $2,500. I will keep checking the rates since I don’t have to pay for the car until I pick it up but not sure how much it will drop.

I agree with Badger’s suggestion regarding dropping off the car in Portugal and taking a bus to Sevilla.

Will you flying home from Lisbon?

If you decide to keep the car, and drive to Sevilla, you may want to check Hotel Hotel Fernando III
We didn’t have a car while in Spain, but I recall that the hotel offered a valet service for their guests.
You may want to call the hotel to find out the cost for this service.

Enjoy your trip!

So you're paying to rent a car for 10 days, only to have it sit in a parking garage collecting dust for five days? What would it cost to rent a car in Lisbon and return it five days later in Lagos, or maybe Faro?

Thank you for responding to my questions about having a car. We are hoping to do day trips to Cadiz and/or Cordoba while in Sevilla so the car will not be sitting unused for 5 days. Any suggestions for either of those cities and information on what is closed on Labor Day 5/02 would also be greatly appreciated.

Those day trips are in my opinion better done by train. Seville to Cordoba is a 2 hour drive one way, or 45 minutes by fast train (1:20 by slow train). To Cadiz the travel times are roughly the same, but the train is in my opinion the more comfortable option. But if you want to drive, you can rent a car for a day in Seville.

Just got back from 17 days in Andalusia, including stays in Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada. We were on a self-guided bike trip, so did not need a car. I second all of those who say driving/ parking a car in any of those cities would be a mistake, unless you like stress. Streets are extremely narrow by US standards, with cars/ motorcycles parked on both sides. Many many one way streets, and street names are written only on the sides of buildings, and sometimes two or three blocks apart. Biking through the cities with a GPS was challenging; can't imagine using a car.

We picked up a car as we departed Granada and dropped it off when arriving in Sevilla. You do not want to have a car in those cities.

$800 for ten days seems very high. We got a car from Avis through Autoeurope for 12 days in October for $335. I would advise
shopping around for a better price.
Brad

I met folks who had done something similar. They just found a cheap place to park for their stay in Sevilla. Parking is worse in Cordoba than Sevilla (so's the driving in the city). I'd also bet that the train is faster than driving. Cadiz is about 1.5 hours by train, then a short walk to the old town center and tourist office. from there, the city is very walkable. I don't think having a car would be an advantage there either.