- How much time?
- Can you find easy parking in Seville? If so, where at?
- If you only have 6-8 hours in Seville, what/where? Anything else I should know? (driving permit will be done, etc.)
A couple of hours, depending on traffic once you leave the ring.
No. And driving stinks too. Remember what Cairo and Tokyo were like? Good. Drive in circles until you spot a garage.
Alternatively come in on what would look like an extension of the A4 which is Ave Kansas City. Continue along beside the train station until you come to a stop light at the western end. Just across the road on the right is a big underground parking garage with a blue 'P'. Hoof it the rest of the way. Or go back over to the station and catch a bus.
3 Too hard.
Save your sanity and take the bus as the money you will spend on parking and petro will add up. If you must drive then follow Ed's wise counsel.
Six to eight hours will keep you visiting sites in old town around the cathedral.
We will park in the Hotel Alfonso, which has 20 euro/day parking, but spend time in old town.
Is the Prado worth going to if you only have 2 hours?
Spain had a lot of kings named Alfonso. Seville has several hotels with the name but different numbers. Hopefully you're not going to spend the day one one-way streets that don't intersect with anything -- and the street names aren't uniformly paced either -- and you'll probably come in from the south and run the left bank of the river as well.
I flat wasn't kidding about Egypt and Japan.
Looks easy on the map, until you find most are pedestrian only or one way. Be careful as you come in as the route will change to where they are only for taxis and buses.
Good Luck!
There's no reason to shy away from Spain's buses; they're perfectly nice and in this instance, more direct than trains.
While I would certainly welcome any time in Seville, if you have less than a day in there, then maybe you should skip it and give more time to one of another destination that's also short on time.
When you are in Madrid, yes, the Prado is worth going to for two hours.
My favorite sight in Seville was the Alcazar. Then walk around the cathedral outside - much nicer than inside.
I now pack a little GPS especially for rental cars. I start each day navigating to where I'm going, then ask it to find "points of interest", "parking", "near center". That usually gets me right to a parking lot that is walking distance from the things I want to see.
In Seville, we stayed at a hotel a little out from the center (Silken Al Andalus), it had ample, safe street parking around it and a transit bus that went directly to the center.
With six to eight hours in Seville, I'd park near the center, start by visiting the Cathedral, then see the Alcazar. When you are done, you can either wander the Jewish quarter right around that area or walk to the Golden Tower on the river and see the nearby bullring (Casa de Toro). You may have time to do both, but I wouldn't hurry away from the Alcazar to see them - to me it's the highlight along with the Cathedral.
Skip Plaza de Espana in your limited time. It's not historically significant, just the site for an expo - nice gardens for a leisurely stroll but not as nice as those in the Alcazar.
If you have some evening time, a Flamenco performance would be nice - this is the best place to see it.
Thanks all.
We will arrive Sevilla (Santa Justa) around 10am. Since it stays light very late, we will plan to leave for Ronda perhaps 6pm.
Does anybody rent cars from Hertz and use their GPS? We used it perfectly in Germany and Austria. Being a Gold member, the GPS usually comes free with our rentals. Also, typically he heads to the car 5 minutes early and plugs in destinations so they are easy to find later - thanks for the reminder though. Has anybody used the electric bikes to tour around a city? I've read great reviews on TA and will connect with the site to check out age appropriateness.
Checking reviews of Alcazar now.