My 18 year old daughter and I are flying into Malaga, staying in Sotogrande for 5 days and taking day trips, then 3 days in Seville and 2 days in Madrid. I’d like to rent a car for day trips while in Sotogrande. Any particular travel tips to be aware of - I’ll be the driver (53 year old female) and I’ve driven in France. Thanks for any advice.
Posted by
Paris
6918 posts
The driving is not too different from France. I find drivers to be similar, too - no more or no less aggressive. The area is mountainous, so be aware of that. Many roads have been rebuilt to a better standard than most French roads, but maintenance is worse.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6587 posts
Pretty much the same as driving in the U.S., or anyplace else. If you’ve driven in France you won’t have any problem. The main road near Sotogrande is an interstate type road; the A-7. Coming from Malaga parts of it will be toll road; the AP-7. To avoid the toll take the A-7 that parallels the coast. It will take slightly longer, but you’d avoid the toll. Most of the other roads will be two lanes. Closer into towns the roads will have shoulders. The more rural you get, the shoulders will go away and really rural roads may not have painted edge or center lines. Most roads in Spain are in good repair.
As a general rule, the more digits there are in a road number the more rural of an area it’s in. Using roads in the Sotogrande area as examples, the A-7 is four lanes. The CA-34 (CA stands for Cádiz) is a combination of 4 and 2 lanes with shoulders. The A-405 is 2 lanes, but no shoulders and the A-2100 is 2 lanes, no shoulder, and no painted center line. If you come across a road beginning with MA, it stands for Malaga. Two letters before a road number just indicate which province you’re in. When you cross into a different province the letters will change even though the road is the same.
Drive at or below the posted speed limit as there are plenty of speed cameras, especially when entering and leaving towns. If you’re in a 70kph zone and see that it’s changing to 80kph, don’t accelerate until after passing the new limit sign. I got a ticket in 2017 for doing just that.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5279 posts
I'd like to reiterate the advice to stick to the speed limit. I've received two speeding tickets when driving on the A7 to and from Malaga. Driving is no different to the US or France, expect a lot of tailgating if you're in the left hand lane and not going fast enough for the driver behind you. The roads, particularly the main highways, are well maintained although some of the more rural roads can be a bit hit or miss.
Posted by
Barcelona (Catalonia)
2942 posts
I concur with all of the above ;)
Posted by
424 posts
I agree with Enric ;)