Hello.
We are planning to rent a car in Seville for a couple days in April and drive to El Rocio. We plan to then return to Seville and catch a train from Seville to Cordoba at Santa Justa train station. Will it be a challenge to pick up and return the car to the train station? We are reading that driving in Seville is a challenge. Are there better options?
Thanks!
Yes, driving in Sevilla can be challenging, but since you are only driving out of, then back to, the train station it shouldn’t be too onerous. My suggestion is to use a navigation system to get you out of the city. Once you cross the river and are on the A-49 the rest of the drive should be pretty easy.
Bookmark El Rocío to Google maps and when leaving the train station, click on it and press start. El Rocío should be less than a 1.5 hours drive. If you don’t have free data with your phone, download a map of that area for offline use. Then, place the phone is airplane mode and it is essentially a GPS unit. No need to rent a navigation system from the rental company.
You can also use Google street view before the drive to get a feel for the route you’ll take leaving the city. It will help more than you might think since when leaving the city you may recognize landmarks you saw in street view.
Other than possibly a tour I can’t think of another option. To take a bus would take 4-5 hours each way.
Hopefully you plan on visiting a few other sites when you have the vehicle since El Rocío will probably only occupy a few hours. A couple places somewhat nearby are Dolmen de Soto de Trigueros and Castle Niebla (Guzmanes).
It's fine to drive in and out of Santa Justa.
Are you staying in el Rocio? At La Malvasia, by any chance?
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, we are staying at La Malvasia.
I will be very interested in how you find your stay there. I've stayed in two of the Kaizen Groups hotels, in Sevilla and in Jerez, and will be back at their Jerez hotel in March... From my experience, they are at the top of the list for aesthetics and service...and food.
Are you there for bird watching? Relaxing? Base for touring around?
@ekscrunchy. We are birders.
That sounds wonderful!!
I love that part of Spain but have never been to El Rocio ..
Was just in El Rocio. A pilgrimage town! It looked like a wild, wild west town, a bit empty because it is not pilgrimage season. But the church is amazing. We ate at a place called Restaurante La Ermita, just across the church.. Good lunch. It rained that day and the roads are NOT paved so it was a bit muddy.
But we stopped there on the way to Donana National Park. And because it was in December, lots of birds were wintering there. Saw huge, huge flocks of flamingoes!! Over a thousand perhaps! Also black and white storks, glossy ibises, Eurasian coots, and first time for me to see magpies and partridges! And this hoopoe! I am a birdwatcher too!
Thanks for the update! El Rocio looks like a mirage in the photos! And that hotel looks very promising..
Was there any life in the town when you were there? (People walking around, etc??).
On our way to El Rocio, there were actually a few people walking as part of a pilgrimage. Not more than 10. There were not a lot of people walking about - it was raining too. Since there were restaurants open, I imagine there are a few tourists staying because it is a good base for Donana National Park. The church and its gift shop were both open; and I did see a few shops open. But really, like a wild, wild west.
We rented a car from a rental agency at the train station. We picked it up in the morning, drove to Gibraltar and back, and returned the car the same night. We did not have any issues with the car rental or with driving into or out of Seville. It did help to have one driver and one navigator to make sure we did not make wrong turns and to be extra cautious in an unfamiliar city, but it was just fine. Our trip was March 2025.
