Driving in Spain

You'll find roadside stops along all the motorways, complete with restaurants, just like the Interstate highway system in the U-S. On smaller roads, you'll find service stations in the larger towns. All will be manned when they're open. On many of the motorways, there are signs telling you how far ahead the next service center is, and its hours of operation. The two big providers are CEPSA and REPSOL. Be careful of the corners on the motorways....Spanish engineers build them a fair bit tighter than they do here, and you may (at least at first) feel a little uncomfortable heading into them at the posted speed limit (usually 120 km/hr). If you see brake lights coming on ahead of you, it probably means a photo radar site coming up.....they will catch you, and there's no appeal. These zones are marked, with warning signs posted ahead.

Thanks Norm for a helpful answer as usual!

I think about the only time you will get --- Don't Do It.--- is in Italy. We didn't drive in Spain but were on several buses in Southern Spain and the roads, traffic wise, signage, etc. looked very similar to western US. Fairly wide open and well marked. I would have no concern about driving in Spain except for major cities.

Actually Frank more folks have said "don't do it" about Ireland than Italy. I've driven in both without a scratch, dent or problem. Then again I live and work in LA where driving is a lifestyle.....but it was negotiating the Pedro Grade Corkscrew in the fog of Pacifica as a teenager driver that made me fearless.

Have a wonderful trip Gonzy.

In some of the towns and cities you will find very narrow old roads. My husband likes to tell the story of our arrival in Carmona. I directed him to turn into what looked like a fairly direct route to our hotel. He said the road, which was only wide enough for our small car when we turned into it, appeared to get more narrow in the blocks ahead of us. I assured him that it was only an optical illusion and that we could easily drive through. I was wrong and he ended up backing quite a distance on this tiny street with no sidewalks. The moral of the story is to follow recommended driving routes in urban areas.

I don't know if other drivers would agree, but it seems that diesel-powered cars don't have a lot of "pick up" when you start them. This has only been an issue if we are starting out on a fairly steep hill. Just something to keep in mind when parking.

The good thing about the narrow streets is that the cars are generally smaller. And as for diesels these days, you won't find a noticeable difference in the pickup any more, as compared to gasoline engines.

Did a lot of driving in Spain last fall, generally it's easy. One bit of advice: be sure you have a good road map or atlas before you go. We had a new GPS we bought along for the trip, and assumed we could find a backup map easily. Our GPS was nabbed by a pickpocket in Lisbon on our first day of the trip (d'oh!!) and I never found a good map of Spain, despite trying many gas stations and bookshops. We still managed, but it was, um, interesting at times.

Otherwise, no problemo.

BTW, most of the gas stations we saw were small, not "big box."