Driving in Portugal and Spain, is that a good idea?

Stew, We traveled by bus to Toledo from Madrid. Its a quick day trip.

As for the car, Rick mentioned about dropping the car off at various destinations. On his site he has the rail/car package where you rent the car when you need to. You pick it up when you need to. Maybe that's what he meant?

My husband and I travelled by car for 2 weeks in May in Spain and a few days in Portugal. The roads are fantastic and the traffic minimal. Around Sevilla it is very busy the highways are well marked. We went to Toledo, Sevilla, Arcos, Rhonda, Tarifa, Salema Portugal on the Algarve and dropped the Car off at the Granada Airport so did not drive into Granada. Just follow the advice Rick gives - he is on the money. In Toledo do not stay at Hotel del Sol- hard to find and in this town my advice is find a spot on the edge of the old city and take a taxi in.

We traveled by car for most of our 3-week trip to Spain last year and we will have a car for our 2-week Spain/Portugal trip beginning next month. I was worried about driving at first (I speak and read very little Spanish), but it was no problem. The roads are excellent. Although we drove in many cities (Mardrid, Seville, Granada, Nerja), we didn't use the car as our primary form of transport in urban areas. Instead, we used Rick's Spain book and other materials to find parking garages or public parking lots. Then, we walked or took public transport to see the sites. It's a challenge driving in Spanish towns and cities (narrow, narrow streets, fast, fast drivers). So unless you want to pretend you are a Grand Prix driver, I recommend using the car mostly for country touring and city-to-city driving and park it and use other transport within towns and cities.

We just returned from a 10 day trip to Spain. Rented a car in Seville after AVE trip from Madrid. We picked up the car from the RENFE station in Seville after site seeing the city's main attractions. We then made an easy exit out of the city to Italica (easy to find) and then on to Arcos, Tarifa, Granada and returned the car at the RENFE station in Cordoba. Driving is Spain is a breeze, parking is the issue. Since we took a bus for a day trip from Madrid to Toledo (fyi: RS's directions from the bus station to the Cathedral - a must see - are confusing) so can't help there, but there are plenty of 24 hr parking garages in Granada. Once you settle on a hotel, ask the hotel where the closest garage is located.

I agree with Greg and Jody, the problem with Europe in general is not so much the driving itself, rather parking afterwards. Renting a car will give you an excellent opportunity to see some places which would be otherwise impractical to visit. However, I should like to make a few points:

1. Especially while in southern Spain, do not leave anything in the car that you are not prepared to lose! Violent crime is virtually non-existent, but breaking into cars seems the local sport. (In many Spanish cities a junky will 'request' a tip for 'helping you to park. This does not mean that he will protect your car.)
2. Full risk insurance may be available from the rental agency. This has always, in my experience, been worth the money.
3. Treat cyclists with care, they are generally smaller, lighter, slower and more fragile then the folks in cars.

Enjoy your travels.

I would agree that driving in Spain is mostly a breeze on the motorways but many towns and villages (even some quite large ones) often have very very narrow streets and it is easy to get locked into a nightmare one-way system. Driving in the old parts of Seville and Granada is so difficult as to be near impossible and parking plain impossible unless you know a parking station. Parking stations are common and well marked - and your GPS should help you too if you have one. I have not experienced the car breaking into problem and I live in southern spain, but many parking stations have very small spaces and it is common to incur car damage of a minor sort due to that.