Ronda to Granada - by train or by car?

Navigating Granada behind the wheel of a car is about as intimidating a task as any you'll have while in Europe. Returning the car in Ronda is definitely the "easy" solution". On the other hand, driving will allow you the flexibility to better enjoy some of the very pretty country between Ronda and Granada.

Personally, I'd drive. Have fun, whatever you choose.

Well, I like to think that I'm not dumb enough to try and drive a car into the old center in any European city...I'm assuming that I'll be able to drop the car someplace less challenging outside the old center. I have not made the arrangements for the car yet so that remains to be seen. Sounds like a nice drive, though.

Check the rates...I'm pretty sure the drop off charges in Ronda will be higher than in Granada...we drove to Granada and it is an enjoyable ride (we stayed in Nerja for two nights and really enjoyed ourselves)...you should be able to drop off the car at the Airport.

David....I'd drive.....since the old center of Granada is quite small when compared to the rest of the city (i'ts booming!), you won't have problems finding an agency to drop it outside the core. Maybe the airport, which is on your way into town. I agree with adynata...there's some great scenery on the way, and about half your journey will be on a 4-lane divided highway. Should be 2 1/2 hours to drive. For the more adventurous, you can run right through the mountains via highways A-366, A-354, A-343 to Antequera, then connect there to the four-lane A-92 to run into Granada. It's not for the faint of heart, with a fair number of windey sections, but magnificent scenery and some great little towns. That should add about 45 minutes to the trip time, plus any stops. Going by Nerja actually takes you out of your way if you're going Ronda-Granada.

David - We drove from Granada to Ronda and then on to Seville last October. Getting out of Granada was not hard at all. With good directions, dropping off the car should not be that difficult either.

I'm so glad we drove instead of taking the bus or train as it's such a beautiful area. It didn't take us 3.25 hours to drive between Granada and Ronda... Mapquest shows it as 2.25 hours and I think that's what it took us.

Thanks for the replies thus far. Turns out there's an additonal wrinkle in my plans. Looks like I might take the car for one more day, driving from Granada to Seville, and dropping the car off there.

In fact, I plan to rent a car in Lisbon, drive south to the Algarve for a couple of days, then head east into Spain and do the white hill towns for a couple of days, after which I was planning to drop the car in Ronda or Granada. But the extra wrinkle: if you rent a car in Portugal and drop it off in Spain, they ding you with a staggering fee. So to avoid that, I'm looking at following my original plan more or less, but actually switching cars at the Portugese/Spanish border: dropping the car on the Portugese side in Faro (closest town to the border that seems to have a car agency), taking a shuttle bus across to Huelva on the Spanish side, picking up a different rental car there, and proceeding east from there. From what I can tell, that would work (and would save like 1000 Euros - well worth the minor hassle). But the 2nd rental car would have a minimum 3-day requirement, so we would have the car for one more day.

So now my question is: how would the drive be from Granada to Seville? I would, of course, try to drop the car in Seville at some location that wasn't in the middle of crazy stuff (but would allow us to continue on to the center without it).

Any gotchas to watch out for on this plan? Thanks!

David,
Your plan sounds good. Be sure to budget some time to see the sunset at Cabo São Vicente (Sagres) and the fabulous fishing village of Carapateira. I know that Tavira has a few rental agencies, and is much, much closer (more time-wise than geographically, since Portugese buses are quite slow). The road from Seville to Granada is quite good. (I used to make that trip a couple of times a week.) Try to reserve the car for Santa Justa in Seville, and you will still be walking distance from downtown, but without the need to actually drive through the old part of the city.

adynata's exactly right...the train station (Santa Justa) in Sevilla is the best place to drop off your vehicle. And if you've got luggage, there's a city bus that'll take you into the upper part of the downtown core, or take a taxi...it's not far. As opposed to your initial journey from Ronda, the trip from Granada to Sevilla is on excellent four-lane divided highways.

Thanks for the additional info. Sounds like it should work, and the only slightly tricky part will be getting from the agency where we drop the first car (Faro or Tavira) to Huelva, where we'll pick up the second car (I know there's a bus from Faro to Huelva; I'll have to see if I can find one from Tavira to Huelva and see if that's quicker). I'll make a point of setting up the second car drop-off for Santa Justa.

Yes, we're planning a couple of days in and around at Cabo São Vicente/Sagres. This will be in the last few days of September -- I'm hoping that we'll be there when the crowds have thinned out a bit but still with warm, sunny weather. I'm looking forward to this corner of Iberia.

Thanks again.

David,
Hope for sun, but plan for some cool, windy weather in the Sagres area. I remember having to buy a heavy wool fisherman's sweater from a vendor at the base of the lighthouse at San Vicente one evening in the middle of August. (On the positive side, the sweater was cheap, and I still have it as a souvenir of the trip.)