My mother and I will be flying into Paris in late August and have 11 days to make it down to Andalucia for a wedding. We are trying to decide if we should rent a car or just take train trips between the cities (perhaps with overnights on the train). Our itinerary will likely be the following, with a day or two at various stops as we determine which ones we are most attracted to: 1.) Paris - Amboise 2.) Amboise - Sarlat 3.) Sarlat - San Sebastian 4.) San Sebastian - Madrid 5.) Madrid - Sevilla
6.) Sevilla - Alajar So the question is, we like the idea of getting to see more of the countryside (esp. Dordogne region) with a car and having the flexibility, but is driving that far a crazy idea? Will the tolls and petrol be more expensive than trains? Will having a car just be too stressful (esp in Madrid, but we won't have the car in Paris). Any insight would be very appreciated!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16247 posts
It will also be expensive to take the car from France to Spain and drop it there. Why not do some of each? Drive the car in France and drop it where you can catch a train to San Sebastian. It looks like Biarritz or Bayonne would work. You might have to spend quite a bit of time in Irun as the trains don't connect up very well, even though it is a short hop to San Sebastian. At least that is the way it looks on Bahn.de. Maybe someone can suggest a bus that would be better to connect Irun and San Sebastian.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
I agree with Lola, you'd be best to combine cars and trains to fit your itinerary and avoid the foreign drop off fees. Avoid a car in the major cities like Madrid where it does you no good and is expensive to park. But rent a car for rural areas and taking your time getting between major destinations. Take the train to cross the border and save considerably money on the rental.