AboutVíctor Díaz Expertise I live in Madrid,and travel frequently to Valencia. I have also travelled to many places all over spain, if haven't been there i'd try to help anyway providing my knowledge and links.
I enjoy trekking in the mountains, and know pyrinees, Picos de Europa and mountains in the center.
Question We will be staying in Barcelona from October 3 (2 or 3 days) then would like to rent a car to travel the coast.
First plan: drive from Barcelona to Valencia (stay 1 day) then drive to Granada (stay 2 days) then drive to Tarifa (stay 1 day) then Arcos (stay 1 day) then Sevilla (stay 2 days) then Cordoba (stay 1 day) then Toledo (stay 1 day) then Madrid... but after reading it seems that this drive might first not be interesting, may be a problem having a car in the major cities (breaking of windows, thieves, problem with parking, traffic...) What do you think?
Second plan: fly from Barcelona to Granada (pick up a car to travel to Nerja, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Arcos, Sevilla), drop off car in Sevilla and fly to Madrid.
Third plan: keep the car and continue to drive from sevilla to Toledo and Madrid (drop off car in Madrid)
Fourth plan: do not rent a car... travel between cities either by AVE train or flights.
What would you recommend. I have driven all over Greece and it was so beautiful and satisfying but now with all I have read about Spain & driving... I am a bit scared and confused of what is best to do...
Thank you for your advice!
Answer Hello Harmony
Main roads in Spain are in good condition, most of the planned routes are connected by highways, some tolled, others not. Notice in Spain highways tolled have a 'P' with the number of highway, for example, A7 along the mediterranean coast change the name to AP-7 when is tolled.
I think that some parts of your travel will be spent just driving by highways, which usually haven't the best scenery, and you don't have time to spend several days driving by some other secondary roads or making detours just to see the countryside or places of interest in your way.
At this point your second plan looks better to me, if you drive from Barcelona to Granada via Valencia you will have very shrot time to visit Valencia (deserves almost a full day at least) and will have to take valuable time to travel from Valencia to Granada.
I recommend to fly from Barcelona to Granada (there are low cost flights as well with Vueling) rather than using trains (a long distance).
After leaving Valencia, as you plan to visit Nerja, Gib, Arcos (white villages route?) here the car is almost a must, you couldn't visit all these with just public transport.
I would add Ronda in this part of the travel, if possible.
For Gibratalar i have read that there are frequent jams to leave the rock because of strict controls in the border with Spain. Many people recommends to leave the car in Spain, by the border and just walk into Gib and then take a taxi or bus.
Dropping te car in Sevilla is a good idea, once you have visited the towns, you won't need it anymore. Instead of flying to Madrid i recommend AVE high speed train.
There are places to visit between Valencia and Granada, and Sevilla and Madrid but not as important to get a car just for these part of the travel. Once in Madrid you may visit Toledo as daytrip (it is only 30min by high speed train from Madrid)
Also the bigger problem with cars in cities is parking and driving in the historic districts, with many pedestrian streets or only for local transit. You would need an hotel with parking. Thieves: just don't leave anything visible inside the car, everything in the trunk.
