Spain Transportation Tips by deecat Top 5 Page for this destination

Improvements in Transportation in Spain

Changes had to be made within Spain in the last 30 years concerning transportation:

Automobiles

Many new roads were built or widened to cope with the huge increase in automobile use. About 90% of people who travel in Spain do so by automobile; 75% of all goods are transported by road, too.

The most problems with traffic happen in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, & Seville. Also, along the coast in the summer, when all the resorts are filled, traffic is a real headache.

On most highways [autopistas], you have to pay a toll, although it's not very expensive.
Speed limits in Spain allow drivers on highways to travel at up to 80 miles an hour [130 km an hour]. While in Spain for 38 days, we leased a car [stick shift], and Allan loved it so much, he wanted to take the car home with us!

Train

One big problem in Spain has to do with railroads. The Spanish railroad lines are wider apart than those in most European countries. They are 9 inches wider to take the more powerful trains that were needed to cope with Spain's mountainous countryside.

Fortunately, the new Talgo train has been built with the capability of changing from Spanish tracks to those used elsewhere in Europe.

High-speed trains have been introduced to Spain, so now the 334 mile [538 km] journey from Madrid to Seville is just 2.5 hours as compared with the 6.25 hours it used to take.

Airplanes

In Spain, the fastest growing form of transportation is air travel. Since Spain has become a big tourist attraction, more than 70 million passengers travel through Spanish airports every year. More than half of these are on international flights! We flew from Chicago to the Madrid Airport. It was efficient and timely.

Because Spain has no canals and very few rivers. there has never been any internal navigation within the country.

Perhaps the biggest factor in the improvements in transportation is that more people travel; thus, there is much more pollution. Oh, the cost of progress!

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We LEASED a Car For Use In Spain

We traveled to Spain in 1999, and since we were to be there for 38 days, we knew from our experiences in Italy that it was cheaper to LEASE a car if you are going to stay over 17 days than to rent a car for that period of time.

We went through our AAA [American Automobile Association] to lease the car. They go through a company in France.

The representative in France met us at the Madrid Airport. He gave us the keys, all the papers, a "tour" of the car and how to operate it, important telephone numbers in case of an emergency, and directions of how to leave the airport. The man was efficient, well versed, and quite friendly.

The car that we leased was the 1999 Renault LaGuna. It was a great 5-speed shift car with lots of pick-up. There were three adults traveling together with our luggage, and we had more than ample room.

The advantages of leasing are that you receive a brand new car; the insurance is included in the price, and the assistance that you are given if you need it is extraordinary.
Needless to say, the fact that it is less expensive than renting a car for that amount of time also plays into the decision to lease.

My husband Allan loved this car so very much that he truly wanted to take it home with us. Spain is a mountainous country, and this car performed excellently.

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Other Contact: In USA, contact AAA

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