My wife and I are going to Spain in early April and we plan on doing a fair amount of driving around the country. We are picking up a car in Barcelona and driving south to Malaga. Can anyone tell me how long a drive it is from Barcelona to Granada? From the distance it doesn't appear to be doable in under 8 hours but I could be wrong. Additionally, what about the driving time from Granada to Malaga?

Thanks for the help!

Roughly it is about 800 km from Barcelona to Granada. And about 90 km from Granada to Malaga.

Driving in Spain is wonderful. The speed limits aren't enforced on the highways. From the map I'm using it appears that it's not a major highway on this route, however, it should be decent highway. It doesn't appear to be a toll road so that will help on expenses.

With their gas prices, I recommend getting a diesel powered vehicle. You really won't notice much performance difference in the cars, except at the pump.

Have fun...I was driving around Spain in September.

spain is easy to drive...just tough to park in the older sections of the major cities, e.g., Sevilla, but this is true for much of Europe.

speaking of diesel, be careful to select the right product when you fill your tank. some years ago, i stopped at a gas station and filled my rental with the cheapest product, which at that time was labelled "gasolina." i figured, why pay extra for super? well after a few miles, the car started to sputter and eventually died. fortunately was able to restart and limp into another station, whereupon i learned that "gasolina" is actually diesel, and that the unleaded gas is labelled "super." mechanic was kind enough to drain the tank (only $5) - but it cost quite a bit @ $5/gallon to re-fill the tank with the correct gas.

We were driving from Rota to Gibraltar at the posted 100kph limit. Went around a turn and the road had a fairly steep downslope. Limit went from 100 to 80 to 60 in about 200 feet. I was stopped for doing 83 in a 60 - 25K pesatas (about $190 at the time), cash on the spot. Fortunately had a mixture of potatos and dollars. There were about 10 other cars stopped along the road. Pretty little town on the hill overlooking the speed trap - Must have been budget time.

How much does diesel cost in Spain?

Here in the US it's now more expensive than regular unleaded, but that seems to be a supply-and-demand issue more than anything else.

I know that diesel-powered cars (such as some VWs) tend to be much more fuel efficient than gas-powered cars. Makes a difference when faced with Europe's high fuel costs.

These two web sites are great and you can use them to plan your car intinerary and print out maps.

www.viamichelin.com
www.maporama.com

You can see the current fuel prices in Europe here. Hopefully you can make sense out of the Danish country names. Prices pr litre in Dkr as well as Euro.
As for "Spanien" (Spain) , there does not seem to be that much of a difference between diesel and gas:
http://www.trafikken.dk/wimpdoc.asp?...nt&objno=14758

By the way, "diesel " is "gasoil" in Spanish.

Be prepared to have your hubcaps stolen. We rented a car at the Malaga airport, drove to our beach front condo in Fuengirola and went to bed. When we woke up the next morning our hubcaps were missing. When we mentioned it to the concierge, he said, "Of course, they always steal your hubcaps on your first night in Spain. After that they are gone."

Driving was very easy and fun, however, customs returning from Gibraltar to Spain was the longest I have ever experienced. We were very glad that we had lots of water.

During our time in Spain, we would freeze bottles of water each night. This worked out fabulously because they would remain cold throughout the day. We also bought a small styrofoam cooler which we kept in the car.

Diesel is NOT called 'gasolina'. Every station near my house says 'diesel' on the pump. Other options are indicated by octane rating, which is typically much higher than in the US. Cheapest is 95, which is what I usually use, and pay 89.9/l. 'Sin Plomo' (unleaded) is 97 octane and Super is 98 and costs around 15% more. Diesel is around 82.8/l.

We just drove from Barcelona to Granada over the holidays and it was around 9 hours with little traffic. We took the freeway down to Valencia and then a national highway over and down to Andalucia, with a stop in Sevilla, one in Cordoba, and another in Granada. FWIW, aside from the Alhambra, Granada is kind of a ****hole. As my friends say, they don't call it Granada for nothing. We saw and did a lot more, in a lot less gentrified/ugly city, in Cordoba.

They DO enforce the speed limits on the highways, and fines are extremely expensive. In addition, the national highways are mostly 2-lane and full of rotundas...don't plan on averaging more than around 60km/h. Lots of trucks.