We will be renting a car to leave Madrid to travel to Marbella. Can anyone suggest a good route and a short midway stop for lunch. We want to stop in Toledo for a quick look and also would like to stop in Cordoba. We can't stay overnight anywhere so it might be too long of a drive to stop at all. Better planning next time on our part is obvious so I welcome any suggestions. Thanks

We are making that same trip to a timeshare in Marabella. I look forward to any suggestions from the most informative group of people I have seen yet.

If you can't make an overnight stop, I would suggest that you don't detour to either Toledo nor Cordoba. You won't have time to do these places justice and will feel frustrated if you just get a glimpse of either and can't really look round. The journey will take you around six hours as it is, so don't add to it.

If it was me, I would get on the road at around 8.30 or so and stop just south of Madrid at Aranjuez for breakfast. This is situated just a kilometre or two from the motorway and is worth having your tostada and cafe con leche here, instead of in the city.

A stop for lunch would be just after you enter Andalucia, when the road splits into two. By that I mean that the southbound section that you will be on heads off on one side of a valley and the northbound carriageways come up the other side. The scenery here is spectacular. A little way along this section you will find a couple of "ventas" or roadside restaurants, with good views from the terraces and good food.

When you come to Bailen, ignore the Cordoba sign and head south, direction Jaen and Granada. You skirt round Granada, but you will see the city nestling under the snow capped mountains of Sierra Nevada (sounds like I'm writing a travel guide!). Another hour or so and you reach Malaga. Keep going round the city on the road marked Algeciras / Cadiz and then once past the airport you can either take the coast road, which takes longer, has more traffic, but nice views of the Mediterranean, or the new inland toll motorway, which doesn't but is easier to drive on. Marbella is about 40 minutes from Malaga. Where are you staying, as the municiplaity extends for quite some distance and I'll give you directions to where you want to be?

Thanks Anchovy Front. This site it the best. I looked closer at my map and I figured you'd reply to skip those towns. It's a little hard to tell which roads are main ones but I see that E05 out of Madrid is the one you are talking about and looks like a main highway. Then the split turns into E902. We will be staying at the Four Seasons Country Club timeshare in Marbella. We are fortunate that my Aunt asked us along. While on this subject, is Sevilla do-able for a one day trip from Marbella? I know it is not ideal but my husband and I would really like to see it. If not, my Aunt and my Mother are taking three days to return to Madrid and thought about going to Sevilla and maybe Cordoba on the way back. Is that feasible? Any suggestions on that or any other day trips you would recommend would be greatly appreciated. We have been studying websites and travel books but first hand knowledge is great. Thanks

Wow you gave such great information - My family is staying at the Barratts Lola Club timeshare in Marabella. I am interested in going to Morocco for a day. Is it worth it?

Okay, a quick reply before I knock off for the day! In both cases, after you go round Malaga and past the airport, 15 minutes later you will come to Fuengirola where you choose the toll road or coast. Don't take the toll road, now I know where you're heading. Devon, Barratt's Doña Lola Club is actually in Mijas Costa, not Marbella and you are 10 minutes from Fuengirola and about a 20 minutes drive from Marbella town. When you get there, say hello to the receptionist called Pepe and tell him Irene's (pronounce it ee-ray-nay) cuñado (brother in law) sends his regards to him! I have lived here for 15 years and haven't been on a day trip to Morocco yet, but search the board for info and thoughts on it.

Betharita, you are about ten minutes drive from Marbella town, near to where I normally go to the beach on a weekend. A day trip is just about possible to Sevilla, as it would take about two and three quarter hours driving and leaving early this would give you time to get a taste of my favourite city (I, me, my ... yak, yak, yak!!).

However, if you have a chance to take a leisurely ride back to Madrid, I would spend a night in Sevilla and travel on to Cordoba and have a night there and then back to the capital, having a late lunch in the square at Chinchon, this time, on the way to Madrid. There are some great trips you can make from your bases, but I'm knackered now and have to go home, so they will have to wait!