You don't need to take organized tours! Local bus services like ALSA Enatcar or SecorBus can get you between cities-A & B much more economically. For 'long haul' travel, consider discount air or Rail.

Driving in Spain can get very expensive with the cost of fuel and Spain's toll roads. To make it an economical way to travel, you should have at least 3-people sharing expenses.

As for the International Driving Permit (IDP, not: 'License'), it gives your personal info in a number of Languages. Once, when I got pulled over for a traffic violation, the Motorcycle Guardia stamped a receipt for the fine I was required to pay on my IDP.

I don't know if Spanish rental companies accept 'Gold Card-provided' Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). A car rental Agent in Santander (Cantabria) told me that CDW was not valid and wanted to charge me about 12 Euro/day for CDW

When we´ve decided to rent a car in >Madrid at the last minute, we walked into a Viajes Iberia or Viajes Marsans (Travel Agencies) and they do all the work, though 2 weekends ago, we had no luck getting a minivan, and sometimes the quotes differ from place to place. I decided to go online that night and booked a reservation with Hertz International, with an office in Atocha. We received a good rate and bought the insurance.

Insurance-Like the others said, make sure your insurance covers you abroad, though I know from my insurance backround (worked for State Farm for 10 years), they only cover you 50 miles from the nearest U.S. border, so in Europe you won´t be covered by most <U.S. companies. I don´t think it is necessary to buy all the insurance offered, Collision Damage Waiver is good to cover the car, just don´t leave anything in the car to attract thieves, because, unless you purchase the personal property insurance, you won´t be covered.

driver´s license-Agree with the rest, don´t bother with the international license, we have never been asked to show it, ever.

Happy Travels....

I'd like to thank all of your. Your posts have been very very helpful!

-Rick