I will be driving to Toledo from Madrid. I want to enter the city crossing Alcantara Bridge. Can anyone suggest me the most convenient parking for that and the direction. Thanks.

Follow the signs to "Centro Ciudad" and "Alcazar". There is a large pay parking garage at the top of the hill "on the back side " of the Alcazar. You can cover the town on foot from there.

Ummhh I don´t know it may be cheaper to take the train from Atocha to Toledo (about an hour and about 9 euros return). You can also park your car in the new
part of the city and take a taxi to the old one.

Regards,
Andrés

Parking a rental car can be a real pain...you want to do it as cheaply as possible (and without getting ticketed)--but you also want to keep the car and your belongings safe and avoid the hassles of searching all over for a place to leave the car.

What I have done on several trips is plan ahead...budget yourself $10-15 for parking every day (yes, this is quite a lot!). On some days, you'll find free parking and won't spend it. But on other days, you won't drive all over the place hoping to find a cheaper lot or a free space. I would rather plan to pay quite a bit for parking every day and be pleasantly surprised by the serendipitous cheap or free place than search for a better deal all the time.

In Toledo, you'll spend quite a lot to park right outside the city walls in a lot or in covered parking, for example, but you'll have an easy walk into town and won't have to try to navigate a maze of one-way streets. My advice would be to drive toward town, and once you're close to the walls, do a bit of reconnaisance and then just park the car wherever you find a pay lot. THEN, take out your map of Toledo and make a big X on the place where you have left your car, so you'll find it again.

I've parked in public parking in Toledo...there's a huge public lot on the back side of town (inside the walls), up to the left from the Bisagra gate (o man, I hope my senior memory isn't failing me here)...

It wasn't expensive, and was located well enough to find it in the labyrinthine streets at the end of the day. I suggest you do as taravb says and get a map, put an x on it, and make sure you don't lose your map...as in Toledo, you may lose yourself (and love it)!!!

Once we parked at the bull ring, alongside the Hotel Maria Cristina - no problem. I don't know how that fits with your Alcantara Bridge; but after touring Toledo, we did the panoramic tour.

I usually park in the bullring of Toledo too. Unless there is a bullfight, it's easy and free to park. The walls of the old city are less than 5 minutes walking and you'll find a tourist office in your way.

The streets behind the bullring are 'blue zone', so you can't park there for more than 2 hours and must pay, but i think that this doesn't work on saturdays afternoons and sundays. Street with this restrictions are clearly marked.

The bullring is in the entrance from the road to Madrid N-401. So coming from a different entrance you must look for the madrid exit that should be marked everywhere. Then the bullring will be on your left.

Thanks to all of you for so many responses.

Espanvol: I was strongly considering the lot behind Alcazar, studying the city map.

Andrés: I would have certainly take the train from Madrid, but from Toledo I will be on my way to my Timeshare exchange at Costa Del Sol.

Taravb: Nice suggestion. If I can't park, where I am planning, I will park outside the wall and of course put a cross on my map to find my way back.

CaliBasco: The way you describe, it seems like you parked behind Alcazar. At least that's how I interpret the Toledo city map.

Eddie and v diaz: Parking near the Plaza De Toros was my first choice by studying the map http://www.tourspain.es/turespai/ci42-48/toledo.pdf. In fact, the map shows a parking lot right accross the bull-ring. Now looks like there is parking just outside the bull-ring too. I may still park there, if I get too scared venturing deeper into the city.

I would still like to know, if could park on the opposite side of Puente De Alcantara, near the banks of river Tajo and enter the city crossing the bridge. Reading some web-sites it seems like a dramatic entrance to the city. I guess the railway station will be close to this bridge and it should have a safe parking lot.

Regards.
Utpal