The recurring error in family trips to Spain is treating it as a small country. It is the second largest in Western Europe, and the gap between the places everyone wants to see is measured in five and six-hour legs. With children in the back, that is the difference between a good week and a bad one.
The real distances
| Route | Distance | Driving time |
|---|---|---|
| Madrid → Seville | 530km | ~5h |
| Barcelona → Madrid | 620km | ~6h |
| Seville → Granada | 250km | ~3h |
| Seville → Córdoba | 140km | ~1h45 |
| Granada → Málaga | 130km | ~1h30 |
| Madrid → Valencia | 360km | ~3h30 |
The implication is straightforward: pick one region per week. A route taking in Barcelona, Madrid and Andalusia in seven days spends roughly seventeen hours in the car, which with kids is most of the holiday.
Two routes that work
Andalusia, and nothing else
Seville (3 nights) → Córdoba (1) → Granada (2) → Málaga or Nerja (2). Longest single leg: three hours. Every city is compact and walkable, the Alcázar and Alhambra are genuinely engaging for older children, and you finish at the coast, which buys goodwill for the flight home.
The caveat is heat. Inland Andalusia in July and August regularly exceeds 40°C, and Córdoba and Seville become genuinely difficult in the afternoons. If you must go then, do sightseeing before 11am and treat the afternoon as pool time — which is what Spanish families do.
The green north
Bilbao → San Sebastián → Santander → the Asturian coast → Picos de Europa. Cooler in summer, spectacular coastline, excellent food, far fewer tourists. Legs are mostly one to two hours. This is the better choice for a July or August trip and almost nobody considers it.
Car seats, which are enforced by height
Spain requires an approved restraint for any child under 135cm, seated in the rear. Note that this is height-based, not age-based — a tall seven-year-old and a small eleven-year-old are treated differently, and families arriving with age-based assumptions get it wrong.
Rental companies charge 8 to 15 euros per day per seat. Over a week with two children that is 110 to 210 euros for equipment you cannot inspect until you arrive. Most airlines carry child seats free as an additional item — bringing your own is usually cheaper and always more predictable.
Tolls and roads
Spain has two parallel networks: AP motorways, which have historically been tolled, and A roads, which are free. A number of former toll sections have been returned to free operation in recent years, so check your specific route rather than relying on old advice.
Where tolls remain, they run roughly 8 to 12 euros per 100km. With children in the car they are usually worth it — the free A roads carry the lorry traffic and are markedly more tiring.
Spanish motorway service areas are good, with proper restaurants rather than only fast food, and the menú del día at a roadside venta is often the best meal of the day for around 12 to 15 euros.
City driving, and the one to avoid
Most Spanish historic centres restrict traffic, and Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia all operate low-emission zones with camera enforcement. Park in an underground garage on the edge of the centre — 20 to 30 euros a day — and walk.
Better: do not have the car during the city portions at all. Collect it when you leave the first city and return it when you reach the last. Andalusia's cities are connected by fast trains, so a hybrid trip — train between cities, car for the coast and the white villages — is frequently the least stressful version.
Small things that matter
Book an automatic explicitly if you need one. Spanish lunch runs from 2pm to 4pm and many kitchens genuinely close outside those hours, so a long driving leg that lands you somewhere at 5pm hungry ends in a service station. And fuel stations in rural Andalusia can be sparse — fill up when you are at half a tank rather than at a quarter.