Rent a Car in Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba's historic centre — the Mezquita-Catedral, the Jewish Quarter and the Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs — is entirely walkable, and it's the better way to see it: much of the old town sits inside a low-emission zone where a car adds hassle rather than convenience. But Cordoba also sits at the crossroads between western and eastern Andalusia, and that's where a hire car opens up day trips that public transport makes slow and awkward.

Seville is just over an hour away on the A-4, and Granada, home to the Alhambra, is under two and a half hours via the A-92 and A-45. South of the city, the Sierras Subbeticas Natural Park and villages like Zuheros or Priego de Cordoba are under an hour's drive, through olive-grove landscapes no train route covers. Ecija and Baena, along the route toward Seville, are easy stops to fit in without depending on bus timetables.