all i can say is good luck,no really the spanish people are maniana,but make up for it on the roads you have to drive like them fast ,if you are a nervous driver i don.t recomend it ,but it is a challenge,especially on the coast roads.if you want to relax use the bus service,a car is good for going on trips,but i,d recommend the bus service any time saves on you falling out with the other half ,plus they drive on the other side of the road good luck any way,try using both car ,and bus service when staying local.

i forgot to mention the first time we drove from malaga airport we drove around it 3 times befor we took the right turning out.watch the sighns,thats all.

Hi there rebel.So it wasnt only me who drove around and around trying to find the exit out of the airport.
Took us 4 curcuits trying to find the Seville turn off,then 40 mins getting lost in Malaga.The motorways is another story.
One thing i will say is if you are attempting to drive on Spanish roads is drive during the day,as our flight landed at 10pm and we took it for granted that it was the same as driving in the UK.What should have took us 40-45 mins took us a epic 3 1/2 hrs(It got too such a stage with me and the missus bickering so much that we nearly ended sleeping in the car till dawn)
We attempted this last year,all i can say is what a nightmare.
rebel you described it perfectly.Anyone attempting it, all i can say is, the best of British.

We have never picked up a car from the airport but we would always rent a car a few days into our holiday for a week. Now I dont do the driving the hubby does that. We are just back from Portugal and his mantra for the week was The Roundabouts are Anticlockwise. The roads around Malaga are really good. We were there in July and they were really busy with lots of traffic jams but I would imagine come October that they will have got a lot quieter. Hope this helps. Have a great holiday.

The roads themselves are very good, although the slip roads onto the motorway tend to be quite short and at difficult angles.

The standard of driving can be poor, but it is in the UK as well.

If you are careful and drive sensibly, you should not have a problem.

Alan

thx to everyone for replying you have helped me a great deal, once again many thanks

I understand that the roads west of Malaga may be busier than here in Almeria but you will generally find that the roads in Spain are very good for the amount of traffic they have.

Hopefully the mods won't mind me pointing you towards this page of mine where I have (I think) some useful info on driving in Spain:
http://www.spanish-web.com/driving/index.php