Car Rental Costa Brava: Pick-Up, Driving and Booking Tips

It depends on how you plan to spend the fortnight. If you are staying in Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar or Blanes and mostly want the beach, Costa Brava transfers from Girona take little more than 20 minutes, and a pre-booked airport transfer or a package with transfers included will do the job perfectly well.

The case for car hire on the Costa Brava grows the moment you want to explore. Measured from the middle of the coast, Palamós and Sant Feliu de Guíxols are only around 5 miles out, but Roses is about 29 miles away and Cadaqués roughly 32 miles, while Blanes lies some 18 miles in the other direction. Sights such as Montgrí Castle above Torroella de Montgrí, the Salvador Dalí House Museum in Cadaqués, the dolmen and Visigothic settlement near Roses, and the medieval Vila Vella in Tossa de Mar are spread across that whole stretch.

A car also lets you hop between the smaller villages that buses serve less often: Begur, Pals with its Jam Museum, and tiny Calella de Palafrugell, home to fewer than 800 people.

Girona (GRO) is the natural choice. It has direct flights from the UK and is the closest airport to the southern resorts: about 21 minutes to Lloret de Mar, 22 to Tossa de Mar and 23 to both Blanes and Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Collecting at the terminal means you are on the beach road within half an hour.

Barcelona (BCN) also has direct UK flights and often more choice of times. From there it is around 64 minutes to Blanes, 69 to Lloret de Mar and 75 to Tossa de Mar. If you are weighing a transfer from Barcelona to the Costa Brava against a hire car, remember that a car turns that hour-plus drive into the first leg of your holiday rather than dead time. Barcelona's ferry port is roughly 38 miles from the centre of the coast, worth knowing if you arrive by sea.

Most journeys are short. The southern trio of Blanes, Lloret de Mar and Tossa de Mar sit close together, and the middle of the coast around Palamós, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Calella de Palafrugell and Begur is compact enough for several stops in a day, perhaps La Fosca beach, the Iron Age Castell de la Fosca and the Museu de la Pesca in Palamós.

The northern day out is the longer one. Roses, with Castell de la Trinitat, the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Roses and Castell de Bufalaranya, and Cadaqués beyond it sit at the far end of the coast, so plan a full day and set off early, especially in July and August when the resorts are at their busiest and highs reach 29°C.

In the shoulder months the roads are quieter, though autumn is the wettest stretch: October averages 87 mm of rain over 11 days, so allow a little extra time on wet days.

Book early for July and August, which line up with UK school holidays and are when demand peaks. Choose a full-to-full fuel policy so you only pay for what you use, and check the excess before you sign; many British drivers arrange separate excess cover before travelling rather than buying it at the desk.

If you are travelling with children, reserve child seats when you book rather than on arrival, and bring your photocard licence and the credit card in the lead driver's name. If you are booking a package instead, check whether Costa Brava airport transfers are already included before adding a car for the whole stay; some travellers hire for just a few days in the middle. You can compare car-hire prices, package deals and tours side by side on this page.