We are flying in and out of Barcelona (May 23-June3), plan to spend 2 or 3 days in the city, and then rent a car and explore the Costa Brava, and possibly some points more north of Barcelona if time allows. I have millions of questions, but here are 3 for starters:

I have a rough idea of the places we'd like to go (Rupit, Peratallada, Tossa de Mar, Calella da Palafrugell, Girona, Figueres, Cadaques and more), but NO idea how much time to allot to each place, and would love to be able to play it by ear in terms of where to stay and for how long. Is it crazy to travel in those areas without hotel reservations? And if so, could somebody please suggest a reasonable route, which towns to stay in overnight and for how many nights? I'm figuring we will have 7 days to explore, and don't want to feel rushed. If time allows, would also love to see some of the little towns in the Lleida region, although I suspect time will not allow. I should mention we are not interested in spending time at the beach, but just exploring, mostly on foot.

In terms of renting a car, does it make sense to rent the car at the airport, as opposed to downtown? I keep reading about how difficult it is to drive in the city, and am assuming that from the airport it would be easier to get in and out of Barcelona without hassle. What I am thinking is we would spend our time in Barcelona without a car, and when we are ready to leave, we would take public transport to the airport and rent it there. Or is there some other spot in Barcelona where we could get the car and not have too much trouble leaving the city?

Also, in terms of returning to Barcelona, our flight leaves at 10:00 a.m., and I'm thinking if we rent the car from the airport, it would make sense to return it just before our flight. Is there someplace we could stay on that last night, perhaps a little outside of the city, where parking would not be a problem?

Thanks for any help you can give. I'm a total novice at this.

I will be following this thread as I would like to do a similar trip in the future. We did an overnight with rental car from Barcelona a few years ago. (We overnighted in Cadaques) It was fairly easy to drive out of the central city.

If you pick up the car at the airport be prepared to pay the airport pickup fee, which can be steep. The last time we picked one up at Madrid-Barajas, the fee exceeded one day's rental.

Avis has an office at Corcega, 293/295 that makes it fairly easy to drive out of the city. Since you will already be in the city, you can take a taxi, and your luggage, to the office, and not have to return to the hotel. You can arrange to drop the car off at the airport on your return.

I would also recommend booking your car in advance. We use Auto Europe or Kemwel most of the time.

Thanks so much for the rental car info. I had read about the airport pickup fee, but didn't realize it was so steep!

Consider reversing your trip and jumping in the car at the airport (check how much difference there is between pick up there and at a down town location) then driving to a location on the Costa Brava for that part of your trip and spending your final days of vacation in Barcelona after dropping your car at a downtown office. You can easily get a taxi to the airport from your Barcelona hotel and you don't have to pack and unpack one more time and spend your last night in an airport hotel. This is a question of balancing cost and convenience and Maximizing your time--and for me at least your meals in the wonderful, food rich city of Barcelona.

What a brilliant idea! Thank you.

Still hoping to get some guidance on an itinerary for Girona area and Costa Brava for 7 days. Anyone?

Im topping my trip report of Barcelona and Costa Brava for you. If you do a search on Costa Brava you will also find lots of other trip reports and ideas.

http://www.billiger-mietwagen.de/

renting in advance is always more favourable than at the airport.

Taking a taxi means you will be charged for EVERY piece of luggage which can sum up tremendously!

Also walk-in rate at hotels can be much more expensive.

I cannot comment on the routing you are focusing on.

But May might mean many public holidays. I would book as much in advance as possible to make sure I get what I want and don't pay rack rates.

SV

Well I think I've finally figured out exactly what places we want to see, and now I need a sanity check to see if it's too much, and also some recommendations on where to spend each night.
Leaving Barcelona, we'll pass through Tossa de Mar, San Feliu de Guixo, Palamos, Calella de Palafrugell, Llafranc, Begur, Pals, Peretallada, Cadaques, Figueres, Besalu, Beget, Girona, Rupit and back to Barcelona. Would it make sense to have a home base in Girona and make day trips to all the other places?