I am looking for a home base town, gite or hotel accomodation from which I can explore the eastern Pyrenees, Costa Brava and/or Barcelona. I will be flying back to London from Toulouse. (Trip planned for July 2010). This will be for one week after spending two weeks in the Sarlat area. Would appreciate recommendations/suggestions/opinions. Would one week in Barcelona be sufficient? Where to stay? I don't want to do alot of travel time by rental car each day. Does anyone know the approximate drive time between Barcelona and Toulouse? I seem vague at this point and just trying to get some ideas. Help!

Toulouse to Barcelona is approx 4 hours.
I don't advise you to drive into Barcelona : parking is very difficult and traffic horrendous. I would return the car in Girona and take a train or a bus to Barcelona (which deserves at least 3 days).
Girona would be a good base for day-trips to the Coasta Brava and France.

Many thanks Pvoyageuse. Girona looks very good as a base. I am torn between spending the entire week in Barcelona and taking public transport between Toulouse and Barcelona (i.e. giving up the car) .... or .... keeping the car and exploring the French/Spanish areas and saving Barcelona for another trip. Decisions, decisions.

If you rent the car in France and return it in Spain, it is going to cost you a lot.
If you drive from Toulouse to Girona, you could leave the car at Girona airport for 2/3 days (it will cost you €54 a day at the cheapest parking lot) and take a bus from the airport to Barcelona. They are very frequent and take approx. 90 mn.
Go back to Girona the same way, pick up the car and drive back to Toulouse.

Sorry, it's €5 a day !!

I guess it's a silly question, but can't you fly back from Barcelona? EIther way, if you take the car in France, you can do the Spanish side, but return the car in Perpignan train station(French side) and save at least 200 EURO in drop-off charges. From Perpignan both trains and buses to Girona and Barcelona. My son is doing this in 2 weeks so I will be able to tell you more later.