Travelling by rental car in the Costa Brava

I take the holidays of Easter Week to go travelling with my daughter and a co-worker, and discover the beaches and resorts of the Costa Brava, which until now we only know from the maps on the Internet. Lloret de Mar is located 70 km from Barcelona and 34 km from Girona. So if you plan to visit the Costa Brava, either option will be fine. As for us we take a plane from Palma de Mallorca to Girona, where we pick up a rental car to take us to the Fenals Garden, a hotel situated a short walk from the small beach of Fenals. With the help of the iPhone GPS we are able to calculate the route, and although a police officer of the Mossos d’Esquadra changes the initially plotted route for us, the GPS again finds another route that also allows us to reach our destination. Of course, sometimes it’s fine to have two drivers in the car to make sure that you are really going to where you think you are going. I´m specifically thinking of the dubious signage of the area which can be confusing to more than one driver … This is one of the examples we find: a sign indicates Lloret de Mar 14; few miles later, on the same road, another sign where it says Lloret 16 … well, the distance to Lloret is growing … Conclusion: As we are on vacation and there is no hurry, all roads sooner or later lead to Lloret de Mar …

Lloret de Mar

And so they do … After about 50 minutes drive we reach the hotel without much difficulty. After the trip we stay at the hotel charging our batteries to get energy for the next day by trying the facilities of the hotel such as the gym and the sauna. We dine at the hotel restaurant that offers a fine daily dinner buffet with a wide variety of dishes decorated with precision.

Day 2: Fenals, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar and Platja d’Aro
We start our adventure by walking towards the small beach of Fenals, which is the closest beach from the hotel. The sun is warm but strong gusts of cold wind do not make me feel like getting into the bikini on the golden beach of rather coarse sand.

Beach in Fenals

From the beach of Fenals we go up and down the hill that separates us from the spectacular beach of Lloret de Mar. It will soon be difficult to find a place where to place the towel on this popular one mile beach. One of the mandatory stops is to give a salute to the Dona Marinera, who is waiting for her husband the fisherman. Then we visit the stores of Lloret and sit down in one of the cafés to rest our legs and quench our thirst.

After a quick visit to Lloret de Mar we walk back to the hotel to get into the rental car. We decide to go north along the coast road. It takes a lot of time to get to Tossa del Mar, especially with the sharp curves, which can make you dizzy if you’re not you’re behind the wheel … We go through a mountainous terrain with lush green forest on the left, and at the same time on the right side and from above we can see the coastline with spectacular sea views.

Tossa de Mar is a small, cozy tourist resort a little more family orientated than Lloret de Mar, offering a small beach and a walled medieval enclosure, called the Vila Vella, which has seven round towers. We halt in one of the restaurants on the beach to eat a pizza before continuing our journey along the coast.

Tossa de Mar

Next we head for the Platja d’Aro, an impressive beach strip of more than two kilometres. Platja d’Aro is a former fishing village that has a nice harbour from where you can walk into a large urban centre with a variety of shops to spend hours of shopping.

Platja de Aro

Day 3: Blanes, Santa Susana / Malgrat, Calella and Sant Pol de Mar
On our third day we go to Blanes, which is divided into two zones, North Blanes and South Blanes. Again we get confused with the strange signage. We drive out of Blanes and then re-enter in … Blanes … Let’s see … how did we think here?

We follow the coast to Santa Susana / Malgrat, a developed tourist resort with some extensive beaches. Next to the beach there are several beach bars where people have something to drink accompanied by the rhythm of the most preferred music. The railway separates the beach from the commercial zone.

Malgrat de Mar

We plan to stop at Calella, but after almost an hour without getting a parking space, probably due to the market that takes place on the road to the beach this day, we continue to Sant Pol de Mar, one of the places with most charms along the coast of Barcelona. Sant Pol is a small fishing village that has turned into a resort playground mostly for national tourists of middle- high purchasing power, and is therefore a good contrast to the nearby resorts with their large hotel complexes based on international tourism.

Sant Pol de Mar

Popular hotels:

Fenals Garden
Central location 350m from the beach in Lloret de Mar.

Golden Bahia de Tossa
800 m from the beach.

Blau Apartamentos
A popular residence in Lloret del Mar.