Hello!
My family of 5 (3 kids-13,11 & 7 yrs. old) will be staying 4 nights in Barcelona (7/27-30) before heading up to Begur (7/31-8/3) for 3 nights. Originally I was looking to rent a car for the later part of the trip (7/31) from downtown Barcelona (we are staying near the Passeig de Gracia metro station on Carrer de Pau Claris), drive out of the city in the morning and stop at Tossa de Mar for lunch mid day before heading up to Begur.
Although there are rental car companies nearby, I've read a bunch of bad reviews for almost all of them. Some people have recommended renting outside of Barcelona, as it is hard to get out of the city center and thieves target tourists and rental cars by slashing tires at traffic stops. I would really like to have a rental car option as we plan on a day out at Pals and driving between some of the nearby coastal towns from Begur during our stay up in the Costa Brava.
My questions are:
1. How bad is the traffic, roads getting out of the city and how often do these tire slashing happen? My husband will be driving, and he is a good driver, used to NYC traffic for work and the roundabouts in NJ where we live. I've read from terrible to not so bad, so I'm thinking we can handle it. The tire slashings, I read are common in July when the tourists come in and are followed out pretty much from the rental car locations. Reviews have said that the rental companies have been slow, indifferent and overcharging a lot in these instances.
2. If it is not recommended to rent a car from downtown Barcelona, how far out should one go out? There are some locations for Enterprise at the Glories location if it's worth it? Is that far out enough, and thus easier to get onto the major roads?
3. If car rentals and driving from Barcelona is a hassle, would it be worth it to take the train up to Girona and rent a car from there? We would still have about an hour drive to Begur after the train ride, and would have to cancel stopping by Tossa de Mar on the way up.
4. I've looked into bus options too, but from the biggest town close to Begur (Palafrugell) there does not seem to be available car rentals for a family of 5 this close to the trip and peak season.
5. Lastly, if we are going to rent a car from Barcelona (most likely?), which are the most decent ones downtown? Granted each one has had their horror story in reviews, but trying to find the best out of the worst. We will go for the basic protection plan as I heard a lot of places make a big fuss over this, get super rude and difficult, and a local friend who is from Barcelona told me to just get it, as something has always happened to her car rentals whenever she visited and used one.
Sixt is out of our price range ($670-755 for 4 days w/ CDW). EuropCar has options from $558-596 with same days and protection, while Enterprise comes in at $449.55 and Avis at $486. My husband is a Hertz Gold member, but they are not as centrally located or in the opposite direction of where we are heading out, and reviews still have horror stories for Gold members regardless. I'm leaning towards Enterprise and Avis, or might splurge on EuropCar for a little peace of mind (though that is the location of the tire slashings I read about on TripAdvisor, but EuropCar seems to have overall better reviews than Enterprise and Avis)
Thank you for any feedback- I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has done this somewhat recently, as well as during the peak summer season. I know I sound paranoid and my husband thinks I am totally overthinking this, but from my experience the worst always happens when you assume all will go well!
Best, Judy
Posted by
11570 posts
Go to AutoEurope for car rentals. I have never heard about tire flashings, horrible. Where did you hear about this?
We turned our rental car in at the airport when we arrived in Barcelona. You could pick yours up there.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Hi Suki,
Thanks for your response. I checked AutoEurope too, but prefer/heard it's better to go to the car rental website as there is confusion between the policies, etc. between what AutoEurope has online and the actual car rental agency. In any case, through AutoEurope I did find the best deal for Avis and then went directly to the Avis website. The question is how reputable is that Avis location-some not so great reviews online.
Unfortunately, the airport is in the opposite directions of where we are heading, thus looking for somewhere downtown or nearby on the way out of town. And we do not want to rent a car while we are in Barcelona, as it is not necessary with the local transportation and lack of parking and expense.
Here is the posting I saw during my search on TripAdvisor. If you read the comments following, it seems to be a somewhat common in the area during the season :(
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k11750552-Tire_slashing_in_Barcelona_response_of_car_rental_company-Barcelona_Catalonia.html
Best, Judy
Posted by
Barcelona + Sweden
4180 posts
Hello, I am from Barcelona and I have never heard of this tire slashings, it may be a very localized occurrence in that particular neighborhood. Whenever I need a rental car in Barcelona I always go to the airport, I find they just have the best selection/service etc I usually just go with Enterprise, from there just take the B-20 north to circumnavigate the main city traffic, on your way to Begur. On your way back you can probably return the rental in the city closer to your hotel.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7160 posts
I rent from the airport I land at, for the reason Carlos stated. My preferred company is Avis. I too have never heard of tire slashing in Spain. Of all the times I’ve rented cars in Spain, I’ve never had any incident, or break-in. I did get speeding ticket by speed camera for going 6km over the limit, so watch your speed.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you all for your responses. Relieved to hear that things are not as bad as I thought. Unfortunately renting from the airport we land at is not really an option due to parking and expenses while we are in Barcelona. Unless it is worth it to go out there from central Barcelona just to pick up the rental, then head back. Either way, thank you for all your responses and reassurance!
Posted by
Barcelona + Sweden
4180 posts
Hi, you don't have to rent right when you land, you can just go out to the airport when you need to. It should not add much more time if you do that, then you just drive around Barcelona rather than through it, northwards to Begur using the B-20 road, as I mentioned above, no need to over think this :)
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Wonderful! Thank you all for your advice, but I won't tell my husband he was right that I was overthinking things as usual :)