Barcelona Travel Forum

Hey all;

I am visiting brcelona on 19th of July, well spend 3 days there and then i ll drive all the way to Malaga. i ll visit some cities in-between.

here is my plan for 3 days driving:

Tarragona
Peñiscola
Valencia
Guadalest
Alcoy
Alicante (Or Benidorm)
Elche
Cartagena
Granada
Malaga (drop the rented car here)

what is the best way to rent car in barcelona? should i do it before i come over there?

and what do you think about my plan?

You are planning a hard, long drive with only 3 days in which to complete it!

On a rough calculation I would reckon a distance of about 1220 kms and a driving time of 16 - 18 hours. So - when you add resting time and sleeping time you will have little left over for sightseeing.
Without knowing what you are most interested in and would like to see, it is difficult to recommend which places you should consider omitting but I would remove Benidorm as a starter.

Take a look at some of the VT travel Guides on your selected destinations (use the search box at top right of the page) to help you pare down the list.

Use
www.viamichelin.com
to help plan your itineraries with distances and drive times.
Remember some road are mountainous and cannot be travelled at speed.

It would save time to pre-book your hire car if you plan to pick it up on arrival at the airport in Barcelona.
Google Car Hire Barcelona airport and all the internationally known companies will appear National, Hertz, Budget, Eurocar etc.
All of these are reliable and competitive.

Have a great trip and ask more questions if needed.

Can't add much to the excellent reply from Barbara above

Just that it will be not precisely "scenic" if you take the fast route: you will spend most of your time in boring highways

If you take the scenic side roads, is just not feasible in your time frame.

Stopping at *all* these places may feasible if your aim is just ticking the "I've been here" on your map, not really seeing much and even less enjoying these places.

Entering/leaving Tarragona and Valencia will take some time and these cities deserves a full day as a bare minimum. Same for Granada that actually deserves more (will you go there and don't see the Alhambra?). Benidorm definitely will be the first one being drop from my list (better said, I would never be on my list!)

regarding renting a car, you usually get much better prices over the net than on the spot (not to say you can find there are no available cars, at least the cheap options). You my try Carjet.com, it is a broker

well you may want to see driving sites like viamichelin or the spanish repsol and will tell you 3 days driving to see all those points is too much.

You can rent cars at the airport, or train stations in Barcelona where you have many names to choose from, when I need to rent i use from abroad autoeurope or kemwel and in Europe hertz. I always rent in advance.

Seeing that you are from lovely Oman, you may like to spend some more time in the Andalucia region and enjoy the scenery as well as the old histrionic sights and culture. I am aware that it is easy to fly from Barcelona to Granada which could be your starting point for your exploration of Andalucia ? How about visiting the Alhambra and other places then renting a car to go to Cordoba , Seville, Cadiz then Malaga? Of course it depends on your schedule but you will find plenty to see and the scenery is quite varied especially if you go through the inland hills.
Just my idea. Of course you can drive from Barcelona to Malaga and using the Autovias Motorways should be about 10 hours driving time. So if you divided the time up then you can do it in easy stages, but perhaps cut out visits to some places in 3 days.

I second Belsaita's suggestion to rent a car through carjet.com
We have used them many times - the car is actually rented from one of the big companies I mentioned earlier - in our case nearly always Eurocar.
carjet is a very easy company to deal with and issues, via the Internet, very clear information about their services and terms and conditions.

In blunt terms the costal scenery of Spain is dire due to the development of hotels etc - its ruined, having said that the cities are not much better and I wouldn't be raving over any of the ones you've listed.

Head inland and do the villages, Ronda, Morella, and the Choricco Gorges - thats the beautiful Spain

Hey All:);

Well first of all I am sooo impressed by all those nice replies, so I want to thank u all for your time and your advices.

I ll take your advices and I ll try to Drop some cities from my list and make it like nice one. Ok (Benidorm) is out from now, but I would like also to visit TERRA MITICA near that city, I guess it ll be good to rush some adrenalin in our blood (me and my friend). I guess I ll just make it with 3 or 4 places before I reach Malaga.

Ok another Q, what do you think about GPS? Do they rent over there? Or do I have to ask about it in some other places? I know that I can print some GPS maps and routes from viamichelin.com but I think I ll still need GPS. Any advices?

and Thanx again from Oman :)
Ahmed

if you need an adrenaline shot.... Universal Port Aventura is much better that Terra Mítica (well that's my opinion). It's a full day thing indeed

I do full agree with the previous poster who said that the inland towns are way much nicer than the coastal ones. Morella is truly beautiful, Ronda as well, don't know the other place.

On the coast, the Delta of the Ebro River has wonderful landscapes and it's a protected area. But you just have no time enough!

Two only places I would not drop from the ones you said are Tarragona (if just for its roman remains and lovely old town) and Valencia (cathedral and the Arts&Science complex) and of course Granada. However, 3 days will be NOT enough to "do" just Tarragona, Valencia and Granada, at least if you really want to see something there. Not to say adding a theme park and stopping in towns in between. Spain is bigger than it looks at the map!

Can't help about your GPS question

Some car rental people can offer GPS.
See Hertz - but you will need to verify it is available at time of booking. Some parts of Spain are prone to petty theft and car breakins so obviously this is a factor when leaving your car with valuables inside. Not like Oman !
https://www.hertz.es/rentacar/byr/index.jsp?targetPage=NeverLostInEurope.jsp?leftNavUserSelection=globNav_3_5_1&;selectedRegion=Europe

Following on from puerto_lover's advice - never, ever leave any visible valuables in the car - cameras/satnav/shopping parcels/jackets.
Keep the car doors locked particularly when driving through city centres (my handbag was stolen from the back seat of the car when I stopped at traffic lights)
The chances are you will NOT have any experience of theft - but precautions help to keep you and your belongings safe.