Last Updated on June 12, 2026
This past Easter holiday, or ‘Semana Santa’ in Spain, we decided to stay close to home and plan a road trip from Barcelona. My mother was visiting us from Boston, so we also wanted to show her the beauty of the Costa Brava. We had heard many good things about Girona, which is about 1.5 hours driving from Barcelona, so we decided to use it as a base. The good thing is that there are many beautiful places within driving distance of Girona. I would definitely recommend it as a home base and take day trips like we did. Read below to learn how to plan a road trip from Barcelona, discovering the beautiful city of Girona, plus other gems such as Besalú and Figueres.
Renting a car in Barcelona
In general, when renting a car in Barcelona I check both Autoeurope and Booking.com. They usually have the best prices. For our rental for Easter week, I ended up renting with Hertz at the Sants train station. We paid about 40 EUR a day including full insurance. It was 33 EUR a day before adding the full insurance (with a third party). I would say this is a pretty standard price for an automatic 5-person car. If you can drive a standard, definitely book that, because automatics are always more expensive in Europe.
Planning your Road Trip Itinerary
In Spain, the Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter are public holidays. This means that schools and offices are closed. Most schools are actually closed the entire week leading up to Easter. However, there are usually Easter camp options available. For example, we had Isabella in horseback riding camp from Monday to Thursday. For these reasons, we decided to plan our trip from Friday to Monday. I found a great Airbnb for us in Girona, but that was only available Saturday thru Monday. That left Friday night. My mother expressed that she would like to visit the Dalí museum which is located in Figueres. So I found a great Airbnb 3 minutes walking from the Dalí museum in Figueres for Friday night. Figueres is about 45 minutes driving north of Girona. So that made our route: Barcelona to Figueres, Figueres to Girona. We added a few other stops in between. See our itinerary below:
Barcelona to Girona 4 Day Road Trip Itinerary:
- Day 1: Drive Barcelona to Figueres. Visit Dalí museum. Reserve museum entrance ahead of time. Sleep in Figueres.
- Day 2: Drive from Figueres to Girona. Spend day sightseeing in Girona. Stay over in Girona.
- Day 3: Take a day trip to Besalú from Girona. Return to Girona.
- Day 4: Leave Girona and head back to Barcelona. Stop in Tossa de Mar for afternoon/lunch.
How to Plan a Road Trip from Barcelona: Barcelona to Figueres
Visit the Dalí-Theatre Museum in Figueres
Driving to Figueres from Barcelona is approximately 2 hours by car. It took us even longer (almost 3 hours!!) due to Easter traffic on Friday. When we arrived to Figueres we went straight to lunch at 50 Voltes Restaurant which I would HIGHLY recommend! It was most certainly the best meal of our trip! Be sure to order the fried calamari and the black sepia rice dish, they were excellent. The restaurant has something for everyone, so if you don’t want seafood they also even have pizzas. From the restaurant it was 3 minutes walking to the Dalí museum. I read that you should make a reservation ahead of time, because it can sell out for certain hours. It is timed entry every 15 minutes. We spent about 2 hours in the museum, which was more than enough time, especially with a toddler.
Drive from Figueres to Girona
We only stayed one night in Figueres, which was more than enough, as the main attraction is the Dalí museum. The next morning we drove to Girona, about a 45 minute drive. Beware that parking in Girona is incredibly difficult!! We finally found a spot at an outdoor shopping mall. I would recommend looking for parking a bit outside the city center at a mall or grocery store. We proceeded to have lunch at La Tabarra Girona, which I liked, but JC was not a big fan of. We then wandered the city, popping into shops and grabbing some frozen yoghurt at Myka. We also climbed a bit the city fortress walls for great views of the city. We didn’t do it, but you can take a Game of Thrones tour of the city, as they filmed parts of the series in Girona. For dinner we ate at Brots de Vi, which was ok, but the artichoke and crema catalana were both EXCELLENT.
How to Plan a Road Trip from Barcelona: Take a day trip to Besalú
The next day we took a day trip to Besalú from Girona. This was after opening Easter baskets and doing an Easter egg hunt, of course. Besalú is only a 30 minute drive from Girona. The town is gorgeous. It is incredibly picturesque with small cobbled streets and cute little shops and restaurants. One of the best view points is crossing the bridge and medieval tower for great views across the river of the medieval town. We ate at Restaurant Pont Vell which had a set menu for Easter. However, I would NOT recommend the restaurant as we waited for nearly 2 hours for our food!! Plus, it is very overpriced. Though the location with views of the bridge are beautiful.
Head back to Barcelona stopping at Tossa de Mar
The next day, we drove home from Girona, but took a slight detour to stop at Tossa de Mar. The drive from Girona to Tossa de Mar is a little less than 1 hour. Tossa de Mar is part of the famous Costa Brava, which is a strip of coast line north of Barcelona known for its beautiful beaches. We parked a bit outside the center, because Tossa de Mar is also very difficult to find parking. We paid 10 EUR for the entire day, although we only stayed less than 3 hours. We walked the city center, had a seafood lunch, walked the beach and had some ice cream. While it was nice to see the ocean, I don’t think Tossa de Mar is a must. It has a decent beach and is close to Barcelona (about 1.5 hours), but there are nicer beaches and towns on the Costa Brava. You can read about some of them in my post here.
Read more: How to Plan a Trip to the Costa Brava | Spain
And that’s how we spent 4 days and 3 nights in and around Girona. Have you done a road trip from Barcelona to Girona? Do you have other day trip suggestions from Girona? Leave them below!
