By car to Tarragona and PortAventura

Our fleet of 44 cars in Barcelona covers the run south to Tarragona and PortAventura, with self-drive rental from €38 per day and delivery of the car to you agreed with a manager when you book. Crossover, SUV, Comfort and Minivan classes are all on this page, so a family of five or a group of seven can pick the size that fits the trip.

Car rental in Barcelona for Tarragona and PortAventura distances

The route itself is the easy part — the character of the trip changes with the car you take, not with the clock.

Which car to take to PortAventura

• Crossover: 13 cars from €38 a day, including the Citroen C3 Aircross, MG ZS and Seat Arona — five seats, manual, front-wheel drive.
• SUV: 13 cars from €42 a day, from the Dacia Duster to the Nissan Qashqai and Skoda Karoq.
• Comfort: 10 cars from €40 a day, the Citroen C4, Ford Focus, Hyundai i30 and Kia Ceed among them.
• Minivans: 8 cars from €52 a day, including the seven-seat Peugeot Rifter and Dacia Jogger.
• Fuel and transmission: Diesel, Hybrid, Petrol and Petrol/LPG cars are all on the page, with Automatic and Manual gearboxes.
• Longer bookings: a week works out at the daily rate times six, a month at the daily rate times twenty-one.

Which rental car suits the drive to Tarragona and PortAventura

The 44 cars on this page split into four classes. Prices start at €38.

Crossover, SUV, Comfort or Minivans for the Tarragona run

• SUV — 13 cars from €42: Dacia Duster, Nissan Qashqai, Opel Grandland, Skoda Karoq, Citroen C5 Aircross, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Compass, Kia Sportage, Ford Kuga, Peugeot 3008, Seat Tarraco, Nissan X-Trail.
• Comfort — 10 cars from €40: Citroen C4, Ford Focus, Hyundai i30, Kia Ceed, Opel Astra, Peugeot 308, Seat Leon, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Golf.
• Minivans — 8 cars from €52: Citroen Berlingo, Fiat Doblo, Opel Combo, Peugeot Rifter, Dacia Jogger.

Five or seven seats and automatic or manual for PortAventura

We stock both 5- and 7-seat cars, with manual and automatic gearboxes and petrol, diesel, hybrid, petrol/electric and petrol/LPG engines.

Trip comparison by class

Booking is agreed with a manager, so tell them the passenger count and how long the car will sit parked before you confirm the class — that detail decides more than the badge on the bonnet.

Prices by class for car rental in Barcelona for Tarragona and PortAventura

Rates on this page run from €38 to €72 per day across four classes, with weekly bookings from €228 and monthly from €798. The longer the booking, the more the class you pick matters — a week in a Comfort hatchback and a week in a seven-seat SUV are two very different invoices, and the gap only widens on a monthly term.

Daily, weekly and monthly rates by class

Weekly rates are calculated as the daily rate times six, monthly rates as the daily rate times twenty-one. A Crossover at €38 per day therefore comes to €228 for a week, and a Minivan at €52 per day to €312 for the same seven days — the arithmetic is fixed, not negotiated per booking.

On a one-day return trip the difference between the cheapest and the dearest class on this page is small enough to ignore, but over a month it adds up to hundreds of euros — so match the car to the trip length, not to the day you happen to be browsing.

What the price includes and what is agreed at booking

Deposit amounts, insurance excess, delivery fees and any discounts are not quoted here; they are set out in the rental agreement and confirmed when you book with a manager. That is also where the pick-up and return arrangements for your Tarragona and PortAventura trip are settled.

Tolls and fuel on car rental in Barcelona for Tarragona and PortAventura

Fuel for the drive to Tarragona and PortAventura

Petrol 95 E5 in the municipality of Barcelona averaged €1.953 in our last check, with the city median at €1.987 and a range from €1.758 to €2.059 across 74 filling stations.

Driving out of Barcelona in a rental car for Tarragona and PortAventura

The ZBE Rondes de Barcelona applies to the car you drive out

The low-emission zone covers more than 95 km² — the whole municipality apart from the Zona Franca industrial area and the Vallvidrera – el Tibidabo i les Planes neighbourhood — plus L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sant Adrià de Besòs and parts of Esplugues de Llobregat and Cornellà de Llobregat. It runs on working days, Monday to Friday.

Booking car rental in Barcelona for Tarragona and PortAventura with a manager

The booking is agreed with a manager — you do not pick a car from a self-service list and hope the model is still there on the day. Tell us the dates, the number of travellers and whether you want the car brought to you, and a manager matches the request against the 44 cars we hold for this route. Two people going to PortAventura World for a day need very little; a family of five with a week of luggage and a pushchair needs a different car entirely. That is the whole point of agreeing it with a person rather than a form.

What the manager settles before anything is confirmed:

• Dates and times: the pick-up and return moments are fixed at booking, so the car is not double-booked around your train or flight.
• Delivery point: the car is delivered to you — the exact address or meeting point is agreed with the manager when you book.
• Class and model: you name the class you want from our four, and the manager confirms what is available on your dates.
• Price and duration: daily from €38 to €72, weekly from €228, monthly from €798 — the manager confirms which one applies to your dates.
• Deposit, excess and delivery fee: all set out in the rental agreement, never a figure quoted over the phone.
• Seats and transmission: five or seven seats, manual or automatic — the manager confirms which models on your dates carry the layout you need.

Rent-Trip works this way because the drive to Tarragona is not a city errand. A manager who knows your return time can flag the practical things in advance — the fuel policy on return, what happens if the park keeps you later than planned, and whether your chosen class is realistic for the luggage you are carrying.

If the model you booked is not available on the day, you are entitled to another car of the same class at no extra cost, and to a higher class without paying more. Ask the manager to write the class and the transmission into the agreement before you confirm.

One thing worth doing at booking rather than on the road: agree the return time with some slack. The park can keep you until late, and the fuel policy on return is set out in the rental agreement.

Paperwork needed for car rental in Barcelona for Tarragona and PortAventura

Paperwork for the run south is settled before the car reaches you, and the drive itself is governed by Spanish road law rather than anything local to the route. What matters is which documents are valid here, what cover is compulsory, and which limits apply once you pass Tarragona on the AP-7.

Licence and identity documents for the Tarragona drive

• EU/EEA licences: fully valid in Spain while they have not expired, including Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway; nothing extra is needed and no IDP is required.
• Third-country licences: valid for driving in Spain if the licence is in force, the holder meets the Spanish age requirement for that category, and no more than six months have passed since they took up ordinary residence in Spain. The DGT advises getting an international driving permit before the trip.
• Licences not in Spanish: valid either with an official certified translation into Spanish, or if issued on the Appendix 9 model of the Geneva Convention or Appendix 6 of the Vienna Convention.
• International driving permit (Permiso Internacional de Conducción): a supplementary document only — shown together with your passport and national licence, valid one year, grey three-fold cover, 16 pages in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian.
• Young drivers: driving in Spain starts at 18 for category B; the minimum age for taking out a car, the young-driver surcharge and the card used for the deposit are agreed when booking.

Insurance cover and the limits that apply

Every legally roadworthy car in Spain carries Seguro Obligatorio de Responsabilidad Civil, and it is included in any hire by law — it stays in force even if the person driving was not named on the agreement.

What is checked at hand-over and what happens if the car differs

Spanish consumer rules require every scratch and dent to be written into the agreement or the inspection sheet before you drive away, signed by both sides, with a copy kept by the renter — otherwise the damage is charged to you.

Driving rules that bite on the AP-7 and around PortAventura

• Mobile phone: €200 and 3–6 points, with 6 points if the phone was held in the hand.
• Seat belts and child seats: €200 and 4 points; child restraints are compulsory for children under 135 cm, and above that height a standard belt is allowed.
• Child seat rule: the driver is responsible for a child travelling without a proper restraint.
• Penalty grades: leve up to €100 with no points, grave €200, muy grave €500 and always points, with a 50% reduction for payment within 20 calendar days.