By car from the Costa Brava to Collioure, France

From €35 per day, 51 cars are available for a trip from the Costa Brava to the French border — self-drive rental with delivery to any address in the Costa Brava towns we cover, to Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO) and to Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). The delivery address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.

Why take a car rental in Costa Brava for a trip across the border

What a self-drive car gives you on this route

There are 51 cars on this page, from €35 a day, weekly from €210 and monthly from €735, so the vehicle can match the trip rather than the other way round. Pick-up time and place are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.

What the trip across the border actually involves

From Girona-Costa Brava Airport the route is 114.9 km and about 89 minutes, 71.4 km of it on the toll-free AP-7 and 8.4 km on the French A 9.

What to settle before you go

• Permission to cross: taking the car into France is agreed when booking.

The trip also works as an overnight: drive up in the morning and come back the next day.

Car rental in Costa Brava for a trip to Collioure (France) border crossing

The route north runs on a free motorway corridor as far as La Jonquera, then hands over to the neighbouring side for the last short stretch.

The Spanish leg on the AP-7

The AP-7 Vila-seca — La Jonquera corridor, which covers the whole Barcelona — Girona — border run, has been free since 01.09.2021. That single change removed the barrier that used to sit between the coast and the border. The C-32 Maresme (Montgat — Palafolls) and the C-33 Barcelona — Montmeló went the same way, with the barriers lifted in the night of 31 August to 1 September 2021. In Catalonia the tolls that remain sit on the C-16 (Cadí, Vallvidrera, Sant Cugat–Terrassa–Manresa) and on the southern C-32 towards Castelldefels–Sitges–El Vendrell, where the Vallcarca barrier charges 8.42 € and Cubelles 5.03 € for category 2. Neither is on this route.

What the run looks like by class

The Comfort band starts at €35 a day, Crossover at €38, SUV at €50 and Minivans at €55; weekly bookings begin at €210 and monthly at €735, worked out as daily × 6 and daily × 21.

Border paperwork

• Driving licence: an EU/EEA licence is valid while it has not expired, and no IDP is needed for it.
• Non-EU licence: DGT advises getting an international driving permit before the trip and carrying it with your passport and national licence.
• Insurance: the obligatory cover is included in any rental; whether it and the options apply in France is confirmed when booking, together with permission to cross.
• Fuel: the car leaves with a full tank and comes back full — lleno-lleno.

The documents you actually need to produce are agreed when booking, since the requirements depend on the licence you hold.

Car rental in Costa Brava for a trip to Collioure (France) classes and prices

We keep 51 cars on this page, split across four classes, with daily rates from €35.

Classes and daily prices

Longer bookings and named models

• Weekly rate: seven days on the road start at €210, worked out as the daily rate multiplied by six.
• Monthly rate: a full month starts at €735, which is the daily rate multiplied by twenty-one.
• Comfort hatchbacks: Skoda Scala at €35/day, Ford Focus and Hyundai i30 at €36, Opel Astra, Renault Megane and Seat Leon from €36 to €37.
• Crossovers: Ford Ecosport and Opel Crossland at €38, Citroen C3 Aircross and Dacia Duster from €40.
• Automatics: Mini One 5-door at €40, Peugeot 308 at €40, Toyota Corolla Hybrid at €42, Toyota Yaris Cross at €45.
• Seven seats: the Minivans band is the only group here with a 7-seat option, from €60/day.

Picking a car for the Collioure run

A hybrid automatic such as the Toyota Corolla at €42/day suits anyone who would rather not work a manual in town traffic. If you are travelling with children or a second couple, the Minivans class gives you the 7-seat layout from €60/day, that no other group on this page offers.

Choosing your car rental in Costa Brava for a cross-border day trip

The class matters less than the journey you are planning.

What to weigh before you pick a class

• Fuel type: petrol covers most of the fleet, hybrids sit in the Comfort, Crossover and SUV classes, and diesel turns up in the Minivans.
• Seats for a group: seven seats exist only in the Minivans class, so a party of six or seven has one option rather than a spread of them.

Matching the car to the drive

Weekly bookings run from €210 and monthly from €735, so a longer stay changes the arithmetic in your favour.

Rent-Trip delivers to any address in the Costa Brava towns we have a page for, and to Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO) and Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). The delivery address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.

Fuel and tolls for a car rental in Costa Brava for a trip to Collioure (France)

Along the coast itself the average sits at 1.956 EUR/l for petrol 95 — about 58 filling stations serve the coastal strip against roughly 250 across the province. Prices move between 1.718 EUR/l and 2.122 EUR/l for the same grade depending on where you stop.

• Lleno-lleno: our cars leave with a full tank and come back full — the terms of the fuel policy are set out in the rental agreement.
• Zona de baixes emissions (ZBE) de Girona: the low-emission zone runs from la Devesa park to c. d'Emili Grahit and from c. del Riu Güell to c. del Carme and Barri Vell, active 7–20 on working weekdays; cars without a DGT environmental badge and not registered in Girona are restricted.
• Rental plates: Spanish rental fleets carry the DGT badge, so a car from us is not restricted by the zone.
• 24 days a year: the ZBE allows 24 days of access inside restricted hours without a permit; cameras read plates and no sticker has to be shown.

Tolls are the good news on the Spanish side. The AP-7 Vila-seca — La Jonquera corridor, which covers the whole Barcelona — Girona — border run, has been free since 01.09.2021, and the C-32 Maresme and C-33 went the same way. What remains in Catalonia is the C-16 and the southern C-32 towards Castelldefels–Sitges–El Vendrell, where the Vallcarca barrier charges 8.42 € and Cubelles 5.03 € — neither barrier is on your way north.

Parking is its own line in the budget, and on the Costa Brava the rules change from town to town. In Girona the zona blava charges 1.20 €/h with a two-hour maximum (2.40 €), Monday to Saturday 9:30–13:00 and 16:00–20:00, while the zona verda for non-residents runs the same rate and cap. Lloret de Mar takes a different approach: the Can Lloranes car park has 160 spaces at about 15 €/day from 23 June to 11 September and is free the rest of the time, and the Avinguda Alegries park-and-ride offers 200 spaces free for stays over 12 hours with a free bus ticket into the centre between 15 June and 15 September. If your plan includes an overnight in Girona, park once and walk — the blue-zone clock does not pause for sightseeing.

Documents and cover for a car rental in Costa Brava for a cross-border run

We agree the details with a manager when the booking is fixed, and the rental agreement carries the rest.

What to carry in the car on a cross-border run

• Driving licence: an EU or EEA licence (including Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) is fully valid in Spain while it has not expired, with nothing further needed; a third-country licence is valid if it is in force, if the holder is old enough in Spain for the equivalent category, and if no more than six months have passed since they took up ordinary residence in Spain.
• International Driving Permit: the DGT advises getting one before the trip for non-EU licences; it is a supplementary document, shown only together with your passport and your national licence, valid for one year.
• Licence not in Spanish: valid either with an official sworn translation into Spanish, or if it was issued on the model of Annex 9 of the Geneva Convention or Annex 6 of the Vienna Convention.
• Passport or ID: the original document in the main driver's name — a requirement of rental companies, since the DGT sets no single rule here.
• Bank card: which card is accepted for the deposit is agreed when booking; debit cards are not accepted everywhere.

Cover, excess and what the agreement settles

Spanish law puts compulsory third-party cover (Seguro Obligatorio de Responsabilidad Civil) into every rental and it applies always, even if the person at the wheel was not named on the agreement; the legal limits are €70,000,000 per incident for personal injury and €15,000,000 per incident for property damage. That cover protects third parties, not the driver and not the car. Collision Damage Waiver is a rental company option rather than a rule of law: it removes the driver's liability for damage to the car in a collision with another vehicle or an object, except for the excess, and vandalism is excluded unless it happened while the car was in use. Theft Protection works the same way for total or partial theft. The excess itself is printed in the rental agreement whatever protection you hold, and its amount is set out in the rental agreement together with the deposit.

Why the paperwork is worth ten minutes of your time

Spanish consumer rules give you two things that matter on a run over the border. And before you pull out, every scratch and dent has to be written into the agreement or the inspection sheet, signed by both sides, with a copy for you — without that line, damage found later is pinned on the renter. Do not sign the sheet in a hurry.

Driving rules for a car rental in Costa Brava for a trip to Collioure (France)

What follows is what the driver actually needs, not a copy of the highway code.

Speed limits on the Spanish side

On the AP-7, the A-2 and the C-32 the limit for a passenger car is 120 km/h, and on conventional carreteras such as the GI-614, the GI-682 and the C-260 it is 90 km/h. Built-up stretches follow the Spanish rule: 30 km/h where there is one lane in each direction, 50 km/h where there are two or more, and 20 km/h on a street built as a single platform shared by traffic and pedestrians. DGT fines for speeding run from 100 EUR with no points to 600 EUR with six, and anything more than 60 km/h over the limit in town or 80 km/h outside it stops being a traffic fine and becomes a criminal offence.

Drink, phone and seat belts

• Alcohol: the general limit is 0.25 mg per litre of breath, and 0.15 mg for drivers in their first two years and for professional drivers.
• Penalties: 500–1000 EUR and four to six points, and above 0.60 mg per litre it is a criminal matter rather than an administrative one.
• Phone: 200 EUR, and six points if the handset was actually held rather than used hands-free.
• Seat belts and child seats: 200 EUR and four points; child restraints are required for children below 135 cm, and from 135 cm the standard belt is allowed.
• Paying early: a 50% reduction applies if the fine is settled within 20 calendar days.

What changes after La Jonquera

If a fine does arrive later, it reaches the registered keeper, so tell the manager handling your booking about any incident on the French leg before you hand the car back — it is far easier to sort out while the rental is still open than after it closes.

What to settle before you book a car rental in Costa Brava for Collioure

A booking for the Collioure run is fixed once three things are agreed with a manager: the delivery address, the date and the time.

Details a manager needs to fix your booking

• Delivery address: any address in the Costa Brava towns we have a page for, Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO) or Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN).
• Date and time: agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed, so the car is waiting when you land or when you walk out of the door.
• Class and length: Comfort from €35 a day, Crossover from €38, SUV from €50, Minivans from €55; weekly from €210, monthly from €735.
• Fuel: the car comes clean with a full tank and goes back full — full-to-full, lleno-lleno in Spain; no other fuel option is offered.

What is agreed when booking, not stated here

The minimum rental age, the young-driver surcharge, which cards are accepted and whether the car may be taken into France are settled when you book. The same goes for anything else that depends on the car and the dates — those are agreed when booking.

The border run itself

If the run to Collioure starts with a detour through Girona, the badge answers the question before it is asked.

On our side, the hand-over is simple: we bring the car to you, and the paperwork is agreed when booking. Tell the manager the address, the date and the time — that is the whole checklist.