Many visitors to Costa Brava fly into Barcelona airport, which is connected to the UK by several airlines. Iberia flies from Heathrow and Birmingham; British Airways departs from Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham; easyJet serves Luton and Liverpool; and Go flies from Stansted.
A mainline train network connects Barcelona and Paris, stopping at Girona, Figueras, Llanaca and Portbou, or local trains leave from Barcelona’s Sants station and travel along the coast to Blanes, before looping inland to Macanet.
If you’re hiring a car, the E15 motorway connects Barcelona with Girona and if you’re road-tripping around Europe, it continues on to the French town of Perpignan.
You can access some resorts on the Costa Brava by bus, but journeys can be long with stops at all the small towns in between larger resorts. Many of the tiny villages and remote coves are not accessible by public transport, so a hire car is essential for exploring.
If you want to avoid the lengthy bus journey from Barcelona, it’s possible to fly into Girona airport; the city is a great base for a few days before heading to the Costa Brava. Ryanair offers the most choice, with flights from 16 UK and Irish airports, while Jet2 connects nine UK airports and Thomson Airways serves Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester.
You can also take the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Lyons and if you set off early, you’ll be in Girona by evening.