Barcelona–El Prat Airport to Costa Brava / Lloret de Mar

You can spot the Lloret crowd at Barcelona Airport a mile off — the wheelie cases, the sun hats already on, the faces halfway to holiday mode before the plane's even taxied in. And fair enough: Lloret de Mar is the beating heart of the package-holiday Costa Brava, that gorgeously craggy stretch of coast northeast of the city where the pine trees run down almost to the sand. The catch is that all that rugged beauty sits a good 90 km from the terminal, so the very last leg of your journey deserves a bit of thought. Get it right and you're on a lounger by teatime. Get it wrong and you've handed over the price of a night out before you've even seen the sea.

Why the coach is the seasoned coast-goer's choice

Here's the honest truth from someone who's done this run more times than I care to count: the direct coach is the way the resort regulars travel, and for good reason. The Moventis / Sarfa service runs straight from the airport to Lloret de Mar for somewhere between €12 and €20 a head — a fraction of what any car will cost you — and it does the trip in roughly an hour and twenty to two hours, depending on the day and the coastal traffic. For a 90 km haul, that's honestly a bargain, and the coaches are the proper comfy sort with luggage bays underneath, so you're not wrestling a suitcase onto your knees.

Better still, the coach stops at both terminals — T1 and T2 — so you don't have to faff about shuttling between them the moment you land. You walk out, you find the stand, you climb aboard. Bliss. If you're travelling as a couple or solo and watching the pennies, this is a genuine no-brainer, and the money you save is a good few rounds of sangría on the front.

The one thing that trips people up

Now, a word of warning, because I'd be doing you a disservice otherwise. That coach timetable is seasonal. In the thick of summer, when Lloret is heaving and every other flight is a charter full of holidaymakers, you'll find several departures a day and you'll rarely wait long. But swing by in the shoulder months or out of season and the picture changes — services thin right out, and a badly timed late-evening landing can leave you kicking your heels with no coach for a while.

So do this one thing for me: check the schedule before you fly, not when you're standing bleary-eyed in arrivals. Line up your landing time against the coach departures. If they match up nicely, brilliant — you're sorted for the price of a couple of pizzas. If your flight lands at some awkward hour and the next coach isn't for ages, that's your cue to consider one of the pricier options rather than camping out by the stand. Forewarned is forearmed.

When paying more actually makes sense

There are days when a car earns back its higher price, and I won't pretend otherwise. A private transfer — booked ahead through the likes of Welcome Pickups or Kiwitaxi — runs €120 to €170 for the car, with a driver loading the cases for you and taking you straight to your hotel door in around an hour and a quarter. Split four ways with the family, and once you factor in tired kids, a mountain of luggage, and a late arrival with no coach in sight, that fixed fare starts to look very sensible indeed. No queuing, no changes, no meter ticking.

The straight airport taxi is the same idea but a touch dearer and less predictable: €140 to €180 for what is, let's be blunt, a proper long inter-urban slog well beyond the city limits. You'll find the ranks at T1 and T2, and it'll get you there door-to-door — but this is not a quick hop across town, and the price reflects that. My firm advice: agree an estimate with the driver before you pull away. A metered fare over 90 km can climb in ways that give you a nasty turn at the other end, so settle the number up front and there'll be no surprises. If you're going to pay taxi money anyway, you may as well pre-book the transfer and lock the fare in.

How I'd play it

My rule of thumb after all these summers is simple. Landing in high season at a civilised hour, travelling light or as a pair? Take the coach, pocket the difference, and don't look back. Arriving with the whole clan, a heap of cases, or on a flight that touches down when the coaches have packed up for the night? Book a transfer in advance and let someone else do the driving. Whatever you choose, sort it before you leave home — the Costa Brava's far too good to spend fretting over in an airport concourse.