Barcelona Airport to Salou: every way to get there
Salou lies 102 km down the coast from Barcelona Airport, ~1 hr 9 min on the road. An hour and a bit of travelling right after a flight is exactly the stretch where the way you get there sets the tone for the whole holiday. You can start it by the sea, or you can start it with two changes and suitcases on a platform. Here's every option in turn, with prices and the catches.
Choosing the airport shapes the whole journey
People get the distance to Salou wrong because the figures online are measured from central Barcelona, while you actually arrive at the airport. From the centre of Barcelona to Salou it's 108 km, from the airport 102 km. The airport figure is the one that counts: it sits closer, even though the map suggests otherwise.
Two airports serve Salou, and the one you fly into matters more than the transport you take from it.
El Prat in Barcelona handles the bulk of the traffic: more destinations, cheaper tickets and a fuller timetable than Reus. You pay for that in distance - 102 km to Salou and ~1 hr 9 min along the AP-7 motorway.
Reus Airport stands 13 km from Salou, ~21 min away. This is the Costa Daurada's own airport, and in summer charters and low-cost flights land here from all over Europe. In winter the choice of flights narrows sharply.
A transfer from Reus costs from €57, one from Barcelona from €198. If you haven't bought the tickets yet, compare the two as complete packages - the flight plus the ride to the hotel. We went through that in a separate article.
The train: the cheapest way, but not from the airport
No direct train runs from Barcelona Airport to Salou.
The route looks like this. From the airport you take the R2 Nord commuter train to Sants station, then change onto a regional train along the coast. From Salou station you still have a short hop to your hotel.
That adds up to three legs with your luggage after a flight, and two changes in between. One of them is at Sants, a big station where it's easy to lose your bearings. If you travel light and you're in no hurry, it's a perfectly good, cheap way to go. With two suitcases and a child, those changes can write off the first day of the holiday.
Buy the ticket at the station rather than in advance: unlike long-distance services, regional trains in Catalonia get no cheaper when you book early.
The bus: it exists, but check the timetable
Bus Plana, the official carrier for both airports, runs direct coaches to the Costa Daurada. From Barcelona a ticket starts at €15.95 per person, or €28.95 return. From Reus the same bus costs €3.90.
The catch is the timetable: departures follow the season, and some routes get pulled from time to time. While we were preparing this article, booking on the carrier's own site was closed with a "temporarily not operating" note. So if you land late in the evening or outside the summer season, check the bus times in advance.
The stops themselves are well placed: at the PortAventura, Gold River and Caribe hotels, and in the centre of Salou by the Jaume I monument.
Car hire: worth it only if you plan to leave town
You can walk the whole of Salou, and PortAventura is a few minutes from town by any kind of transport. If your holiday means the beach, the town and the park, you won't need a car all week.
Hiring makes sense if you intend to roam the coast: Cambrils, Tarragona, the Priorat wine country inland. Otherwise the car stands idle for a week and the rental money goes nowhere.
There is a middle path: a car with a driver for a few hours or for a whole day. You take a car only on the days you really do go and see the coast, and you leave the parking and the hairpin bends to the driver.
Transfer: one car, door to door
Your driver tracks the flight and helps you load the suitcases while you settle into a cool car. There's always a bottle of water on board, and you can put your phone on charge. Before you notice it you're pulling up at the hotel entrance - no changes, no timetables, no queues.
What happens when the plane is late matters more than the ride itself. Your driver follows the flight number and adjusts to the new landing time. The first 60 minutes of waiting at the airport cost nothing, which covers passport control and baggage reclaim. A child seat is free in every class and you tick it when you book. To show how many suitcases really fit into a Comfort and a Van, we took photos of the boot.
The price is from €198 per car, not per person. The Barcelona Airport to Salou route page has a calculator, so you see the exact price before you book.
For one person with a small bag in July, the train plus a short hop comes out cheaper than a transfer.
Once there are two of you with suitcases, or you arrive with children on a late flight, the sums look different. One price covers the car and splits between everyone, the drive takes ~1 hr 9 min instead of three hours with changes, and nobody has to think about the last train.
What to choose
Travelling alone, light, landing during the day. Take the train via Sants. Changes hold no terror when all you carry is a backpack, and you can spend the difference on dinner by the sea.
Two adults, summer, flexible timing. Look at the bus. If the departure is in the timetable, the trip comes cheap, and instead of two changes with luggage you get a straight run.
Planning to tour the coast. Either hire a car or take one with a driver on specific days - work it out from the number of trips.
A family with children, or a late arrival. A transfer. The child sleeps in the seat, the cases go in the boot, and your driver waits even when the plane is delayed.
Flying into Reus. Salou is ~21 min away, so almost any option will do.
Getting around once you are there
The main sights of the Costa Daurada sit half an hour from Salou, and many of them are easier to reach from Reus Airport. PortAventura is practically in town: ~20 min from Reus Airport. Cambrils, a fishing port full of restaurants, is 19 km from the same airport. Tarragona, with its Roman amphitheatre right above the sea, lies a little further along the shore. Reus itself, the town where Gaudí was born, is twenty minutes inland from Salou.
Everything sits close enough that a week-long rental is overkill. Just book a transfer for the days you actually need one. One-off rides from the city are gathered on the Barcelona - Salou page, and all our routes are in the destination catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the coach take nearly two hours when a car does it in a little over one? The distance is the same for everyone: 102 km. The difference is the stops. Bus Plana picks passengers up around the Costa Daurada resorts, and the train needs two changes with a wait on the platform each time. Straight down the AP-7 with no stops it works out at ~1 hr 9 min; the coach takes ~1 h 45 min and the train ~2 h 30 min.
What works out cheapest to Salou for four people with suitcases? Bus Plana charges €15.95 per person, so four tickets come to €63.80, plus getting to the stop. The train with two changes works out at around €20 per person, though handling suitcases at rush hour is hard work. A transfer charges one fixed sum for everybody at once: from €208. The more of you there are, the more the sums tilt towards the car.
Where do you change if you travel by train? There is no direct train. The pattern is this: the R2 Nord commuter train from terminal T2 to Sants station, about 25 minutes for €5.50. At Sants you change onto a regional train along the coast to Salou or Tarragona. With the wait between services it comes to roughly 2 h 30 min. Tickets come from the Renfe machines, and a free shuttle runs between terminals T1 and T2.
Is it worth hunting for a flight into Reus instead of Barcelona? From Reus it is 13 km to Salou, ~21 min on the road, and a transfer from there costs from €57. From Barcelona Airport it is 102 km. But Reus mostly takes charters and low-cost flights on a seasonal timetable, and in winter there is very little to choose from. If the Reus ticket saves you less than €40-50, the time you gain rarely makes up for the narrow choice of flights.
Which is better value to Salou: the Bus Plana coach or a transfer? On your own the bus is cheaper - from €15.95 per person - but the timetable is seasonal and some departures get pulled. For four people the bus still comes out cheaper, but a transfer goes straight to the hotel with no change at Salou station.
How long does it take from Salou to PortAventura? The park stands right beside the town, so it's a matter of minutes. From Reus Airport the drive takes ~20 min, from Barcelona Airport ~1 hr 16 min.
What do you do if the flight is late and the last coach has gone? The last Bus Plana leaves in the evening and the exact time shifts with the season. That leaves the train with a change at Sants, or a car. The R2 Nord has a night break from roughly 23:30 to 05:40, so on a night arrival the choice all but disappears.
Do I need to order a child seat separately? Tick the option when you book; it costs nothing. A seat is mandatory for children 135 cm and under. Tell the driver the child's age in the app chat. More about travelling with children in a separate article.
You place the booking in the Let's GO app: enter the pickup address and the destination, and the price appears straight away, before you confirm.