Transfers across the whole of Spain

Sometimes a single ride from A to B is not enough. Your driver can stay with you for a few hours or for the whole day: collecting guests, going out for the shopping, taking you to business meetings or following your own route with stops wherever you need them.

The car stays at your disposal for the whole of the hire.

El Prat (BCN) is the main one: 55 million passengers a year, with terminals T1 and T2 standing 4 km apart and a free shuttle running between them. The city centre is 15 km away and the drive takes about 30 minutes with no traffic; at peak times, from 8 to 10 in the morning and from 6 to 8 in the evening, allow another 15-20 minutes. Girona (GRO) takes low-cost flights next to the small town of Vilobi d'Onyar: from there it is 91 km to Barcelona but only 35 km to Lloret de Mar, which makes this the closer airport for the Costa Brava resorts. Reus (REU) takes charter flights to the Costa Dorada: 11 km to Tarragona, 14 km to Salou, 19 km to Cambrils.

From any of these airports we drive you straight to your address, with no changing onto a bus or a train. That matters most for Girona and Reus: public transport from there involves a change in the city, and with suitcases in tow that journey can stretch to half a day.

Madrid is not a holiday destination, and you can see it in the routes. People fly into Barajas on business, so most rides are short: 21 km to the centre and just 14 km to Chamartin station - handy when a flight connects with a high-speed train. Beyond the capital there are three historic cities: Toledo 89 km away, Segovia 107 km, Avila 121 km.

The Costa del Sol runs west from Malaga airport along the AP-7. Fuengirola is the nearest at 24 km, then Marbella at 51 and Puerto Banus at 59, while Estepona at 82 km is the furthest of the main resorts. Nerja lies 72 km in the opposite direction, east of the city, which is why it is quieter there.

Valencia and the Costa Blanca cover the eastern coast. Valencia airport is 11 km from the centre of its own city - one of the shortest routes in all of Spain - with 54 km to Cullera and 78 to Gandia. Further south, Alicante airport serves Benidorm at 63 km, Torrevieja at 43, Altea at 70 and Calpe at 81.

The terms are the same everywhere we drive: the price is fixed when you book, the driver tracks your flight, child seats are free. Free waiting time is 60 minutes at airports, cruise ports and railway stations, and 15 minutes at every other address. Toll roads are not part of the fare and are added when the route uses them.

Green Spain is the Atlantic north: Bilbao, San Sebastian, Asturias, Santiago de Compostela and Vigo. Journeys in this region are usually short - every airport is within about an hour. Worth bearing in mind, though, that the airports themselves are small, and when two flights land at the same time demand at the rank goes up several times over.

Why a transfer pays for itself

It is 14 km from the airport to the centre of Barcelona. There are five ways to cover them.

The metro has a catch that rarely gets mentioned. The 5.90 EUR ticket is not a paper one: it is loaded onto a T-mobilitat card, which you have to buy from a machine first. The card is reusable and can be topped up later, but it is personal: one card per passenger. A family of four needs four cards, even when they travel together. The machines offer several languages, but the buying logic is not obvious: first the operator, then the fare, then the number of journeys.

What sits behind these figures. The metro and the Aerobus charge per person: for four people that is already 24 and 31 euros, plus a change between lines or the walk from the square to your hotel. A taxi shows an acceptable figure at the start, but the meter lives a life of its own: a quarter of an hour in traffic adds 7 euros, and you find out the total at the end. During arrival peaks demand at the rank rises sharply: the queue stretches out, and a minivan for four people with luggage is not always there.

A transfer solves what none of the three solves.

• The driver waits for you, not the other way round. He gets in touch after you land, tracks your flight number and moves the time himself if the plane is late. Free waiting time is 60 minutes: enough for passport control and an unhurried wait at baggage reclaim.

• The price is known before you fly. Not roughly, but exactly the one you saw when booking: the same amount whatever the traffic and however many suitcases there are. Per car, not per person: four of you pay the same as two.

• One ride, no changes. From the terminal to the door of your hotel, luggage in the boot.

The difference shows most when there are four to seven of you: a minivan at the rank is not guaranteed, and a family easily ends up split between two cars. When the flight is a night one: the queue is there at three in the morning too, while your driver is already in place. When you are travelling with children: our child seat is free in every class, and a taxi does not carry one at all.

Madrid: the same arithmetic

It is 21 km from Barajas to the centre of Madrid, and here too there are five ways.

In Madrid the flat taxi fare makes the choice simpler than in Barcelona: 33 EUR round the clock, with no night or luggage surcharges. But it only holds as far as the M-30 ring road - beyond that the meter starts at the ordinary rates. And the queue at the rank during arrival peaks does not go anywhere.

The metro and Aerobus fares are official, from TMB and Aerobus Barcelona as of August 2026. The taxi figure is worked out from the current rates of the Barcelona Metropolitan Taxi Institute: 2.80 EUR for the flag drop, 1.35 EUR per km by day and 1.66 EUR at night, plus a 4.60 EUR airport supplement. The Madrid figures: Metro de Madrid and CRTM (ticket, 3 EUR supplement, card), EMT Madrid (Expres 203), the official Madrid taxi tariff for 2026 (Tarifa 4 - 33 EUR inside the M-30).