Car rental in Spain (including Galicia)

If you want to hire a car in Galicia (Spain) you will find plenty of rental companies offering offering this service. Most of these companies cover not just Galicia and northern Spain, but the whole of the country and many have pick-up and drop-off facilities at Santiago de Compostela, la Coruna or Vigo international airports. Most of these car rental companies have some English speaking staff on hand at their airport check-ins.

You will find some tips on renting a car in Galicia and northern Spain at the bottom of this page.

   This is the company that we have used. They arrange your car hire with their partners (e.g. Hertz etc), but can offer better rates than booking direct.

     This is the company that we have used. They arrange your car hire with their partners (e.g. Hertz etc), but can offer better rates than booking direct.

     Hertz need no introduction. We have used them in the past through bookings with Holiday Autos (above).

    Record rent a car are Spain's largest car rental company. Again we have used them ourselves (in Mallorca), but not in Galicia.

     This company are called Sixt rent a car and we have used them when visiting other parts of Spain. They are a large national chain.

If you are not a confident driver, do not hire a large car if you intend to go exploring in northern Spain. The roads are generally very good, but can be rather narrow. We would suggest an Astra, Focus, 307, Migane or similar medium sized/class hatchback as the optimum.

Booking your car well in advance of your Spanish trip will normally result in you getting a better deal, but do check between the different offers that the car rental companies have.

When you pick your car up check that the handbrake is not slack. Parking on hills (which you may have to do in Galicia) requires use of this brake.

Always hire a car with air conditioning if you visit anywhere in northe Spain in the summer, it can get very hot.

Our personal suggetsion is that you also take out excess daily cover (unless your excess charge is very low). The Galicians are not good drivers and in the case of parking in particular, adjacent cars tend to be used as buffers. We have had cars damaged like this on two occasions, so be warned.

Finally, and this is based on our own experience, if you are offered the option between lead free and diesel, select lead free. Smaller engined diesels really do struggle on Galicia's hilly terrain and an Opel Corsa diesel that we had for 3 weeks in 2005 was a real nightmare.