Parking in Empuriabrava

Empuriabrava is a purpose-built canal-and-marina resort — the “Venice of Spain,” with the largest residential marina in Europe — so parking here is the opposite problem to a medieval old town. There is plenty of space, and for much of the year it is free; the catch is summer, when the big beach car parks flip to paid and fill up fast. The main seafront lot, at the foot of the Club Nàutic off Passatge Salins, is free from roughly October to May and paid (with machines) from June to September — huge, central, a minute from the sand, but packed in July and August, so come early. Nearby, the Fabra Pompeu blue-zone lot runs about €5 a day (pay it: an unticketed fine jumps to €90), with free spaces within 200 metres. The beachfront Port Primer lot is handy for a car but has a ~2.1m height barrier, so campervans are turned away — motorhomes should head instead to the free municipal motorhome area on the edge of town (basic, no services, and watch your belongings). The happier news is for anyone choosing a hotel: unlike a city, most of Empuriabrava’s resort hotels have their own parking, often free — from Hotel Castell Blanc’s “plenty of free secure parking” and Ampuria Inn’s free lot to reserved spaces at the Pierre & Vacances marina apartments and indoor parking at Hotel Port Salins. Below, every car park lists what it really costs and when, with walking times to the beach and the marina, plus hotels picked for how easy they make arriving by car.