Barcelona Transport

Barcelona benefits from a highly organised city transport system that caters well for residents and tourists alike and includes a metro system, local rail services, buses, taxis and a handy hop-on hop-off tourist bus. Quite often however, walking is the most rewarding and practical means of navigating parts of the city, especially the old quarter and Las Ramblas area. Although the metro is the most practical,  bus routes always give you a better view and sense of bearing. Multi-tickets are available for combination uses of the various transport, with one ticket good for an unlimited length of journey in a 100 minute time period.

Barcelona by metro

The Barcelona Metro is the quickest and easiest way to get about and it has five different lines with the entrances to these clearly marked with a red diamond sign. There are several points along Las Ramblas as well as at Jaume which make the tourist areas accessible, however visitors to Mont Juïc and the Olympic park will need to get out at Espanya and walk up the hill or take a cable car. For multi journeys purchase a T10 ticket which is good for 10 rides of any combination on city transport (within a 100 minute period) and can also be used on the airport rail service but not the Aerobus. Placa Catalunya is considered the centre of the city and the metro here links up with the main rail station. Open: Monday to Thursday; 05:00 to 23:00, Friday and Saturday; 05:00 to 02:00, Sunday; 06:00 to midnight.

Barcelona by train

The rail service in Barcelona is predominantly useful for commuters and residents who live further out of the city. There are frequent local and regional services that arrive on the central line that traverses the city from North to South stopping at Estacio Sants, just west of La Ramblas, Catalunya Station on Placa de Catalunya, and Estacio Franc Station east of La Ramblas.

Barcelona by bus

Barcelona bus routes are easiest to find out by picking up one of the many free city maps from the tourist information booths. These usually have all the colour coded routes marked. Buses operate every day between 05:00 and 22:30, but some lines finish earlier or run later. There are also night buses on some routes that run between 10:00 and 04:00. Buses are useful for reaching the areas that the Metro doesn’t, such as Mont Juïc (site of the Olympic complex) and Parc Guëll. There is also a tourist ‘hop on, hop off’ bus (mentioned below in the tourist services section).

Taxis in Barcelona

These are found all over the city and aren’t ruinously expensive, but strangers to the city might sometimes get ripped off or refused by unscrupulous drivers. Meters are always used and an additional charge is levied for baggage. Taxis aren’t very practical for getting around in the Barri Gòtic quarter.

Barcelona tourist services

A very handy option for tourists is the ‘hop-on hop-off’ buses that traverse a route between the popular tourist sites. Although it doesn’t have the insightful running commentary of the famous London double decker bus tours that have been exported to other tourist cities, it is air conditioned and has an open top. They run regularly, although sometimes get held up, and tickets are good for 24 or 48 hours.

From the airport

Trains run every thirty minutes from the airport to the central Catalunya station. The Aerobus runs more frequently (every 12 minutes) but can take up to 20 minutes more. It does however stop at more places around the city. Shuttle buses are frequently provided by hotels.  Taxis are also available, but fares are subject to an airport supplement.