Maps You Need for Barcelona

Maps You Need for Barcelona

I’m a firm believer in making ones way through Barcelona by foot, be it on a blind adventure or even a free guided walking tour.

I do, however, support anyone who chooses public transport over creating carbon emissions from car rentals and individual taxis, so to help you through the city of Barcelona I’m going to give you all of the maps you’ll need to make life very easy.

Let’s go!

Transport Maps for Barcelona

The Spanish value both the freedom that their cars bring them, and the convenience that the public transport lines do.

The Barcelona metro is undoubtably the most efficient way to get around this expansive city. It’s clean, efficient and covers the most important parts of the touristic center.

Uber used to be a much loved app in Barcelona, offering safe rides at competitive rates when compared to the Barcelona taxis. However Uber recently suspended all operation in Barcelona, following the Catalan governments implementation of a 15 minute mandatory waiting period before each ride.

This decision came after local taxi drivers took to the city streets protesting the ways in which the app was undermining their own service and ability to make money.

Barcelona – by jonathan Ford – Unsplash

Uber was not willing to accept the delay period for their customers, as it goes again the efficiency that the platform aims to provide. And so the company has pulled all service from both Barcelona and Madrid.

All the more reason to make use of the great public transport services available to you during your time in the city.

Metro

I’ll be honest and say that the Barcelona metro is one of the more complicated systems you’ll find in a European city. Similar to the subway in New York, the metro in Barcelona has many different lines, some with matching colors (which gets confusing) and some with multiple different trains per line.

Using a map when riding the Barcelona metro is essential; it’s far easier than you think to hop on a train going the wrong direction.

There are 11 lines in total that service the city center. One ride will set you back €2.20, but to save money you can purchase a variety of multi-trip cards for reduced price. There are also 30 day travel cards for those who intend to spend a month in the city.

The Barcelona metro runs between 5am and midnight Sunday to Thursday, on Fridays one can ride until 2am and on Saturdays service doesn’t stop.

Sourced from the City of Barcelona

Trams

Barcelona has a very modern tram system that connects the city to the industrial areas, shopping centers and residential suburbs.

Unlike most European tram systems, the Barcelona trams look like short above ground metro trains. This is because all of the old trams in Barcelona were abolished in 1971 and replaced with brand new units.

The trams and metro in Barcelona work on a single system, so the same tickets are used across both. This includes all multi-day passes and unlimited rider cards.

Sourced from the City of Barcelona

Busses

To make the city even more accessible, Barcelona offers 100 bus routes with 1000 busses that serve the city day by day.

Like the metro and trams, the Barcelona busses operate on the same single ticketing system. This is in some ways both a pro and a con. For one, it’s convenient to only need one card to ride all of the transport platforms around the city; however some find that paying the same for a bus ride as the metro is somewhat unreasonable, and that busses should offer more affordable transport to people of lower income.

Busses in Barcelona run between 5am and 11pm, daily.

Sourced from the City of Barcelona

Trains

While in Barcelona, you might find interest in taking a day trip out somewhere like Figueres or Montblanc. These destinations can only be accessed by railway trains from the city center; alternatively one could pay a taxi to take them, though the fair would be unimaginable.

Barcelona’s high speed trains can be accessed by catching any of the city metros to the main stations. These trains will take you into greater Barcelona, as well as greater Spain; a train from Barcelona to Madrid only takes about three hours.

Prices for Barcelona’s railway will vary depending on your desired destination as well as cabin class. Spain’s high speed trains have great first class facilities that offer coffee, snacks and free WiFi which is ideal for anyone who has work to do en route.

Sourced from the City of Barcelona

Neighborhood Map for Barcelona

On a whole, Barcelona’s city can be broken up into 10 distinct districts. Each neighborhood has it’s own version of authentic Spanish flair, and a few are becoming increasingly gentrified thanks to the ever growing tourism in the country; the addition of beaches in Barcelona in 1992 helped a lot.

Making your way through the city on the different modes of transport will show you great differences between area to area. But if you’re looking to something specific, such as great shopping, then it helps to know which neighborhood is your go-to.

Sourced from the City of Barcelona

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