Know Before You Go: Transport in Barcelona

Know Before You Go: Transport in Barcelona

For many tourists traveling to an iconic and large city wherever in the world for the first time, it can often seem fairly daunting. There seems to be a load of things you need to know before you go anywhere now and factors you need to consider.

These could be the language, the local’s attitudes to tourists, or you might not like the food all that much. These are all logical reasons to feel a little cautious when you’re traveling around.

However, the one main “unknown” that can really swing the organisation and the fun is the local transport. For travelers and tourists, local transport can really make or break a holiday!

This article will make sure that you know what you are doing in Barcelona so that you can get to those tourist attractions you’ve been told you MUST see by our other articles.

So that you can save time on the metro platform and focus more on the white beach sipping mojitos, here I present to you the ultimate Barcelona transport guide.

Plane on the runway at El Prat airport, Barcelona – Wikipedia Commons.

Airport

The airport is often the first interaction a visitor has with Barcelona’s transport network, so it’s wise that we start here.

Barcelona (El Prat) airport isn’t necessarily the largest airport in the world but it can prove to be rather tricky to navigate around. There is a lot going on with all signs pointing to the train station, metro station, shuttle bus stop, taxi ranch, and everything in between to get you to the city centre.

Taxi

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A taxi journey to Placa de Catalunya from the airport will be the most expensive way for you to get to Barcelona, costing around the €30 mark.

Shuttle Bus

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Airport – City

A single Shuttle Bus journey to Placa de Catalunya will be €5.10 per person.

City – Airport

The bus to get back to the airport departs from a few places in the center, most notably Placa De Catalunya. You can get a shuttle bus to either terminal and it takes about the same time as the train from Passeig De Gracia, about 30 minutes.

*The price for the single ticket is the same going back to the Airport from Placa De Catalunya*

Metro

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Airport – City

Metro prices are significantly cheaper than both the taxi and the shuttle.

The one-way ticket from the airport to the city centre costs 4€.

City – Airport

I recommend purchasing the T-10 metro ticket upon arrival in Barcelona, which is a card worth 10 journeys. At the end of your trip, to get to the airport using the Renfe train service, you can use the last journey on this T-10 card.

The train to the airport terminates just outside Terminal 1 but El Prat Airport not being the biggest it’s not a problem if you need to catch a flight from Terminal 2… it doesn’t take long to walk.

A single metro ticket costs €2.20.

A train at Sants train station in Barcelona – Wikipedia Commons

Trains

Take the train to the seaside town of Sitges and you won’t be disappointed, the main station in Barcelona is at Passeig De Gracia, from there, you can either go North and South of Barcelona, a good, quick way to get back to the airport for not a lot of money and further down to Sitges.

You can also catch the train to Tibidabo as well from any of the stations dotted across the city. “What is Tibidabo?”, you say…

Tibidabo is the massive hill with the Ferris wheel and statue on top. You can see this from the plane when you fly in, and also from almost anywhere throughout the city when you look up. It is a great landmark, easily accessible on the train despite being high up on the mountain.

Metro

The Metro should be the mode of public transport you’ll use most frequently, and for good reason. The metro system in Barcelona is cheap, easily accessible and quick, not to mention more ecological than taxis.

Don’t be intimidated by the ticketing system like I was when I first moved here. The machines across the city cater to most European languages and offer a wide range of ticket types.

The most popular, especially for tourists and visitors, is the T-10. This ticket allows you to go on the metro 10 times throughout zone 1 (basically the whole city) for €10.20. This means each trip costs just over 1€, an absolute bargain.

You can use it on all the buses in the city!

A single metro ticket is €2.20 but that doesn’t really seem worth it when a T-10 is available. Unless you are staying for a number of months, the T-10 and single trip tickets are the only ones that should concern you.

You will only be waiting on average of 3 minutes between the metro trains.

On weekdays the last metro run is shortly after midnight, but on Fridays, the last run is 2 in the morning and on Saturdays the metro runs all night. The trains usually come over longer intervals during these late hours.

There are multiple different coloured lines for the metro network that runs through the city. Be careful to check your line before you get on the train – from personal experience, I know this is important. There is a difference between blue and turquoise!

Barcelona tour guide bus – Wikipedia Commons

Buses

As I mentioned previously, you can use a T-10 on the buses throughout the city which is rather convenient. The bus service is very reliable in Barcelona, as you can catch them from pretty much any street.

The wait for a bus is around 20 minutes, but unlike the metro, the buses run 24/7!

Of course, there are bus tours readily available throughout the city that can show you the ropes, and take you pretty much anywhere you want to go. They may be slower to get you places compared to the metro or taxi, but if you want to learn about the history and culture of Barcelona then these services are pretty ideal.

Barcelona taxi ranch outside a station. – Wikipedia Commons

Taxi

I’m sure I don’t have to go into too much detail about the taxi service in Barcelona. Everywhere in the world offers a taxi service and Barcelona is no different.

Taxi ranches are located in every busy square and tourist attraction, and they are not too expensive when compared to other major European cities.

As I said at the start of this article, the taxi from the airport will set you back around €30.

It will generally cost around €10-15 to get you from a bar in town to a hotel in a neighboring district. I’ve personally never had to pay more than €15 myself.

Nice little tippet about these taxis though, most of them are electric or hybrid-powered!

Bikes

Like most European cities nowadays, they’re a lot of bikes in and around the streets of Barcelona. Bicycles and electric powered bikes have become very popular in recent times and you can tell.
Bike tours are also quite popular now as well, a lot of them come in a package deal with hostels, air BNB’s, etc. But renting bikes is a great way to get exactly where you need to go and in a decent amount of time, the only issue with that is though, in the summer, it’s highly probable you will be drenched in a sweat if you choose to get around on bicycles.

Car Rental

I’ll keep this one short and sweet. The airport is home to a few car rental companies and quite easy to find. Driving in Barcelona is somewhat a pain in the ass so bare this in mind if you are thinking of renting a car, many one-way lanes, as well as roadworks often hindering particular road access.

There it is then. That is all you need to know regarding public transport in Barcelona. So before you go, double-check where you are staying, what metro and bus stops are around and be sure to know the route back from the city centre offhand, because it is definitely better than getting lost!

Enjoy the trip!