The show at the Magic Fountain had just ended, the last notes faded, and we stood in a sea of people below Montjuïc. I pulled out my phone and tried to get an Uber. Declined. Tried again. Declined. And twice more after that. The show is free, so crowds gather here, and once it’s over everyone wants an Uber. Getting a car? Impossible.
In the end we took a regular taxi. Except we were staying in Raval, down a narrow side street the car couldn’t reach, and the driver dropped us off who knows where. It was only afterwards that it hit me what I should have done: just say “La Rambla”. It was literally next to our street, and I wouldn’t have had to explain anything to anyone.
Getting around Barcelona is otherwise simple. The metro looks complicated, but the signage practically leads you by the hand. On the bus, you just pay by card as you board. You only need a special ticket for the airport; without it, the gates won’t let you through. For what to see in the city, check out our complete guide to Barcelona.
We’ve always flown to Barcelona with Vueling and it was always the cheapest ticket I could find. It’s a Spanish airline headquartered not far from Barcelona. It flies direct from Prague, the flight takes about 2.5 hours, and it lands at Terminal 1, from where you continue by metro or Aerobus, as I describe below. If you also fly from Prague: getting to the airport by public transport is covered in Prague Airport to City Centre, and where to park in Prague Airport Parking.
El Prat Airport lies southwest of the city, and you can reach the centre by metro, Aerobus, city bus, train or taxi – at night, by night bus. The main differences are the price and how many times you want to change.
| Transport | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Metro L9 Sud | €5.90 (airport ticket) | T1 and T2, about 32 min to Zona Universitària, then change |
| Aerobus | €7.75 / €13.30 return | From T1 and T2 to the centre, ticket from the driver or the machine |
| Bus 46 | €2.90 (regular ticket) | T1/T2 → Plaça d’Espanya |
| Night buses N17, N18 | ticket from the driver | When the metro isn’t running, to Plaça de Catalunya; N17 from T1 only, N18 from T1 and T2 |
| Taxi | metered fare + €4.60 airport supplement | Official rates (source: AMB) |
I’ve always chosen the metro. It’s faster, and with one change you can get all the way to La Rambla. At first glance, the Barcelona underground looks complicated, BUT in practice the signage is excellent – at every junction you can see which line goes where and where to change. L9 Sud doesn’t run directly into the centre, so you’ll change once, for example at Zona Universitària onto the green L3.
What surprised me: the levels are linked by giant lifts. You don’t have to haul a suitcase up and down escalators – the lift carries you several floors in one go, and the whole transfer is quicker and smoother than you’d expect.
Watch out for the airport ticket. Aeroport T1 and T2 stations have their own fare. Neither a regular single ticket nor the T-casual 10-journey ticket is valid there, and the gates won’t let you in or out without an airport ticket. The first time, we forgot to buy one, but no problem: right by the gates there’s a machine that sells only this ticket. It cost me €5 in 2022, today it’s €5.90 (source: TMB). A trip to the airport, on the other hand, is included in the T-dia, T-usual and the Hola Barcelona card.
The airport is the only place in Barcelona where a regular ticket is no use to you at all.
If you don’t want to change, take the Aerobus. It runs from both terminals to the centre and costs €7.75 one-way, and a return ticket for €13.30 is valid for 90 days (source: Aerobús). You can pay by card to the driver or at the machine at the stop; children under 4 travel free. If you’d rather skip the machine, buy it online in advance:
Aerobus from the airport – online ticket – no queuing at the machine.
An ordinary city bus also runs from the airport. Bus 46 will take you to Plaça d’Espanya for the price of a regular ticket, €2.90. It’s the cheapest option – just bear in mind it stops often along the way. At night, when the metro isn’t running, the night buses take you to Plaça de Catalunya N17 (from T1 only) and N18 (from T1 and T2).
From Terminal 2 you can also take the suburban train Rodalies R2 Nord running every 30 minutes via Sants into the centre. Taxis run on the meter, with an added €4.60 supplement for the airport. Between the airport and the port at Moll Adossat, a fixed price of €46 applies (source: AMB).
We’ve stayed in Barcelona several times, always in the centre: in 2022 in Raval at Hostal Radio, in 2023 in the Gothic Quarter at Hostal Fernando, and on another trip at Hotel Gótico near the cathedral. We chose hostals back then because we were travelling on a smaller budget.
For easy transport, it’s best to stay near La Rambla or Plaça de Catalunya. The Aerobus terminates at Plaça de Catalunya, and La Rambla is served by the green metro line L3, the one you change onto from the airport. Just bear in mind that a taxi won’t get you into the narrow streets of Gòtic and Raval, as we found out after the show at the fountain. We cover where to stay for each type of trip in our article Where to stay in Barcelona.
Chosen from our own experience
For a tourist, zone 1 is enough – it covers the whole city. How many journeys are you planning per day? Choose your ticket accordingly.
| Ticket | Price (zone 1) | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Single (bitllet senzill) | €2.90 | One or two journeys a day |
| T-casual (10 journeys) | €13.00 | A weekend, or several days with a few journeys a day |
| T-dia (1 day unlimited) | €12.00 | A day full of journeys – also valid to the airport |
| T-usual (30 days unlimited) | €22.80 | A longer stay |
| Airport ticket | €5.90 | One metro journey to/from the airport |
| Hola Barcelona 24h | from €12.50 (€11.25 online) | Options for 1-5 days, airport included |
The T-casual works out at €1.30 per journey instead of €2.90, so it’s worth it from your fifth journey. Just remember you can’t use it to get to the airport.
Hola Barcelona is a tourist card for unlimited journeys over 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 days. It includes the metro, buses, night buses, the Montjuïc funicular, trams and trains within zone 1 – plus one metro journey to the airport and one back. What it doesn’t include is the Montjuïc cable car. On the official website holabarcelona.com you can buy it with a 10% discount, then exchange the voucher for a card at a machine in any metro station.
Hola Barcelona Travel Card – public transport card for 2-5 days – unlimited journeys including the airport; you’ll find how to collect the card in your order confirmation.
We also got around the city by bus, both in 2022 and 2023, and I paid by tapping my card right by the driver. The card reader is right behind the front doors. It charges the price of a single ticket, i.e. €2.90. In the metro this only works at some entrances, where there’s a special validator for bank cards; elsewhere you buy your ticket with a card at the machine. They accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express, even from your phone or watch.
You won’t get a paper ticket. We saw ticket inspectors checking other passengers on public transport, but they never checked us.
Our tip: with a card you always pay the full price of a single ticket. From your fifth ride, the T-casual works out cheaper; the T-dia is only worth it once you’re taking five rides or more in one day.
The transport operator’s official app is TMB App – it plans routes, shows real-time bus departures, and you can buy tickets in it too. Download it for iPhone and Android.
The second one is T-mobilitat – a virtual ticket on your phone that you tap against the ticket gate via NFC instead of a paper card. Find it for iPhone and Android.
The metro runs Monday to Thursday and on Sundays 5:00-24:00, on Fridays and before public holidays until 2:00. On the night from Saturday to Sunday it runs all night. When the metro isn’t running, night buses (NitBus) take over.
Lines have both numbers and colours, and the signage underground is clear – personally, I’d say it’s almost impossible to get lost down there 🙂
Uber works in Barcelona: you book a car with a driver through the app, but you can’t hail one on the street like a regular taxi. After big events – a concert, a football match, the show at the Magic Fountain – thousands of people are trying to leave at once, and drivers simply refuse rides from the thick of the crowd.
Our tip: don’t stand with the app open where the crowd is thickest. Walk a few streets away, even a metro stop or two, and only order from there.
With taxis, a second lesson applies. Barcelona’s old town is full of narrow streets a car can’t get into, and the driver will drop you off wherever they see fit. It’s better to give them a well-known landmark nearby – La Rambla, Plaça de Catalunya, a specific square. It’ll save you the argument and the wandering around.
Where to stay so you barely need a taxi or the metro at all – we go through it in our article Where to stay in Barcelona.
In Barcelona it feels like everyone has a moped. For tourists, though, it’s trickier than it looks.
The simplest option is a regular bike from a rental shop.
Bike rental – by the hour or for a whole day – helmet and lock included.
Mopeds, scooters and motorbikes – an overview of rentals and rides – from renting an e-scooter to a ride in a sidecar.
I tend to avoid sightseeing buses: they can be expensive, they often sit in traffic in the centre, and I’m usually faster on foot or by metro. But they make sense if you have little time in Barcelona, don’t want to walk much, or are travelling with kids or older parents. You see the main sights without changing buses, with commentary through headphones.
The city’s official sightseeing bus is Barcelona Bus Turístic – it runs two routes, you can hop off and on at any stop, and an audio guide is included. A 24-hour ticket costs €29.70 online, €33 at the stop, and a 48-hour ticket is €39.60 online. Children aged 4-12 pay €16.20 online for 24 hours (source: barcelonabusturistic.cat).
Alongside it runs a private competitor Barcelona City Tour – a different operator, different buses, and the tickets aren’t interchangeable. You can buy a ticket for it here:
Barcelona City Tour (hop-on hop-off) – 1 or 2-day ticket – a private sightseeing bus.
Barcelona’s highest hill, home to the amusement park, has its own dedicated bus – TibiBus. It’s not a regular public transport line: it only runs on days when the park is open, and the ride is included in the park admission ticket. There are two lines – T2B from the Vall d’Hebron metro station, and T2C from Plaça Kennedy on Avinguda Tibidabo. Both take you up to the funicular station Cuca de Llum, which gets you to the top in 4 minutes. The funicular is included in the admission price too.
The famous blue tram Tramvia Blau has been out of service since 2018, and repairs aren’t due to start until late 2027 at the earliest. In its place, you can take bus 196 from Avinguda Tibidabo to Plaça Doctor Andreu.
We took the metro and then a train, for which you need a separate ticket. Right after getting off the train, the TibiBus was waiting on the right, and we didn’t pay anything for that ride.
Tibidabo – amusement park ticket – including the Cuca de Llum funicular and all the rides.
The most classic option is Las Golondrinas – sightseeing boats that have been departing from the Columbus Monument since 1888. You can choose between a 40-minute cruise around the harbour or a one-hour trip along the coast.
In 2023 we went on a 90-minute sightseeing cruise for €18 per person and a welcome drink was included in the price.
Las Golondrinas – harbour and beach cruise – the harbour and beaches from the water.
Catamaran – sunset cruise with live music – free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Ferries run from Barcelona’s port to Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, including overnight sailings. Prices vary by date and by the type of vessel: they’re cheapest off-season, and tend to be higher in summer. You’ll find current timetables and prices directly from the operator, Baleària, at balearia.com.
Who Barcelona’s public transport isn’t ideal for: if you’re travelling with a lot of luggage and staying in the Gothic Quarter or Raval, the metro won’t take you into the narrow streets and you’ll walk the last few hundred metres over cobblestones. Likewise, from Sunday to Thursday you’ll have to rely on night buses after midnight, since the metro only runs until midnight (until 2:00 on Fridays).
Barcelona’s public transport is cheap, easy to follow, and one ticket gets you almost everywhere. Our approach: the metro with the airport ticket from the airport, the T-casual or tapping your card on the bus around the city, and Uber only once you’re a bit away from the crowd. If you want more convenience and less counting, go for Hola Barcelona.
And when you’re planning what to fit into your time in Barcelona, take a look at our complete guide to Barcelona. If you’re also heading to the coast outside the city, read our guide to Blanes and Lloret de Mar and more tips from Spain.
Where to stay in Barcelona, neighbourhood by neighbourhood: Barri Gotic, Sagrada Familia, El Raval, Poble-sec and Les Corts. Real prices per night, the tourist tax and how to get in from the airport.
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