How to get around Barcelona: Tourist bus, metro (subway), and walking

Last Updated on 17 December, 2020 by Veronica

Do you want to know how to get around Barcelona? What kind of transport to use during your trip? I will tell you the advantages and disadvantages of the different forms of transportation that exist to move around Barcelona.

Barcelona is an amazing city that I love! It has everything!  This diverse city has has beautiful and unique art, culture, history, and beaches, among other things.

How to get around Barcelona

Barcelona is a very large city, some of the distances between the sights are short enough to walk to and from, but not all. For this reason, on my last visit that was 4 days in the “Condal” city, my modes of transport were the the Tourist Bus and walking.

Check out: what to see on a 4-day trip to Barcelona.

How to get around Barcelona

There are many factors to consider when choosing your mode of transportation. I believe that the length of your visit, how well you know the city, your physical condition, and/or the places you want to visit are all important factors that you should consider since some means of transport will  better fit your plan to move around Barcelona than others. Let’s start?

Walking through Barcelona

Walking is usually my favorite way to tour a city, but in cities the size of Barcelona, with so many things to see and know, it gets a little difficult to visit it solely through walking. Mostly because you will spend a lot of time going back and forth. In the end you will end up exhausted if you want to visit everything only by walking. The ideal is to walk and use one of the means of transport that the city provides.

Obviously, if you are only going to visit the center of Barcelona, you have to visit the Gothic quarter, walking can be the only method used to move around. But for example, going to the Park Guell will take you a while depending on where you stay in Barcelona.

Biking

The bicycle is a fantastic means of transport to get to know cities and towns. We toured Amsterdam and other Dutch cities by bike and loved the experience. Barcelona is quite adapted for cycling and has many kilometers of bike paths that are continuously expanding.

Plus, it’s a pretty flat city so you don’t need to be in shape to choose the bike option. If not, you can opt for the electric bike, which makes your job much easier and can be rented just as easily as a regular bike.

You can also do 2.30-hour bike tours, and see if you like to cycle around the city and you could even rent one for the rest of your trip.

Public Transportation(Metro or Bus)

Public transport is one of the best options to get around Barcelona. The subway is the fastest way to get from one point to another. However,  it has a couple of disadvantages First, you miss the city, that is, you’re only going to see tunnels on your visit and you might miss out on the beautiful sights that the city has to offer.

Furthermore, I think that the tickets are a little expensive, unless you buy a bonus. If not, a ticket costs 2.2 euros each way!

What options do you have to make public transport cheaper in Barcelona? Well, you can choose one of the following two options:

One is to buy the Hello BCN card! It includes unlimited use of public transportation in Barcelona (metro, city buses, railways of the Generalitat of Zone 1, etc). The price is 15 euros per person for two days. And if you want, you can even buy it for  3, 4 or 5 days.

The other option is to buy the Barcelona Card, which in addition to including the use of unlimited public transport (for the days contracted), it also includes the entrance to 7 attractions:

• Picasso Museum
• Museum of Art of Catalonia
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona
• Joan Miró Foundation
• Museum of Modernism in Barcelona
• Egyptian Museum of Barcelona
• King’s Square Museum

This card also includes: the train that reaches the Barcelona airport, discounts, and the option to skip the queues.

Official Tourist Bus

Barcelona’s “Bus Turistic” is a very comfortable way to get to know the city and the places of greatest interest. The official tourist bus was my means of transport on my last visit to Barcelona. I will inform you about its advantages and how it works.

How does the hop on hop off bus work?

You have 3 different routes that you can choose with the Turistic Bus of Barcelona. They cover all of the city’s  points of interest and you can, with the same ticket, choose all three. It is a very comfortable way to move around Barcelona.

The way it works is very simple; once you have the bus ticket, you can use it for one or two consecutive days (depending on the mode you have purchased). During this time you can get on and off these buses as many times as you want.

Check out: Free Walking Tour around Barcelona

For example, with the blue line you can go up in the Plaza de Catalunya and get off at Casa Batlló, then you can continue walking to the Pedrera which is very close (or take the same bus), get back on the bus and visit the Sagrada Familia. The Park Guell is also in this line as well as many other attractions.

Where to buy the tourist bus ticket?

The ticket for the tourist bus can be purchased here. The price is 30 euros per adult for one day and 40 for two days (It is free for children under 4 years old).

If you are thinking of buying the Barcelona Pass, this pass includes free access to more than 20 attractions. Among them the most popular are:

• Camp Nou Experience (25€)
• Casa Mila (La Pedrera) (20,50€)
• Barcelona Sightseeing Bus (30€)
• Spanish Village (14€)
• Casa Batlló (24.50€)
• Barcelona Zoo (19.90€)
• Cologne Guell (9€)
• Casa de les Punxes (12,50€)
• Wax Museum of Barcelona (15€)
• La Roca Village (20€)

As you can see, this card also includes the Turistic Bus,(Which as previously stated, gives you the possibility to skip the queues and provides discounts in restaurants, shows and shops throughout Barcelona.

The price is 109 euros per person for two days. You can also buy it for 3 or 4 days!

What are the advantages of the Barcelona tourist bus?

The advantages of touring Barcelona in the Turistic Bus are the following:

• This bus has 3 different routes that cover practically the entire city and the most important points of interest.
• The top floor is roofless so you can enjoy the views of the city.
• There is an audio guide in several languages, where they comment on the places that the bus goes through.
• It is a very comfortable way to move around the city. You do not get lost and you just have to decide where you want to get off.

I had the opportunity to use the Turistic Bus and to get to know the main attractions of Barcelona thanks to VisitBarcelona.

Tell me, what’s your favorite way to get around the cities you visit?

Prepare your trip to Barcelona

• What to see in Barcelona
• Casa Batlló, the best time to visit Gaudí work art
• Free Walking Tour
• Transfers in Barcelona
• Where to stay in Barcelona
• Best Travel Insurance for your trip to Spain

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