Getting There By Air:Barcelona Airport (BCN) Tel: 902 404 704.
Website:
www.aena.es Barcelona Airport is located 12km (7 miles) southwest of the city center and has three terminals (A, B and C). There are daily direct flights between Barcelona and more than 30 international destinations - several further destinations are served by less frequent direct flights. The airport had over 30 million passengers passing through in 2006, compared with just 10 million in 1992, the year of the
Barcelona Olympics. The airport ranks second in Spain and a third runway has recently been added to cater for the increasing volume of air traffic.
Airport facilities: There are banks and bureaux de change in terminals A and B. Car hire services are available from
Avis,
Europcar,
Hertz,
Sol-Mar and
National Atesa. Other facilities include tourist information desks (tel: (93) 478 4704), a hotel information desk (terminal B), duty-free shopping (terminals A and B), left luggage (Technical Block), post office (terminal B), shops, restaurants and bars. Terminal B has a chemist and there are 24-hour medical facilities in the Technical Block.
Business facilities: Meeting rooms are available in the airport’s business center (tel: (93) 298 4450) at the cargo terminal. Various airlines offer access to the VIP lounges in Terminals A and B.
Transport to the city: A
RENFE (tel: 902 240 202; website:
www.renfe.es) train leaves the airport for the city center every 30 minutes during the day, stopping at Central-Sants (journey time - 17 minutes), Plaça de Catalunya (journey time - 23 minutes), Arc de Triomf (journey time - 26 minutes) and Clot-Aragó (journey time - 30 minutes) for connections to the metro.
An
Aerobús service (tel: (93) 415 6020; website:
www.emt-amb.com) runs to Plaça de Catalunya via Gran Via every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday (journey time - 15-30 minutes). Bus 46 operates a service from the airport to Plaça Espanya every 30 minutes. Nightbus N11 runs from the airport to Plaça Catalunya.
Taxis to and from the airport charge a minimum of €10. The ride to a downtown hotel costs approximately €20, including a €2 airport supplement. Taxi ranks are located outside the terminal buildings.
Approximate flight times to Barcelona: From London is 2 hours; from New York is 7 hours 30 minutes; from Los Angeles is 13 hours; from Toronto is 11 hours 30 minutes; and from Sydney is 25 hours 15 minutes.
Getting There By Water:Located close to the city center, to the west of Montjuïc and below
Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter), the Port de Barcelona, run by
Autoritat Portuària de Barcelona (tel: (93) 306 8800; website:
www.apb.es), has re-established its status as one of the major Mediterranean maritime destinations in recent years. In addition to being an important cargo port, it is the second largest Mediterranean cruise center after Athens. In 2005, the port handled over 700 liners and over 1.2 million passengers.
Crueurs del Porte de Barcelona (tel: (93) 412 7914) runs five cruise ship terminals (two at Moll Adossat, two at Moll Barcelona and one at Moll Espanya) and the
Autoritat Portuària de Barcelona (tel: (93) 306 8800) runs the Port Vell terminal. All the terminals have tourist information centers, travel agencies, a flight connection service, bureaux de change, first-aid facilities, duty-free and souvenir shops, bars, restaurants and international newspaper stands. Taxis and shuttle buses provide transportation to the city center. Parking and car hire services are also available.
Ferry services: For ferries to Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, the Estació Marítima Balears (Balearic Maritime Station) is located at Moll de Sant Bertran 3 (tel: (93) 295 9100). The nearest metro stop is Drassanes (line 3).
Acciona Trasmediterránea (tel: 902 454 645
or (93) 295 9100; website:
www.trasmediterranea.es), runs ferries to Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. It also operates a fast ferry service between Barcelona and Palma.
Transport to the city: The
TMB (tel: (93) 298 7000; website:
www.tmb.net) metro links the port to the center of Barcelona.
Getting There By Road:Motorways
(Autopista) are prefixed by the letter ‘A’, while highways
(Autovía) and other major roads
(Carretera Nacional) are indicated by either two Roman numerals or, more commonly, three digits. Many motorways have tolls. Rates are shown at tollbooths and payment must be made in Euros - cash is preferred, although major credit cards might also be accepted.
Traffic drives on the right. No person under 18 years may hire or ride a vehicle over 75cc. Seat belts are compulsory for front-seat passengers in cars. Crash helmets must be worn on motorcycles. After sunset, sidelights must be used at all times - spare bulbs and red hazard triangles must be kept in all vehicles. The speed limit for cars and motorcycles is 120kph (74mph) on motorways, 100kph (62mph) on dual carriageways, 90kph (56mph) on roads outside built-up areas and 50kph (31mph) within towns, unless otherwise stated. Fines for traffic offences are strictly enforced, often with on-the-spot fines. The legal alcohol to blood ratio for driving is 0.05%.
Foreign visitors require a valid driving license to drive in Spain. National licenses from EU countries are accepted, although nationals of other countries, including the USA, Canada and Australia, are advised to obtain an International Driving Permit. Third party insurance is required and documents should be carried at all times. A Green Card is strongly recommended for all visitors and is compulsory for those from outside the EU.
Breakdown services and motoring information can be obtained from the
Real Automobile Club de Catalunya (RACC), Avinguda Diagonal 687 (tel: (93) 495 5050; website:
www.racc.es).
Emergency breakdown service: RACC (tel: (93) 495 5152, 24-hour line).
Alternatively drivers should contact the
Ayuda en Carretera, run by the Guardia Civil, via the roadside SOS telephones located on both sides of the carriageway at 2km (1-mile) intervals.
Routes to the city: The A7 motorway is the main route to Barcelona from France and runs down the coast past Valencia, as far as Alicante to the south. The A2 heads inland to the west for Zaragoza and connections to Madrid. The A19 hugs the coast for a short distance to the northeast of the city.
Approximate driving times to Barcelona: From Zaragoza - 3 hours 15 minutes; Valencia - 3 hours; Madrid - 5 hours 30 minutes.
Coach services: Eurolines international coach services (tel: 902 405 040; website:
www.eurolines.es) use Estació Autobuses de Sants, situated next to the Central-Sants train station, Carrer Viriato (tel: (93) 490 4000), although services to France also stop at Estació del Nord, Avinguda Vilanova (tel: 902 260 606). Most long-distance coaches from other parts of Spain operate from the Estació del Nord. There are Eurolines services to major European cities, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Prague and Rome.
Getting There By Rail:RENFE (tel: 902 240 202; website:
www.renfe.es) operates the Spanish rail network, which radiates from Madrid to all the major cities. There are also transversal routes and services running from the French border along the Mediterranean coast. Some of the services are swifter and more reliable than others. The least convenient are
tranvía,
semidirecto and
correo trains, all of which chug along at a leisurely pace. Seat reservations are required on all intercity trains. Supplements are payable on many faster trains, even for passengers holding Interail and Eurail passes, although the amount is generally worth paying for a more efficient service.
Estació Central-Sants, Plaça del Països Catalans (tel: (93) 495 6215) is the city’s main railway station, serving national and international destinations as well as suburban routes. Facilities in the station building include tourist information, hotel information, left luggage, a bank offering currency exchange, a restaurant and cafeteria, shops, a first-aid point, showers, lockers and secure parking. Another railway station, Estació de França, Avinguda Marqués de l’Argentera, offers mainly southbound regional services. On some train routes, an alternative to both these stations is Passeig de Gràcia station, located close to Plaça de Catalunya and La Rambla.
Rail services: There are direct trains to Barcelona from Paris (journey time - 11 hours 15 minutes), Montpellier (journey time - 4 hours 30 minutes), Milan (journey time - 13 hours 15 minutes) and Zurich (journey time - 13 hours). A new high-speed rail service linking Barcelona with Madrid (journey time - 2 hours 40 minutes) opened in February 2008, and will eventually extend to the French TGV network too.
Getting Around:
Public TransportWith the exception of one metro line, transport in the city is operated by
TMB (tel: (93) 298 7000; website:
www.tmb.net). There are TMB information offices in the foyer of the Universitat metro station, open Monday to Friday 0800-2000. There are also offices at Diagonal, Sants Estacio and Sagrada Familia metro stations.
Regional rail services and the purple metro line are operated by
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya - FGC (tel: (93) 205 1515; website:
www.fgc.es). The information office, located in the Catalunya metro station, is open Monday to Friday 0900-2100.
Apart from during the rush hour (0730-0930 and 1800-2030), when it becomes very crowded, the
metro (M) is the most efficient means of transport in the city. Metro lines are all identified by a number and a color - the direction is shown by the name of the line terminus. Tickets must be validated in a machine on the platform before boarding and carried at all times to avoid the penalty fare. Tickets are available at TMB customer service centers, ticket offices and the automatic vending machines at the metro stations. The metro runs daily early morning until midnight, with extended hours on Friday and Saturday nights. The FGC line is fully integrated with the rest of the TMB-operated metro system and also runs daily early morning until midnight, with extended hours on Friday and Saturday.
Buses in the city run daily from approximately 0630 until around 2200. The network is extensive and almost all services run through Plaça de Catalunya, Plaça Urquinaona or Plaça de la Universitat. Single tickets are available from the driver. Travel cards must be validated in machines upon boarding. There are night-bus routes to some destinations, running daily every 30 to 45 minutes from approximately 2220 until around 0500, which require separate tickets. The
TombBús is a shopping service that runs Monday to Saturday every few minutes during summer between Plaça de Catalunya and Plaça Pius XII.
There are a number of
multi-ride tickets available (including the T-10 for 10 journeys and T-50/30 for 50 journeys within 30 days), depending on number of zones, validity period, modes of transport and changes permitted. There are also a variety of
passes available, including one-day and monthly passes. In addition, for tourists, there are two-day, three-day, four-day and five-day passes, which cover all transport in the city, including the journey to and from the airport. These are available for purchase at TMB customer service centers, metro ticket offices, automatic vending machines and at FGC railway stations.
For the suburbs and surrounding areas there are
regional rail lines run by the
FGC and
RENFE (see
Getting There By Rail). The RENFE local network is known as
Rodalies or
Cercanías and the central station in the city is Plaça de Catalunya.
A
funicular railway trundles up Montjuïc from the corner of Carrer Nou de la Rambla and Avinguda Parallel to Avinguda Miramar. From the amusement park, there is a
cable car (telefèric) to Montjuïc Castle. A further cable car operates every 15 minutes from the San Sebastian Tower in the Barceloneta district to Montjuïc, stopping en route at the Jaume I tower, near the World Trade Center.
TaxisThere are 11,000 yellow-and-black registered cabs operating in the city. These are either available on the street or can be booked in advance. Reliable companies include
Radio Taxi (tel: (93) 303 3033; website:
www.radiotaxi033.com) and
Servitaxi (tel: (93) 330 0300; website:
www.servitaxi.com). Taxi drivers should be tipped 5 to 10% of the meter fare.
Driving in the CityThe proximity of the main attractions and the excellent public transport system in Barcelona makes driving unnecessary in the city. Driving in Barcelona can be quite daunting, especially at rush hour (early morning, lunchtime and early evening) or on the fast multilane avenues in the city center. A detailed map is a necessity for managing the complicated one-way system and it is advisable for visitors to plan their route in advance.
Parking is tricky in some areas. Cars require a paid ticket to park in the ’blue’ zones, daily 0800-1400 and 1600-2000. Illegal parking results in the offending vehicle being towed away. Parking costs from around €1-3 per hour to €20 per day. There are numerous car parks in the city center.
Car HireDrivers must be 21 years or older to hire a car in Barcelona. A passport and a valid driving license are required. A valid international insurance policy is also necessary, although this can be purchased at the time of hire.
In addition to companies at the airport, car hire in Barcelona is provided by
Avis, Sants Railway Station, Plaça Paisos Catalans s/n (tel: (93) 330 4193; website:
www.avis.com), and
Hertz, Carrer Viriat 45 (tel: (93) 419 6156; website:
www.hertz.com).
Bicycle HireBarcelona has a limited network of bicycle lanes and bicycle racks. Bicycles can be carried on the public transport system, although there are some peak hour restrictions. Bicycles are available for hire from
Al Punt de Trobada, Carrer Badajoz 24 (tel: (93) 225 0585),
Un Coxte Menys, Esparteria 3 (tel: (93) 268 2105; website:
www.bicicletabarcelona.com), and
Biciclot, Passeig Marítim 33 (tel: (93) 221 9778; website:
www.biciclot.net). ID is required.
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