Barcelona Airport

TIP: Many well-known museums, sights and attractions require online reservations. If you plan to visit the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell during your stay in Barcelona, the convenient Barcelona Digital Pass (including Hop-On Hop-Off bus tickets) is highly recommended!

Train to Barcelona

The centre of Barcelona is easily accessible by suburban train R2 Nord of Rodalies de Catalunya. The train station of the airport is located at Terminal 2 between section A and section B, from here R2 Nord departs two times per hour. The train stops west of the city centre at the railway stations Sants (20 minutes) and Passeig de Gràcia (28 minutes). The price of a single ticket is € 4.60 (zone 4, free up to 3 years). If you are planning to travel multiple times within Barcelona city limits, it is better to buy a T-casual card (1 zona) for € 12.15. This card entitles you to 10 rides and can be used by one person. You may travel for a maximum of 75 minutes per journey and transfer to bus, metro, tram or train within zone 1. A T-familiar card (1 zona) can be used by multiple persons, the price is € 10.70 for 8 rides.

Barcelona Airport is located in zone 4 of the Renfe train network, but in zone 1 of the TMB Barcelona bus and metro network. People can benefit from this by buying a cheaper T-casual card or T-familiar card. Shuttle buses and the metro take passengers from Terminal 1 to the train station at Terminal 2, it enables everyone to make use of the train service R2 Nord. It is important to determine where you want to get off the train in advance since the terminus is not in the city, but further away in Maçanet-Massanes. Please consult website and timetable train R2 Nord for more information.

Top 5 sights in Barcelona

1. Antoni Gaudí: Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà
2. Parc Güell
3. Camp Nou, football stadium FC Barcelona
4. La Rambla and Mercat de la Boqueria, book a walking tour
5. Barcelona Cathedral

Bus to Barcelona

It is also possible to travel to the centre of Barcelona by bus, during the day with bus 46 (T1 and T2) and at night with buses N17 (T1) and N18 (T1 and T2). These are bus services of Barcelona’s public transport company called TMB Barcelona, not to be confused with the Aerobus shuttle service. A bus ticket costs € 2.55, which is much cheaper than the € 6.75 you pay for Aerobus line A1 and line A2.

If you arrive at Terminal 1, the bus usually is a faster alternative than the train, because you do not have to take the free shuttle bus from Terminal 1 to the train station at Terminal 2. Bus 46 runs every 15 minutes, travel time to the final stop Plaça d’Espanya is 35 minutes. Tickets are available from the bus driver, but you can buy a T-casual card or T-familiar card as well at one of the ticket machines if you want to use public transport more often during your stay in Barcelona. Plaça d’Espanya is not located in the centre of the city (Ciutat Vella), but southwest of it. You can change to metro lines L1 and L3 to get to the centre of Barcelona (+ € 2.55). Please consult website TMB Barcelona and website Aerobus for more information.

Metro to Barcelona

A third possibility is the subway. On February 12, 2016 Barcelona opened a driverless metro extension to the airport. Nowadays you can travel by metro line S9 from the airport to the city. Barcelona Airport has two underground stations, namely Aeroport T1 and Aeroport T2. The metro runs between the airport and metro station Zona Universitària, the journey time is 30 minutes from T1 and 26 minutes from T2. Metro L9S is not the fastest mode of transport to reach the centre of Barcelona, because you have to change twice.

However, the metro is ideal if you want to visit the trade fair of Barcelona (Fira Barcelona), the two sites are easily reachable by metro. Fira Barcelona Gran Via is located right in between metro stations Fira and Europa Fira, and is directly accessible with L9 Sud. Fira Barcelona Montjuïc is located next to metro station Plaça d’Espanya and can be reached by metro with one change at metro station Europa Fira. The stadium of FC Barcelona is directly accessible with L9 Sud too. Travel time from Barcelona Airport to metro station Collblanc close to Camp Nou is 28 minutes. The metro runs every 7 minutes and the price of a ticket including airport surcharge is € 5.50. Please consult website and timetable metro L9S for more information.