Transport in Barcelona

The traffic in Barcelona is reasonably chaotic. Not to mention the chaotic way of driving by the locals. The municipallity has started to bring the number of cars within the city center down. So have the parking fees been increased enormously in the past year's. A lot of people changed their car for a moped, which known makes Barcelona the city in Europe with the largest numbers of mopeds and motorbikes.

If you plan to drive yourself through Barcelona, keep in mind that your drivingskills are not comparible with the drivingskills of the locals, or maybe the other way around? If you can be patience, with the traffic and the drivers, than there is no reason to not drive around. But if you are not patience, than please don't even try to drive around town.
For that reason we will give you some basic information about other ways of transport within the city center.

Metro (underground)
The metro is, most likely the fastest way to travel in Barcelona.
By the way, did you know that Barcelona will soon have the longest metro service of Europe. L9 will be opened soon, and will last more than 42 kilometers with 46 stations.
The metro in Barcelona is opperated by two companies. 5 metro lines in the city center are operated by 'Ferrocarril Metropolita de Barcelona' and 2 lines in the city center and 4 in the suburbs are operated by 'Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya'.
But you won't see any differences between the two companies, altough different techniques. But the costs are the same. For both companies, a single ticket will cost you € 1,05. But recommended is to buy a T-DIA card, with this card you make use of all public transport within the city centre for one day. You can buy the metro cards at most metro stations.

Bus service
If you take the bus in Barcelona, you will need to take your time, the bus is one of the slowest way's of transport within the city center.
Barcelona has aproximately 130 bus routes, of which 40 will also drive during the night.
You can buy a single ticket for € 1,05 in the bus. But recommended is to buy a (T-DIA) all day travel card, which you can use to travel with all the public transport within the city center for one day. You can get the travel cards at most metro stations.

You can also make use of the city sightseeing busses. This bus service does not accept the travelcards, but need to be paid appart. A ticket for the sightseeing tour will cost you aproximately € 15,-
The sightseeing busses will take you to all the places of interest in Barcelona, and just like any other city, you can hop-on and ho-off.
In Barcelona are two sightseeing routes: the northern route and the southern route, both with different places of interest.

Taxi's
There are more than 8000 taxi's in Barcelona. All of them in the same colours: black and yellow. Most taxi's have a green sign on the rooftop, if the light is on, the taxi is free and you can catch a ride, if the light is off, the taxi is in use. Like most cities, just wave to a taxi with it's green sign on, and you can catch a ride.

Alternative transport
The municipallity is trying it's utmost best to bring the number of cars in the city center down. For that reason, cycling has been highly promoted. You can find many different companies in the city center where you can rent a bike or join a cycling tour around all the places of interest.

You can also use other way's of transport throughout the city, for example the cableway from the harbor up to Montjiuc. Or a boattour in the harbor. All alternative transort serve their goal and (like the cableway) excellent opportunities to see the city from a different perspective.