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Tickets and travel
passes
A transit plan divides the province into six
zones, but as the entire metropolitan area of
Barcelona (including the airport) falls within
Zone 1, that’s the only one you’ll need to
worry about on a day-to-day basis.
On all the city’s public transport (including
night buses and funiculars) you can buy a
single ticket every time you ride (€1.30), but
if you’re staying for a few days it’s much
cheaper to buy a
targeta
– a
discount ticket
strip which you pass through the box on top
of the metro or train barrier, or slot in the
machine on the bus, tram or funicular. The
targetes
are available at metro, train and
tram stations, but not on the buses.
The best general deal is the
T-10
(“tay day-
oo” in Catalan)
targeta
(€7.20), valid for ten
separate journeys, with changes between
methods of transport allowed within 75
minutes. The ticket can also be used by
more than one person at a time – just make
sure you punch it the same number of times
as there are people travelling. It’s also
available at newsstands and tobacconists.
Other useful (single-person
) targetes
for
Zone 1 include the
T-Dia
(“tay dee-ah”; one
day’s unlimited travel; €5.50), plus combina-
tions up to the 5-Dies (five days; €21.70); the
T-50/30
(fifty trips within a thirty-day period;
€29.80); or the
T-Mes
(one month; €46.25) –
for the latter, the station ticket office will need
to see some form of ID (driving licence or
passport). The Barcelona Card (see p.31)
also offers free city transport between two
and five days.
Heading for Sitges, Montserrat or further
out of town, you’ll need to buy a specific
ticket or relevant-zoned
targeta
as the Zone
1
targetes
outlined above don’t run that far.
Anyone caught without a valid ticket
anywhere on the system is liable to an on-
the-spot fine of €40.
The metro
The quickest way of getting around
Barcelona is by metro, which runs on six
lines though two more are currently under
construction. Metro entrances are marked
with a red diamond sign with an “M”. Its
hours of operation
are Monday until
Thursday, plus Sunday and public holidays,
5am to midnight; Friday, 5am to 2am;
Saturday and the day before a public holiday,
24hr service. There’s a colour
metro map
at
the back of this book, or you can pick up a
little fold-out one at metro stations (ask for
una guia del metro
).
The system is perfectly safe, though many
of the train carriages are heavily graffitied.
Buskers and beggars are common, moving
from one carriage to the next at stations.
Buses
Most buses operate daily, roughly from 4 or
5am until 10.30pm, though some lines stop
earlier and some run until after midnight.
Night bus (
Nit bus
) services fill in the gaps on
all the main routes, with services every
twenty to sixty minutes from around 10pm to
4am. Many bus routes (including all night
buses) stop in or near Plaça de Catalunya,
but the full route is marked at each bus stop,
City transport
Barcelona’s excellent integrated transport system comprises the metro, buses,
trams and local trains, plus a network of funiculars and cable cars. The local
transport authority is Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (
W
www.tmb.net),
whose useful website (English-language version available) has full timetable and
ticket information. There are also TMB customer service centres at Barcelona
Sants station, and at Universitat, Diagonal and Sagrada Família metro stations,
where you’ll be able to pick up a free public transport map. The map and ticket
information is also posted at major bus stops and all metro and tram stations. Our
public transport map is in the colour pages at the back of the book.
BASICS
|
City transport