Last Updated on April 29, 2024 by Sam
Situated in the Spanish region of Catalonia, the city of Barcelona is one of the top destinations in Europe and before visiting there are some useful travel tips to know. There are plenty of great things to see and do in the city, with visitors coming from around the world to enjoy its unique culture. Highlights include the amazing Gaudí houses, the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and the iconic Camp Nou – all of which are included on our perfect five day Barcelona itinerary! There are a number of great Barcelona travel tips to ensure you have the best trip possible. These tips can help save both time and money, meaning you can see more of the city and also spend less doing it! We were fortunate enough to spend a month in the city in 2022, and came up with these Barcelona travel tips with a little help from some locals too. Make the most out of your trip to this famous city with these 10 travel tips for visiting Barcelona!
Planning to visit one or more of the Gaudi houses? Make sure to check out our article on which Gaudí house is better – Casa Batlló or Casa Milà?
Barcelona Travel Tips and Tricks
Book Attractions in Advance
Many of the top places to visit and best things to do in Barcelona can be booked online in advance, which can end up saving you a lot of time over the course of your trip. If you’ve booked in advance you won’t need to queue to buy tickets, and some online tickets even include skip-the-line access to attractions.
Booking in advance is definitely one of our top Barcelona travel tips – especially if you’re visiting during the peak summer months. During summer the city can be packed with tourists, so expect long queues if you don’t already have tickets for attractions.
Thankfully it’s easy to book online in advance through Get Your Guide, which means you can save yourself the hassle of queueing for tickets. Get Your Guide offer tickets for all of Barcelona’s top attractions – often with the added benefit of free cancellation up until a few days before your activity date.
Click here to book tickets to the city’s top attractions on the Get Your Guide website!
T-Casual Ticket for Public Transport
One of our top Barcelona travel tips is to buy a T-Casual ticket to use on public transport in the city. The T-Casual ticket entitles you to 10 journeys around the city, and can be used on the metro, buses and trams. As of 2024, the cost of the Barcelona T-Casual ticket is €12.60, which is great value for 10 journeys and a Barcelona insider tip.
Journeys aren’t limited to one means of transport, so if you need to take a metro and then a bus then it will only count as one journey – as long as the trip does not exceed 75 minutes in total. You can make up to 3 transfers per journey, but if you are making a return trip then the return leg will count as a separate journey even if it is within 75 minutes. Click here to see more information on the terms of use on the TMB website.
Getting around Barcelona by public transport is extremely convenient, and there are metro stations close by to a number of the city’s main attractions. In some instances taking the metro is quicker than taking a taxi.
T-Casual tickets can be purchased in metro and train stations using the self-service ticket machines.
Travelling from Barcelona Airport
The best value way to get from Barcelona airport to the city is to use public transport which is a travel tip that is useful to know for those on a budget. A ticket to or from the airport using the metro costs just €5.60, and an Aerobus ticket costs just €6.70 one-way or €11.60 for a return journey. The metro and Aerobus are easily accessible from the arrivals section of the airport, and both have enough space for luggage on board.
Before deciding between the two, it’s best to check if there is a metro station near your accommodation. The journey planner on the metro website is useful for figuring this out as you can search for the best route from the airport to your hotel. It’s also worth taking a look at the trip section of the Aerobus website to see the stops you can get off at.
If the bus doesn’t stop near your accommodation then you’re probably best to take the metro. Alternatively, if the bus does stop near your accommodation then it’s probably the easier option as on some metro journeys you will need to change line – which is a bit of hassle when you have luggage with you.
Taxis and private transfers are also an option, but will end up costing considerably more. If you would prefer this option then we recommend booking in advance through Get Your Guide so that you have a driver waiting to pick you up when you arrive.
Click here to book a private transfer from the airport through Get Your Guide!
Accommodation in Barcelona
Barcelona is one of the top destinations in Europe, so it’s hardly surprising that the best accommodation can book up in advance. If you’re looking for a luxurious hotel or trying to find a good budget deal, then we recommend booking as far in advance as possible.
There are often events in the city that may cause hotels to sell out in advance, which means both budget and more expensive options can be booked up quickly. Even when there aren’t specific events, accommodation can sell out weeks and months in advance.
To find the best value accommodation and hotels in Barcelona we recommend using Booking.com. They have a great range of options and sometimes offer discounted stays – so plan ahead to get the best deal!
Click here to find the best hotels and accommodation for your trip on Booking.com!
Alternatively, VRBO have some fantastic accommodation options if you want to rent a property instead of staying at a hotel! Click here to see the amazing options on the VRBO website!
Arrive to Attractions Early
One of the best travel tips and pieces of advice for visiting Barcelona is to arrive to attractions early if you want to avoid crowds. Main attractions like the Sagrada Família and Park Güell can get extremely busy, but if you arrive early you get the chance to enjoy them whilst they’re still fairly quiet.
Seeing the city’s main attractions without crowds makes them that extra bit more impressive, and also allows you to get some better pictures as you won’t need to worry about so many other tourists being in the way. Check opening times for the various attractions on Google, and then plan your days accordingly so that you can visit the most popular spots at opening time.
To make sure you can get into the attractions early it’s worth booking your tickets in advance. Some attractions even off skip-the-line tickets, so you’ll also get in quicker than anyone who hasn’t pre-booked tickets. We recommend booking your tickets in advance through Get Your Guide as they often offer skip-the-line access, as well as being great value and easy to book through.
Click here to book attraction tickets for your trip through Get Your Guide!
Free Museum Days in Barcelona
One of the best budget travel tips for visiting Barcelona is to try and time your visit over one of the Free Museum Days. A number of museums in the city offer free admission on the first Sunday of every month, so it’s a great tip for saving a bit of money.
Some of the museums that offer free admission on the first Sunday of the month are Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Museu Picasso, Palau Guell and Museu d’Història de Barcelona . If you don’t happen to be in Barcelona on the first Sunday of the month then some museums do offer free entry after 3pm on any Sunday.
One disadvantage of visiting on these days is that the museums can be even busier than normal, but if you’re visiting for free it’s hard to complain! It’s worth checking the official websites of any museums you plan to visit to ensure they still grant free admission on the first Sunday of every month, and also as some museums do require you to reserve tickets in advance even when entry is free.
Visit Off Peak
Perhaps one of the most underrated Barcelona travel tips is to visit the city outside of the summer months. It’s a great city break destination all year round, and there are a number of advantages to visiting outside of peak season.
Barcelona is blessed with good weather during the summer months, but the heat can have downsides too. Walking around the city when it’s hot can be quite exhausting, so it may be preferable to visit at a cooler time of year.
Another advantage of visiting outside of peak season is that there are fewer tourists about, which means attractions get less crowded. To top it off, some hotels and attractions also lower their prices outside of the summer months – so you can end up saving money too!
Travel Insurance
One of the most obvious tips for travelling to Barcelona (or anywhere else in the world for that matter!) is to get travel insurance. It can feel annoying to have to pay out for an extra expense, but travel insurance is a great safety net for when things go wrong.
Depending on your policy, travel insurance can cover a range of different things from emergency medical treatment to trip cancellation to personal liability. Speaking from experience, you can end up saving a lot of money by getting a good travel insurance policy – so don’t take the risk and end up having to cover the costs yourself!
Explore Catalonia
Another of our top Barcelona travel tips is to visit some other parts of Catalonia. If you’re only visiting on a weekend break or don’t have too long in the city then this tip might not be suitable for you, but if you have a slightly longer trip it’s definitely worth exploring more of Catalonia.
There are plenty of great places to visit in Catalonia including the Costa Brava region, the Pyrenees mountains, the city of Girona and the beautiful Ebro Delta. Some lesser known spots that are also worth visiting include the impressive Miravet Castle and the historic city of Tortosa, as well as the small towns of L’Ampolla and L’Ametlla De Mar.
If you want to enjoy some beautiful views of the Catalan countryside and the Ebro Delta then it’s worth doing the La Foradada del Montsia hike. There are more brilliant views nearby too at various viewpoints in the Parc Natural Dels Ports.
The best way to explore more of Catalonia is to rent a car for a day or two, but if you don’t drive then some spots are accessible by train from Barcelona. We personally recommend renting a car as it makes it easier to visit more than one place in a day, and there are lots of great spots to choose from.
If you are planning on renting a car then we recommend doing so via the Discover Cars website as they compare between several operators to get you the best deal! Click here to find amazing value rental cars on the Discover Cars website!
Too Good To Go
If you’re trying to stick to a budget in Barcelona then one of the best travel tips is to get food from Too Good To Go. This app allows users to buy discount meals, sandwiches, pastries and more from restaurants, cafes and shops.
Instead of ordering exactly what you want, you will be given what is referred to as a ‘Magic Bag’. Magic bags can contain a variety of the vendors different products, and what you get depends on what stock is unsold on any given day – so there’s no way of knowing what you’ll get until you pick it up.
Prices for a magic bag range from around €3 to €5, which gets you around €9 to €15 worth of food at full price. Bags can only be reserved via the Too Good To Go app, and vendors specify the kind of things you can expect to receive in your bag. Normally you will reserve a bag for collection later that day, or in some instances for the following day.
Once you’ve ordered a magic bag, simply turn up to the restaurant, cafe or shop at the specified time and show them your order via the app.
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