Barcelona efficiently – Traveling Smart

If you’re going to Barcelona, you want to do everything you can to see Barcelona efficiently. We spent 10 days here and have some advice and tips that can make you get the most out of your time.

Getting Around

There are two secrets to getting around. First, have a good pair of walking shoes. Julie can be fanatical about tracking her steps on her Fitbit. We easily topped 10,000 steps a day and we pushed or exceeded 20,000 several other days. Our walking shoes got a good workout.

Metro Pass

The second secret is the Barcelona Metro. We each purchased a T-10 Metro pass; these are great for seeing Barcelona efficiently. At €10.20 each the pass is a great deal since you get 10 one way trips on the Metro to anywhere in Barcelona. You can transfer to different trains and there’s no additional cost. Our American Express card has no foreign transaction fees, so we used it in the Maria Cristina Metro Stop to purchase the Metro T-10 Passes. The Metro card machine has an option for instructions in English making it easy. Once we had the card, we were on our way.

Using the Metro

Hands down, you have to have a metro map. We picked one up at the front desk of our hotel. If you’ve ever used the Washington, DC Metro, you’ll be right at home in Barcelona. You slip the pass in the front of the entry gate and it pops up from the top for you to grab. Don’t forget to take the pass. Remember, it has 10 trips on it! Unlike the DC Metro, you don’t scan the card when you finally exit the Metro.

Navigating the Metro

Google Maps shows the metro stops, so you can find the nearest Metro stop on your phone or notebook and then use the Metro map to navigate. Click on the Metro icon in Google Maps and the station info is displayed and all the Metro routes are highlighted for reference. That is a great feature.

The routes are color-coded and for directions, just look for the last stop in the direction you’re going. Once you enter the Metro, look for the color-coded line and the end station. On the platform when you’re waiting for the next train, there are departure displays that count down the time until the next train arrives. We’ve found that the average interval between trains is 4½ minutes, so you never have to wait long.

Here is the 2018 Barcelona Metro Map or you can download a PDF version from here.

While the stops should be announced in advance, we found that happens only about 60% of the time. The maps over the doors have LED lights indicating the current progress and location, and each station is well marked so you can keep track of your progress.

We found that using the Metro made it very easy to see Barcelona efficiently and easily. Enjoy!

More Barcelona photos can be found in the Barcelona Photo Album.