Get around on public transport

Barcelona as a city is Mediterranean, historical, avant-garde, cultural, cosmopolitan and a center for finance and tourism. All of these qualities, along with its climate and extensive range of leisure and gastronomy possibilities, encourage 15 million* people to visit every year, whether for leisure tourism or for the congresses, meetings and exhibitions held in the city throughout the whole year. Barcelona lies sixth in the rankings for the most visited city in Europe and is in the top 25 most visited worldwide.

Over three million people live in Barcelona's metropolitan area, half of whom live in the city itself. It covers an area of 102 km², making it one of Europe's most densely populated metropolises.

Barcelona lives at an intense pace by both day and night, seven days a week, with up to five million journeys made every day. 45% of them are done on foot or by bicycle, 20% in private vehicles and 34.5% on public transport. Due to the density of traffic, it is recommended that public transport is used for journeys too long to make on foot and that avoid using private vehicles, both for reasons of convenience and to comply with Barcelona's firm commitment to being a city with sustainable and safe mobility.

Before moving on public transport in Barcelona, find out about hygiene and safety measures to travel during the new normal.

*Data from 2019

TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona) is the city's main public transport operator with an ambition to become a benchmark operator in Europe.

More than 40% of public transport users in Barcelona travel by metro, being the quickest, most convenient and safest way to get around the city. The TMB metro network reaches all the neighbourhoods and districts and all the tourist points of interest, with an extensive schedule of operating times. The driverless automated metro accounts for 25% of the network, taking us further into new technologies. If you arrive by plane, you will find metro Line 9 Sud available to take you to the city center from the airport.

More than 20% of travellers use the bus. The TMB bus network also reaches every neighborhood and tourist attraction and is a convenient way to travel across the city while taking in the sights and discovering its charm and hidden corners. Consult the schedules and service frequencies of each route in the section Barcelona Bus. The New Bus Network is a new model that allows users to experience a more versatile high-performance service, in that it provides a variety of route options for getting from any given point to another.

Except for a very few stations, the entire metro network is accessible. The bus network is 100% accessible. Find out more from the page Accessibility and reduced mobility.

If you are someone who likes to do your own thing and put your own itineraries together, we recommend the Hola Barcelona Travel Card, which allows you to visit the city at a flat rate adapted to the duration of your stay.

If you need route planning advice for your days in the city, we can propose different itineraries that can be followed using public transport.

You can use the tool Find your route or TMB App to find out which transport to take and which routes and lines you need to get to your destination.

On the page Top 10 tips for visitors you will find full information on how to use our transport networks: ticket use, schedules, accessibility, advice on use and behaviour, rules and regulations and further ideas to assist you during your stay in the city.

We provide a variety of high quality and prestigious tourist transport options to enable you to visit Barcelona and its surrounding area in a unique way. You can purchase tickets on the Hola Barcelona website.

-    Barcelona Bus Turístic
-    Barcelona Night Tour
-    Telefèric de Montjuïc cable car
-    Catalunya Bus Turístic