Barcelona Metro Tips

Here are some useful information and tips for newbies in Barcelona Metro: metro system, tickets and hours! Barcelona great metro system will take you everywhere quickly and easily. Having lived in places like Rome and Los Angeles where public transportation is kind of a hassle, I was ready for anything and obviously agreeably surprised as I noticed how developed Barcelona public transportation was.

Line system:

Barcelona subway system is composed of several subway lines managed by different operators and divided in 6 zones.

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) operates the mostly used lines: the Red L1, Purple L2, Light Green L3 and L11, Yellow L4 and Light Blue L5.

As a tourist and even as a student, if your school or university isn’t too far from the center, I advise you to consider Zone 1 as a priority and Zone 2 if you wish. Only then consider all other zones depending on what you want to do.

I personally stick to zone 1 for my subscription and buy tickets for other zones for special plans.

Frequency:

Barcelona Metro trains are very convenient to use for they are reliably passing every 2/3 minutes during week days, every 10 minutes during week-ends. I must say that I was gladder than ever when I noticed it. No more 20-minute waiting time for the erratic Big Blue Bus of Los Angeles! Also count 2/3 minutes between each station.

Hours:

For L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L11, from Monday to Thursday, Barcelona Metro starts at 5am and stops at 12 am (it’s a good way to prevent people from going out during the week… or is it?). On Fridays, Barcelona Metro lines run from 5am to 2am and on Saturdays, they run non stop!

Be aware of special days: on New Year’s Eve and the days before June 24th, August 15th, September 9th , TMB’s lines run non stop too, whereas on Christmas Eve (December 24th), Barcelona Metro stops at 11pm. On days before other holidays, it runs from 5am to 2am like on Fridays.

Price and tickets:

Now let’s get down to business.

Concerning single tickets for Barcelona Metro (TMB system) or for Barcelona Bus, as I’m writing, they cost €1.40 each. They’re interesting if you’re just dropping by in Barcelona and not going to visit (until 4 trips, then prefer T-Dia Zone 1 if you don’t want to go to another zone).

For tourists staying a few days, I would say Barcelona Metro has a large range of different tickets to choose from. I would advise them to look at:

• 10-viajes : For all means of public transportation; price ranges from 7.85€ for zone 1 (time of utilization of the same ticket after one validation: 1h15) and 33.60€ for all 6 zones (time of utilization of the same ticket after one validation: 2h30)
• T-4 Travel card: 10 journeys, valid for Metro TMB (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L11, managed by the City of Barcelona), Bus network (except Tourist Bus), EMTS’ bus network, FGC (L6, L7, L8, managed by the Catalan Government) and TRAM for zone n°1, all for €3.25.
• T-Dia : Unlimited journeys for all means of transportation; the price ranges 5.90€ for the single zone 1 to 16.80€ for all 6 zones.
• Tourist tickets : for all means of transport (TMB metro and bus, FGC, TRAM) and all zones, 2 Days (for €11.20 and 2 consecutive days) 3 Days (for €15.90), 4 Days (€20.40), 5 Days (€24.10).

Other Group Tickets (T-Familiar) or reductions (T-Jove) are also available. Check the Barcelona Metro website!

For soon-to-be insiders (like myself!), the most interesting offers are the following:

• T-Mes : valid for 30 consecutive days and all means of Barcelona public transportation, it costs €48.80 for zone 1 and €138.50 for all six zones. Two good reasons to buy it if you’re staying more than 3 months:

1. First, as you’re going to use Barcelona Metro every day as much as you need it, you’re going to be exposed to all thieves and pickpockets. Therefore, if you lose it or it gets stolen, you won’t lose €134.10 at the same time (supposing you bought a T-Trimestre ticket for Barcelona Metro’s zone 1).
2. Second, it’s a good way to dispatch your expenses per month instead of spending more than €100 at once. I guess it depends on how you manage your finance.
3. Good thing to know: you’ll have to enter a DNI number (Documento Nacional de Identidad, Identity Document or ID) to buy the ticket at the machine. However, as I did not want to put my ID number on a card that could be lost or stolen (for I use it everyday), I just entered my birthday. We’ll see if it passes the control or not. I’ll keep you updated!

• T-Trimestre: valid for 90 days in a row and all means of Barcelona public transportation, it costs between €134.10 for zone 1 and €369.50 for all 6 zones.

Where to find tickets:

The easiest way is to go to the red automatic vending machines placed at each Barcelona metro system entry, knowing that they only propose 1-way, 10-viajes, T-Mes and T-Dias tickets. T-Trimestre and other integrated tariff tickets are supposed to be sold at those machines too (as precised on Transport Metropolitans of Barcelona website) but I noticed not all machines offer all of them.

Also make sure that you take one of the metro system maps which you can find near the automatic vending machines.

You can also, depending on the ticket you want to buy (please, check TMB website)

• buy tickets on-line on TMB website
• or on ServiCaixa website specialized in selling tickets for all kinds of events in different Spanish cities,
• go to Barcelona Tourist Information Offices,
• FGC railway stations or
• TMB customer service stations.

Codes:

Barcelona Metro has some non said rules that the newby can easily pick:

First of all, Barcelona metro has escalators going up everywhere. I must confess they are not very convenient at peak hours or when you are in a hurry as they are quite narrow. Therefore, the good conduct is to keep your right once you’re on it, so as to leave the way to other people climbing it. This is true everywhere, actually: in airports, on highways…

Escalators are only going up. To go down to all Barcelona Metro station, you must go back to the old basic stairs which, by the way, are a very good way to get exercise if you decide to ignore the escalators.

A very good thing in Barcelona Metro network is that you get phone reception everywhere (if you have a Spanish phone at least). In a globalized world where people spend more time communicating than sleeping, eating and reading all together, it’s worth its weight of gold!

Last but not least, PAY ATTENTION to who you are surrounded by and what is going on! As in all public transportation system, Barcelona Metro users have to deal with pickpockets anytime.

Connections:

Barcelona Metro lines intersect a lot. Here are a few indications but of course, the best is to bring a map of Barcelona and check your itinerary.

Biggest hubs:

• Diagonal (L3, L5 and L6): this station leads to  Plaza Juan Carles I, at the intersection Avingunda Diagonal and Passeig de Gracia, two of the biggest axes crossing Barcelona. Diagonal Station is always crowded by busy people in a hurry but the distances are walkable.
• Passeig de Gracia (L2, L3 and L4): it’s right under Passeig de Gracia, at the cross road with Gran Via les Corts Catalanes and the second biggest hub of Barcelona Metro network with a very long tunnel to go from L2 to L3. Don’t walk there alone after 11pm: notwithstanding its all performing video system, it’s pretty much scary and you increase your chances to get robbed. I personally experienced it. Somebody tried to grab my bag running passed me. Fortunately, I got some practice in thief-shouting in Rome and could save my bag from the rascal. A tip if by any chance you have to haunt Barcelona Metro alone late at night: walk along the walls and keep your bag on the wall side.

Other very handy stops: Drassanes for Las Ramblas, Gloriès, Espanya. Those are very good metro stops to begin exploring different areas of Barcelona.

In a word, do not hesitate to experience Barcelona Metro anytime! There’s always something going on in Barcelona underground!!

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Yours!

A.