By plane

The main airport is 1MISSING WIKILINK Barcelona El Prat (BCN IATA). Some low-cost carriers, notably Ryanair, use the airports of Girona (GRO IATA), nearly 100 km (62 mi) to the north, or Reus (REU IATA), around the same distance to the south, instead. Since Ryanair started operating at BCN, you should check carefully where your flight goes. The three-letter IATA code should be part of your booking process.

Barcelona International Airport

Barcelona International Airport (BCN IATA), also known as El Prat, is a major transport hub, with flights from all over Europe and beyond, is by far the closest airport to the city. To get to the city centre, there are different options. Both terminals have a metro station and the ticket machines before the turnstiles will sell you a Billet aeroport ticket to anywhere in the city by metro (only)for €5.90. You can also reach Barcelona's city centre by train or by bus with a T-casual on a T-mobilitat contactless card. This costs €13 for 10 journeys on any Suburban Train (Rodalies), metro (not from the airport), tram, or bus in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, and cannot be shared by more than one person. It is also much cheaper than the Aerobus (€7.45 for a single journey). The train leaves from Terminal 2, and there is a free shuttle from Terminal 1 to terminal 2. Trains run every 30 minutes until around midnight. If you arrive on a late flight, you can get into Barcelona using the N18 night bus, which stops at Plaça d'Espanya on its way to Plaça Catalunya. See the Public Transport section in Get Around below for more information on tickets & passes as there were major changes in 2023. Prices updated February 2026.

Girona–Costa Brava Airport

The Barcelona Bus service runs a shuttle bus from Estació del Nord (which is walking distance to the Arc de Triomf metro stop) in Barcelona to Girona Airport, synchronised with various flight times. A one-way ticket costs €16 and a return ticket costs €25. The journey takes approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. Timetables are available online. You can also take a train (you can choose between local Rodalies, Media Distancia and high speed AVE trains with different travel times and price points) to Girona main train station and a local bus from there to the airport.

Reus Airport

The easiest way is to get there is to take the bus run by Hispano Igualadina from the Barcelona Sants bus station to the airport. Bus departures are synchronized with Ryanair plane departures/arrivals. One way ticket costs €13 and a return ticket costs €24. The journey takes from 1 hr 30 min to 1 hr 45 min, depending on the traffic on the motorway. Timetables are available online. A slightly cheaper, yet longer option is to take a train from Barcelona Sants station to Reus and then the local bus no. 50 to the airport. The train costs €7.25 and then the bus costs €2.5. This takes about 2½ hours. Train timetables can be checked at Renfe's website and the bus timetable is available at the website of Reus public transport.

By train

Barcelona is well-connected to the Spanish railway network, and to the rest of Europe. High-speed trains run frequently from main station 2 Barcelona Sants (in the southwest of the city) to Madrid, Seville and Malaga. There are also regular long-distance connections that partially use high-speed infrastructure to all major Spanish cities. The station is also served by many regional lines including R1 R2 R2SUD R2NORD R3 R4 R11

The historic 3 Estació de França now mostly serves regional trains.

Direct regular high-speed train service goes to destinations in France. In addition to two daily TGV services from Paris (travel time ~7 hr to Barcelona), there is a daily service from Lyon (5 hr), and a daily service from Marseille (4 hr). Prices start at €39, so even though the train could take longer than a flight, it is often a cheaper, more relaxed alternative and less climately harmful option.

The former Talgo trains from Montpellier to Barcelona and Cartagena via Portbou ceased to run when direct high speed services started. It is still possible to travel via Cerbère/Portbou using local trains, but it's cumbersome, painfully slow and timetable coordination at the border is awful; however it may be the only alternative if all TGVs are fully booked. Also, if booked in advance, TGV can be way cheaper than using these local trains. However, for travelers using Eurail and Interrail passes these local routes are a useful way to avoid the high additional reservation fees on the international TGVs, which can be almost as high as an advance-booked standalone ticket on some of the longer routes.

There is also a less-known rail line over the Pyrenees to Toulouse. There is roughly one train every 3 hours on the Spanish side and one every two or four on the French side, including a sleeper train from Paris (with a branch to Portbou which splits at Toulouse: check all timetables to see whether route is faster, it greatly depends on waiting times at the border). Purchasing tickets for this route can be tricky. The Spanish line is considered a commuter line despite being far away from Barcelona and does not appear in any global European timetable, so it is impossible to get an international CIV ticket, every portion must be purchased separately. Also, for southbound travel, the Latour-de-Carol station only sells SNCF tickets so the Spanish portion must be bought directly at the ticket inspector, cash only. The journey takes 7–8 hours (including transfer) and costs roughly €30.

The launch of the high-speed service spelled the end of the overnight sleeper-car service called Trenhotel between Barcelona and Paris. Trenhotels still do, however, run between Barcelona and Granada, A Coruña and Vigo.

The security checks are taken seriously and may take some time. Arrive in advance, and do not bring anything that could be interpreted as potential weapon as it may be destroyed (knife, tools…).

By boat

The city's port is one of the busiest on the Mediterranean.

Large cruise ships dock 1–2 km (0.62–1.24 mi) to the southwest. Many of them offer bus-shuttles to locations at the south end of La Rambla. The ferries dock almost directly on the Ramblas.

There are regular ferry connections with the Balearic Islands (Alcúdia, Ciutadella de Menorca, Ibiza City, Sant Antoni de Portmany, Mahón, Palma de Mallorca), Italy (Genoa, Porto Torres and Civitavecchia for Rome) and Tangier, in Morocco. From Rome (Civitavecchia) it is actually cheaper to take the ferry than a bus.

Some of the largest shipping companies includes Baleària, Grimaldi Lines and Trasmediterranea but there are several smaller companies as well.

By bus

4 Barcelona Nord is the station for all long-distance buses. It's on Carrer de Nàpols near Arc de Triomf metro and railway stations. Buses may also pick up / drop off at Barcelona Sants railway station.

Alsa is the main bus line in Spain. They run every couple of hours from Madrid Estacion Sur, taking 8 hours via Madrid Airport T4, Zaragoza, and Barcelona Sants.

Flixbus runs coach services between Barcelona Nord and London Victoria Coach Station, via Paris and Toulouse. They also connect to Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels and many UK cities. They can be very cheap, but be prepared for a 24-26 hour coach ride from London! There is a small service fee. There may or may not be plug sockets or Wi-Fi on board. Flixbus recommend that you be at your departure point at least 30 minutes before departure time (except London Victoria where you are required to arrive 60 minutes before departure).

Twiliner buses take 14 hr 15 from Zurich via Bern and Girona. Their seats fold flat into a bunk: there's some disturbance from bumps in the road and noise at intermediate stops, but no worse than in a railway sleeping car, for similar comfort and half the price.

By car

Several main roads connect Barcelona to France and to the rest of Spain. Traffic is usually relatively light outside of peak hours. Free parking spaces can be found a few metro stops from the center of the city.

Blue parking spaces are paid M-Sa 09:00-14:00 and 16:00-20:00. At some crossroads, the pay time starts at 08:00. Anyone can use a blue space, but they aren't that easy to find. You pay at the meter and put the ticket on the dashboard. Green parking spaces are for residents only. White parking spaces are free at all times, but there aren't any in the city centre.

City car parks are found throughout the city.