Getting in and moving inside Barcelona for travelers

The best way to plan a visit to a city like Barcelona is start thinking about the way to get there and how we will move once there.

We never account for losing time going from one place to another but, actually we should. Taking this fact into mind will allow us to live a greater experience.

Another very important fact is that site seeing can be an exhausting experience by foot. Even though the central areas (Las Ramblas, El Raval, Born and Barri Gotic) are a nice casual walk we have to think of the other must see areas which are not found in the centre of the city.

Barcelona has an important public transportation network that includes metro, bus, train, cable cars, trams and specific touristic transportation like touristic bus, rental cars, rental bikes, car horses and other rental specific options. Expand your experience using a travel guide of the local public transport available for turism.

It depends very much on where you come from, and whether Barcelona is your final destination or you are just pass through in your trip to another place.

Actually, what really matters is whether you use public transportation or with your own car. If you are using your personal vehicle, you should think where you are going to leave it as Barcelona, like other big cities, don't have a shortage of free parking areas. The principal problems you will find are::

• Expensive private car park areas. Probably the most expensive in Spain and all arround Europe.

• Expensive and not self-explainable in-street car park areas. There are two types of limited time in-street park car zones. Blue zones and Green zones, with different rules, different pricing and different fining systems. I will never get used to them. You need a user manual.
• 80 Km/h limit, even in the highway. Believe me, if you see cars moving at 80 Km/h in a 3-lane highway, don't drive faster. There are radars everywhere.

Everybody will tell you: don't take the car. In my own personal experience, as a local, it's very easy to get finned by radars, policeman or in-street park areas personel. Even if you avoid getting finned, you will be spoiled by the abusive pricing system of the car parks, private or in-street, it doesn't matter.

When you arrive in Barcelona, look around and you will see motorbikes everywhere. Motorbikes in the street and motorbikes parked in the sidewalk. Yes, you guessed correctly: motorbike is the best private means of transportation to use in Barcelona, like locals do.

If you have arrived to Barcelona in car, consider leaving it in some train station outside the city and going inside Barcelona quietly. Public transportation will get a chance to mingel with local residence, and give you the real experience to visit another country. Don't miss the opportunity.

By car you can get into Barcelona by several points:

By the north, the AP7 highway (from Girona and France). Advice: if you plan to stay at Barcelona for about a week, consider leaving the car the whole weak at the car park of Forum. For about 45 €, you will park your car. To get there, take C58 or C33 and then B10 (Ronda Litoral) until Parc of Forum (exit 25 or 26).

By the East: If you come from the east you are coming by boot. Consider leaving it at some of the "marinas" located all over the coast of Barcelona, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges, etc. You can find a good source of related places at Bloosee.

By the West: Tunnels of Vallvidrera. An expensive way to come in. Nevertheless you can avoid the toll and leave the car at the train station Les Planes or Baixador de Vallvidrera. Leave the motorway at the last exit before the toll, and take the train to Barcelona, and get Plaça Catalunya at one end of Las Ramblas in 15 minutes. The first train station has a parking place, but the second, Baixador de Vallvidrera, is not considered like this, but people manage to park the car. Avoid laboural days because these park areas get full easily.

If you don't mind spend more time in train, consider leaving the car at the Sant Joan train station, that has a far biger free park car area.

The trip to Plaça Catalunya lasts 15 minutes from Baixador Vallvidrera.The ticket is a one-zone travel and costs 1,40€. Pass frequency: every 20 minuts. Sant Joan and La Floresta are at two zones and the trip to Plaça Catalunya lasts 30 and 20 minutes.The travel ticket costs 2,10€.

By the South: AP2 highway (from Tarragona) or from Garraf (Sitges or Castelldefels). Advice: A good zone to let the car is at the University's Area in Diagonal near FCB stadium, even better in summer or weekends when students come back or stay at home, and the nearly-locals that come to work to Barcelona every day, don't do what you will try to do: leave the car for free and take the metro or the tram. To get this area just follow AP2, and then B27 until you enter Barcelona by Diagonal, then move to the right lateral lane and start to look for the parking zone at the left side of Diagonal after the first traffic lights and before the El Corte Ingles store. Then, you have to cross diagonal to the left side and go back by the lateral lane. Then park as soon as you can and take the metro.

Even if you come from the north or from the west, you always can go to this parking zone. It's worth the time.

First of all buy a travel pass card that allows several journeys in public transportation network: city bus, metro underground, tram and train. If you don't plan to move outside Barcelona, then a 1-zone card is your choice.

T-10 allows 10 journeys. It costs around 8 € and permits 10 journeys in the public transportation network allowing changes between different transportation services, without having to wait your turn in the ticket window every time. This ticket is not valid to travel to the airport.

T-1 day card allows unlimited journeys in one day and is not transferable. Each person has to own one card. It does not allow transportation to the airport. 1-zone card costs as low as 6€.

T-2 day, T-3 day, T-4 and T-5 day cards are touristic card, similar to T-1 day but for two, three or four days and allowing use of Renfe trains, that will transport you to the airport. Prices for 1-zone costs 11,20€, 15,90€, 20,40€ and 24,10€. All prices for 2010.

T-10 and T-1 day cards are sold in metro ticket offices, metro ticket expending machines and in the"estancos", the kind of establishment where to buy tobacco and stamps. They are easily identified by the word "TABACS" above the main door.

T-2 day and more days cards are sold in touristic information offices, metro ticket offices and TMB customer offices.

Get metro (subway) network map. You can find a pocket one in every metro station's hall, near the ticket. It will be very useful to orientate yourself in while moving inside Barcelona. You have became a metro network surfer. Enjoy your new status and feel like a local (or a tourist).

There exist other public transportation means to move inside the city, but they are more useful to move intercity. They are train lines (RENFE and FGC trains), Aerobus for T1, Aerobus for T2 to go to the El Prat Airport.

And of course, you may always stop a taxi on the street or call one from any hotel or restaurant

If you want to move like a tourist, then you have a spectacular choice of possibilities. You may be able to see Barcelona from different points of views: from the sea, on the air, and, of course, from the ground.

Different points of view, some of them panoramic, will give you the ability to take spectacular pictures. If light is enough, and the camera is good, every time of the day may be fine. But even with low light conditions, if you have the right camera, you can take good pictures. A travel to a city like Barcelona, may make you consider if it's time to renew your photographic apparel.

Nowadays, there is a big choice of digital cameras to buy, from the small budgets to the professional ones. If you don't bother carrying more weight, take your Reflex with two lenses with you and you will not regret. But if you are worried for the additional volume and weight that a Reflex camera represents, don't renounce to take a high-zoom compact camera at least 10x.

Have a good trip and enjoy the city, like a tourist, and like a local too. Feel at home and take the best of one of the nicest cities of the Mediterranean coast. A city that has everything, and don't miss any budget, if you remember to leave the car outside.