The nearest international airport is Barcelona El Prat Airport which is approximately 8 miles to the southwest of Barcelona city centre. Flights to Barcelona shouldn’t be too difficult to find, and for a change, prices shouldn’t be too exorbitant (especially if you were brave enough to book before the location of the fixture had been announced!). Some suggested airlines to try include:
Air France
Alitalia
BMI Baby
British Airways
Easyjet
Iberia Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
Monarch
Ryanair* (Fly to Girona and Reus Airports – see below)
Swiss International
Thomsonfly
* If you are travelling by Ryanair, you will land at either Girona or Reus Airports. Girona airport lies 70 miles northeast of Barcelona. Transport into Barcelona is by Barcelona Bus, which arrives in Barcelona at Estació del Nord. Round-trip tickets cost around €20 and a single €12. Buses leave and travel to the airport for each Ryanair flight taking around 1 hour and 10 minutes. For details of the bus services to and from the airport visit the bus company’s website at www.sagales.com.
Alternatively, you can get a taxi into Girona (around €4) and get a train to Barcelona taking around 90 minutes and costing as little as €6.25. A taxi from the airport into Barcelona will cost a whopping €160 but if you’re arriving in a group, it might be worth looking at arranging an airport transfer which may prove cheaper.
Reus Airport is slightly closer - around 56 miles away and has a bus service five times a day to Barcelona costing €11 one way and taking around 1hr 20mins from outside the Arrivals terminal.
So, providing you arrive at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, the airport has its own rail station, however, the rail link on the RENFE Mataró line between the airport and the city is currently being upgraded. All trains stop at Sants-Estaçio, Plaça Catalunya, Arc de Triomf and Clot-Aragó, all of which connect with the metro. The RENFE Cercanías station is connected to the passenger terminal via a travelator, which is situated in front of the terminal building between Terminals A and B. The station is a short hike from the airport terminal but as we’re not there for long, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem with carrying loads of luggage. Trains leave every 30 minutes from 6am until 11pm with the journey taking around 25 minutes and costing €2.20.
The favoured (and more frequent option) is to take the Aerobús (A1) which runs from outside each terminal from 6am through until midnight. Its journey takes about 20 to 25 minutes and services run roughly every 7 – 15 minutes. It stops at all the major tourist centres en route including Plaça Espanya, Plaça Universitat and Plaça Catalunya and costs around €3.75 for a single or €6.45 return and if you don’t have any loose change on you, the service accepts payment by VISA card. For further details, have a look at the website at www.emt-amb.com. This website also has details on the nightbus service (Nitbus) of which service N17 runs from Placa Catalunya to the Airport hourly between 11pm and 5am and costs €1.20 for a single.
If you arrive and really can’t be bothered with any more travelling, the easiest method of travel into the city centre is by taxi with ranks located outside all terminals. Depending upon where you are travelling to in the city, the journey will take around 25 minutes and cost around €20. Be prepared to pay a couple of Euros above this if you arrive between 9pm and 7am or of a weekend. There is also a supplement for each piece of luggage of €0.90. If you are arriving at the airport close to kick off, the taxi fare straight to the stadium will cost around €23. All fares are metered.There is a 3€ supplement on top of the metered fare for travel to and from the airport. At night there is a new automatic 2€ supplement on all taxi fares.
By Train
It is possible to travel from London to Barcelona by train too, providing you don’t mind spending more than you would on a flight and have 15 hours to spare each way. If this appeals to you, visit Rail Europe for schedules and prices.
Trains in Catalonia are operated by Spanish State Railways, known more commonly as RENFE who operate an English-language website with details of journeys between Barcelona and other Spanish cities including schedules and prices.
By Bus
Similarly, if you really fancy getting there in a leisurely fashion, (and we mean leisurely!) have a look at Eurolines who run services from London to Barcelona at a cost of around £75 return. This is only really an option though if the thought of spending 24 hours in a confined space with a total stranger doesn’t fill you with dread.
For internal transfers within Spain Alsa Enatcar are the largest company running services from the Estació del Nord. This terminal is the point for most long-distance services to and from the city and details of all services and tickets can be found online here.
By Ferry
All options involving travelling by car are somewhat long and arduous but just to give you an idea, P & O serve the Portsmouth to Bilbao route. The crossing itself takes around 30 hours followed by a six and a half hour drive of 377 miles.
Another option is Plymouth to Santander operated by Brittany Ferries. Whilst the crossing is considerably less time-consuming taking a mere 18 hours, there is 437 miles to drive to Barcelona at the other end.
