Barcelona Bus Turistic, Barcelona

One of the main things that really confused me about our recent trip to Barcelona was the amount of touristy things we did and surprisingly the lack of drinking. But the chance to explore the fantastic City of Barcelona seemed too good to pass up so, having visited the Nou Camp we needed to find a way to get to the Olympic Stadium on the other side of the city and rather than get a Taxi we decided to jump on the Bus Turistic.

One of the first things we had to ask though was what exactly was it, we had seen it advertised in the hotel but had no idea. So in simple terms from the leaflet we read before it turned up. Basically it’s two different Bus routes that over two routes cover almost all the tourist attractions of Barcelona. Each route takes approximately 2 hours to go all the way round, meeting up on three occasions so you can change from one bus to the other. The blue route covers the south of the City and the Red covers the North.

The bus is very reasonable with the option of a 2 day pass or just the simple one day. Obviously no matter which you go for you get unlimited use of the bus for that period. The two day pass set us back €15, however the one day pass would have only cost €9 but then we would have ended up paying for it twice so its really worth going for that second day. Within that price is included a guide of the city with information on each of the stops and also a money off booklet, which if you use the entire book can save you €90 at various attractions around the City.

The Ruta Blava or Blue route to you and me is the southern route and covers more stops than the red route, with some of the sites along the way including Plaça de Catalunya, the Olympic Stadium, the World Trade Centre and the Port Olimpic. The Ruta Vermella or Red route sticks to the North of the city and as well as Plaça De Catalunya it also stops of at the Sagrada Familia and the Nou Camp, although the distance between stops on this route is a lot bigger than the blue route

The bus stops at each point for roughly a minute allowing people to get on and off, but they are pretty regular and come about every 3 to 4 minutes. They run from about 9 in the morning till about half 8/9 at night. This means there is plenty of time throughout the day to enjoy something at your own pace then jump the bus and move onto another.

The main attraction the busses hold is the fact they are all open top and so you can sit upstairs and take in the views of Barcelona as they pass you by. In fact probably one of the best views was as you go past the Olympic swimming pool and look out over the city, which is all rather impressive, if your into that sort of thing.

The bus is the best way to see the city and get around the attractions, however on a rainy day you end up stuck inside till the rain passes over and it can get very cramped in there. They probably have the capacity for about 50 people on each bus when the top deck is open. A guide is on hand to tell you what can be found at each stop and this is in French, English and Spanish. The bus is exceptional value and well worth it if you are ever in Barcelona.