Barcelona Flights

Barcelona El Prat is Barcelona's main gateway if you chose to come by plane. Since the new terminal was constructed in 2010, low-cost airlines have taken over the older structures and lowered the fares to this airport. However, the lower fares are available from two other nearby airports, Reus and Girona. Europe's leading low-cost airline Ryanair uses all three airports, but prices and frequencies are usually most favourable at Girona. I got a cheap Ryanair ticket from Bremen to Girona and flew back via London/Stansted. The trip from the airport to Barcelona's city centre takes around 1 ½ hours and costs 12 EUR (21 EUR return). Bus tickets are available from a counter close to the bus stop at Girona Airport. The buses are scheduled in accordance to Ryanair's schedule and buses wait for incoming flights. The bus stop in the city centre is at the coach terminal at the Estació del Nord coach terminal, close to the Arc de Triomf.

Barcelona has an international airport, which you can reach from downtown by train. So if you're flying, your plane will arrive at the airport and then you can take a train (and then the metro) to go anywhere in town. Mind you, the train station is located close to Terminal 2, so if you arrive to Terminal 1 (as it was my case) you will need to take a shuttle to Terminal 2 and then take the train.

However, there is now another option to get to the city center quickly and without having to go through that hassle. They now have a service called Aerobus, a blue bus that takes you directly from the airport to the main centric areas in Barcelona: Plaza Espanya, next to Montjuic hill, and Plaza Catalunya, right in the heart of the city and where the Rambla starts. It's only 5.30 EUR per person for a single ride (2011) and the journey is 30 minutes long, approximately. It's comfortable and convenient, and they even give you a free map of the city. There are buses coming back and forth every 5-10 minutes or so, and every 20 minutes in less busy hours. You can buy the ticket from the driver, from a clerk at their bus stop in Plaza Catalunya or the Airport, or from a vending machine located next to the bus stop (not available in all stops). It runs from 5:30 AM to midnight or even later, depending on the terminal. This bus serves BOTH terminals of the airport, so it has routes A1 and A2. This isn't an issue when going from the airport to the city, but when going back to the airport make sure you take the right bus so you don't end up in the wrong terminal. The clerk at Plaza Catalunya knew which airlines departed from which terminal, so you can also get assistance from these people if you aren't 100% sure where you're departing from. Website provided for more information.

You can also arrive to Barcelona by train, being the main station Barcelona Sants -- this station is connected to the metro system and this is where you will arrive if you take the train from the airport, too.

The Barcelona airport is also known as Prat of Llobregat, and is 12 km Southwest of downtown Barcelona . It is the most convenient aeroport than I've ever been. It is very easy to getting around and almost impossible to go to the wrong gate or be lost.

Barcelona Airport is Spain's second-ranked airport in terms of passenger traffic and in the period 1996-2001 it was second in Europe in terms of passenger growth. In 2004 it was one of the airports in Spain that grew the most, with passenger traffic going up by 7.9% with respect to 2003.

Since the city hosted the Olympic Games, passenger numbers have increased by over 100 percent, rising from 10 million passengers in 1992 to over 24.5 million in 2004. It is currently amongst the busiest ten airports in Europe.

How getting there:
There are taxi stops at the terminal exits. Taxi drivers charge a surcharge for airport rides. There are also bus services that leave every 15 minutes to Plaça de Catalunya . There is train service from the airport to downtown every 30 minutes. All trains stop in Sants, Plaça Catalunya, Arc de Triumf and Clot-Aragó, and all stops connect to the subway.

Barcelona's airport is big, it has 3 terminals: A; B & C.
We flew in with Brussels Airlines as we had the chance to purchase some promotion tickets.
I always try to remember when checking in to ask for a seat at the window and not just above a wing, but with small planes like these it seems to be almost impossible to have a full view.
Also... accordingly the time of the day and your direction, will determine if you will have a nice view or just the sun in your eyes `-)

It is possible that your plane is not going to taxi all the way to the gates. In that case you will be picked up by a bus that gets you to the terminals or, when leaving, that will get you to the plane.
The busses are mostly overcrowded as they want to push as much passengers into it to safe a second trip.
Seats are hardly available.
It is polite and a proof of good manners if you offer your seat to a parent with a baby.

To be able to enjoy every minit of this trip we went (we is our group of students, learning the Spanish language) by plane.

We had our own guide and bus and.....our prof. had lived in Spain for over 10 years.

At the Airport I saw this plane and I love those fantastic fins.It made me think of Mrs. Prime Minister (now Lady) Thatcher who once, at a reception at an Airport saw a scale model and found it so disgusting that she threw a tissue over the little, funny fin!

How ridiculous......

I love them, see these gulls and the whale/dolphin!!

I found an incredibly cheap ticket from Ancona to Barcelona with spain air 31,50€.
For the ones who flyght from italy, you can check www.evolavia.com.Sometime you find only a cheap one way ticket, it happens to me, in that case you can consider to come back by bus or train, I came back by bus www.eurolines.com and it costed about 80 €, yes, more than the one way flyght.

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The easiest for me to get to Barcelona is by airplane, and so we arrived to Barcelona airport. Seems it is not very big airport and rather modern one probably since the Olympic games held here many years ago. When we arrive as well as when we check-in it was rather quick, especially as we used self check in counters.