Barcelona Card: reviews, rates, duration & activities included

You always wanted to visit the sublime city of Barcelona? Here is a presentation of the city pass of Barcelona, an essential asset for your visit.

Located between the Mediterranean coast and Montjuïc hill, Barcelona is an attractive, fascinating and perpetual renewal city. Visiting the capital of Catalonia is always a good idea, at any season of the year thanks to its more than favourable climate. Second city of Spain, Barcelona is crowded with tourists all year round and it is not by chance! Indeed, the city offers a wide variety of proposals such as architecture, gastronomy, art, history and sport where the city passes from Barcelona are of interest!

To be sure to travel without congestion in the Catalan capital, a solution exists. La Barcelona Card (for transport, there is pass Hola BCN ) as an unlimited pass allows to take all public transport and visit the main monuments of the city. Is it wise to take the city pass from Barcelona to visit the city without congestion? Let’s check it together immediately before we consider going!

What is the Barcelona Card?

The city pass (Barcelona Card) takes the form of a map of the same format as your bank card. The difference is that it allows you to avoid using your payment card! Thanks to it, you enjoy exceptional offers on many sites and activities.

Indeed, you benefit from a free or reduced price entry for more than 20 of the main tourist attractions . In addition, you will have more than 80 special offers in some shops, restaurants and points of sale. Cherry on the cake, this pass allows to have free travel on the transport services of Barcelona, including the metro and the buses.

This card meets all your desires for up to 3-5 days.

Activities included in the Barcelona Card

Natural Sciences Museums

• CosmoCaixa Science Museum: This museum is ideal if you want to familiarize yourself with science in a playful way. Fully dedicated to stimulating the knowledge and scientific opinion of the citizens, it offers numerous exhibitions and activities. For those who pay attention to their budget: the city pass from Barcelona includes free access to this museum.
• Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona (Museu Blau): Located in a unique building, the museum gathers millions of works that trace more than 100 years of history. It is ideal for families because, in addition to being a space rich in information, it is playful and entertaining.

Cultural centres

• Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona (CCCB): It is one of the most avant-garde cultural places in Barcelona. Inside, exhibitions, concerts, debates and festivals dedicated to new technologies and languages are organized. Know that each first Sunday of the month, the center opens for free the space of the mirador located on the fifth floor. From there, the view is stunning on the sea, The Gothic Quarter, the Ciutat Vella district, the mountain of Montjuïc or Tibidabo.
• Centre de Culture et de Mémoire El Born : it retraces the history of the Catalan nation through various events and exhibitions. You will find the permanent exhibition of Barcelona in 1700, as well as conference cycles, interviews and discussions.

Museums of Archaeology and Ethnology

• Egyptian Museum of Barcelona: it contains a collection on Ancient Egypt. Inside, you can admire thousands of objects from another time. We recommend guided tours to give you an account of Egyptian wealth, meticulousness and beauty.
• Museum of Ethnology in Barcelona: located in the Sants-Montjuïc district, it aims to show the visitor that every human being living in society has an impact on his environment. Just like the Contemporary Culture Centre of Barcelona (CCCB), it is free on the first Sunday of the month, this is the perfect opportunity for a family outing!

Art Museums

Classic Art Museums

• Picasso Museum : composed of five palaces, this museum is just exceptional! It contains more than 4,000 works dating from the early years of Picasso’s artist’s life, but also the most important collection of drawings, paintings and sculptures by the artist, and chronologically retraces the artist’s journey from 1890 to 1917.
• Joan Miró Foundation : This is a space in which you can admire the colorful works of Joan Miró. His works highlight Joan Miró’s life and his relationship to the world, politics, ecology, voluntary simplicity and poetry.
• National Art Museum of Catalonia : it is one of the country’s cultural jewels. Indeed, he is full of works from different eras, styles and artists. In addition, he honours Catalan paintings from the collection Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, like works by the famous Salvador Dalí, but also masterpieces by Antoni Tàpies, Mariano FortunyRamon Casas or Isidre Nonell.
• Frederic Marès Museum: In the heart of the Gothic Quarter, this unique space reveals collections and sculptures belonging to the most important Catalan collector of the twentieth century.
• Antoni-Tàpies Foundation: It is, at the same time, a museum and a cultural centre created for the study and knowledge of modern and contemporary art. For those who pay attention to their budget: the city pass from Barcelona includes free access to this museum.
• Museum of Catalan Modernism: In the heart of Eixample, the museum honours the artists of the region. It includes an exhibition of artistic pieces of all kinds. It places in its context the aesthetic, intellectual and political importance of the modernist movement of the late nineteenth century. This museum, inseparable from the Barcelonian and Catalan identity, offers a cultural panorama of the city.

Museums of Contemporary Art

• Barcelona Design Museum: Located in a modern and futuristic building, it shares the poster with the Textile and Costumes Museum as well as the Graphic and Decorative Arts Museum. In addition to being aesthetic, this place is instructive because it retraces the history of design and its growing importance in our everyday life.
• Musée d’Art contemporain de Barcelona (MACBA) : Explore this avant-garde museum by going from a pop art piece, an intimate room with a tamized light or a huge corridor to colorful spots. Most of the museum is its huge library full of authentic self-service archives.

Other museums

• Barcelona Music Museum: It is a rather original museum because it traces history through instruments and listening to music. For those who pay attention to their budget: the city pass from Barcelona includes free access to this museum.
• Chocolate Museum: Gourmet, this place is for you! In addition to discovering the manufacture of chocolate, the museum promotes local chocolate makers (ideal to bring back a souvenir). It consists of eight spaces: cocoa and chocolate, chocolate through cultures, art and creation, confectionery and chocolates, video, machines, the Barcelona Room (room containing impressive chocolate statues), the Shop Café (for tasteu·r·se·s) and the activity room.
• Musée de l’Olympisme et du Sport Juan Antonio Samaranch : he is named after the president of the International Olympic Committee. This space dedicated to sport and olympism is an ideal showcase to present the disciplines presented during modern olympiades. You will find a collection of objects, photos and videos showing self-overtake during sports training.
• Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA): Located in the Gothic district of Barcelona, it is divided into four parts: 307 (anti-aircraft shelter), Via Sepulcral Romana (Roman funeral), el Call (Jewish quarter), Plaça del Rei. If you are interested in the evolution of the city, this museum is for you!

Other attractions

• Jardin botanique de Barcelona: located on Montjuïc mountain, this walk is a real change! This ever-changing space renews each season by changing plant varieties. So you'll never make the same visit! From above you can observe the delta of the Llobregat and the Olympic Ring, with the El Garraf massif and the Collserola chain as a backdrop.
• Royal Monastery of Sainte-Marie de Pedralbes: it is one of the most beautiful examples of Catalan Gothic art. This is the convent of the order of the Claris founded by the Queen Elisenda de Montcada 1326.

Rate and duration of the Barcelona Card

Your city pass from Barcelona is valid from the time you start using it and for the duration specified on it. Children aged 3 and under are free of charge.

• 72h : 46€ (adults) and 22€ (children 4-12).
• 96h :56€ (adults) and 28€ (children 4-12).
• 120h : 61€ (adults) and 33€ (children 4-12).

The more Barcelona Card: there is a good plan, the Barcelona Card Express, for people staying only 2 days in the city. It offers the same advantages for the price of 20€ (adult) and 18€ (child) .

The points of withdrawal of the Barcelona Card

You can get the city pass from Barcelona on the official pass site managed by the city of Barcelona or on a tourist activity site. Just after selecting your formula and payment, an email will be sent to you proving the purchase. This e-mail will be presented in the withdrawal points in which you can withdraw your pass. There are many:

• Airport (terminal T1 and T2)
• Plaza Catalunya
• Sants Estació
• Plaza Sant Jaume
• Statue of Christopher Columbus
• Plaza Espanya...

You can also buy it directly from withdrawal points listed above without prior reservation.

Our opinion on the Barcelona Card

The Barcelona Card is a good plan because it has many advantages. If your stay in Barcelona lasts between 3 and 5 days and you are an active tourist, the city pass of Barcelona will suit you.

Nevertheless, we do not recommend it to students and seniors because there are more suitable formulas. Indeed, many museums and cultural spaces make systematic reductions. Thus, the offers of the city pass of Barcelona are not advantageous for people enjoying reduced rates in monuments.

So you made your choice between the three formulas presented? If so, we hope that the city pass from Barcelona will allow you to fully enjoy your stay. And that it will make it quite unforgettable!