Barcelona’s El Prat Airport is a small but modern facility located about 25 minutes outside of town and has a large array of transportation options for travelers looking to find the city center. The best option for you depends a few factors; your budget, how much luggage you have and how adventurous you are.
The most convenient, and expensive, will be a Taxi. The airport has great signage which will direct you from the baggage claim area to the large group of taxicabs waiting for you outside of the terminal. They are lined up from front to back in the order they arrived, so to get the next available taxi, walk to the very front of the line and the next driver on deck will be sitting in his cab or close by. Expect a trip to the city center to run roughly 35-50 Euros, depending on traffic and the number of people in your group. It is not customary or expected to tip taxi drivers when you arrive at your destination.
The most cost effective options are public transit and the Aerobus. AerobusBCN is a shuttle service runs every five minutes and stops at three central locations in town at Plaza de Espanya, the Metro Stop at Urquell and ends in the middle of town at Plaza Catalunya. You can even buy tickets in advance! The three stops on the route are really centrally located to hotels and public transportation hubs. Depending on the location of your hotel, you may need to take an additional cab the rest of the way. The upshot of this is since you’ll already be in town, there will be no airport surcharge and it shouldn’t be much more than another 10 Euros to get wherever you’re going. The downside of the shuttle, and public transit is if you have a large group or lots of luggage, negotiating all those people and bags on and off the shuttle or train platform isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Everyone in the group also needs to be in the know about where they’re getting off and when. As with the taxis, the airport signage directing you to the shuttle hub and metro stations is clearly marked and in several languages.
There is another way to get into town from the airport, one we cannot advise strongly enough against. In the baggage claim area, there will be people offering rides into town for a price you two ‘negotiate’ there at the airport. In a perfect, the price will be less than a cab but just as comfortable. In reality, these are unlicensed operators who will be transporting you into a city where you don’t speak the language OR know your way around. Some of them really are honest people trying to feed their families. Others are full time hustlers who make a living by scamming travelers. So if they decide that 20 Euros is now 50 or even 100 Euros, you’ll be pretty much helpless to do anything besides pay; unless you’d like to try and fight your way out of the vehicle AND get your luggage before the driver speeds off with it. This is NOT the place to pinch pennies. Don’t start your dream vacation off with a nightmare. Take a cab or