Barcelona El Prat Airport

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport is Barcelona’s main airport and the second busiest in Spain after Madrid, handling more than 55 million passengers a year. It lies about 12 km south-west of the city centre, by the sea, and has two terminals.

Terminal T1 is used by most airlines, including Vueling, Iberia and the long-haul carriers; Terminal T2, made up of buildings A, B and C, mainly serves low-cost airlines such as easyJet. The airport is well signposted in English, and free green shuttle buses run between the two terminals every few minutes; allow about 15 minutes for the transfer.

Getting to the city centre (2026):

• Taxi: about 25 minutes to the centre and around €35–45, including the airport supplement; taxi ranks are right outside the arrivals exits.
• Aerobus: express buses from both terminals to Plaça d’Espanya, Gran Via–Urgell, Plaça Universitat and Plaça de Catalunya, every 5–10 minutes during the day; a single ticket costs about €7.50 and a return about €13, valid for 90 days.
• Train: Rodalies line R2 Nord leaves from the station at T2 (take the free shuttle bus from T1) every 30 minutes and reaches Barcelona Sants in about 20 minutes, continuing to Passeig de Gràcia and El Clot; the T-casual travel card is valid.
• Metro: line L9 Sud stops at both terminals but requires a special Airport ticket (€5.90), and you have to change lines to reach the centre.
• City bus 46 links both terminals with Plaça d’Espanya; it is slower but accepts the T-casual, and night buses N16 and N17 take over when it stops running.

The cheapest way into town is the T-casual card (€13 for 10 journeys in zone 1), which is valid on the train and city buses but not at the airport metro stations.