The easiest way to discover Barcelona
DanielHello everybody,
How are you? Since spring is comming to town, I just thought about all these lovely things you could do here in Barcelona. So let me start with one of the most popular things to do for people coming to BCN!
The Barcelona Bus Touristic is one of the easiest ways to get to know Barcelona. The bus touristic enables you to know Barcelona by a two floor bus (a roofless double-decker, your first opportunity to get a tan!), with three different routes. With a single ticket you can get on or off the bus as many times as you want. You’ll only need one ticket for all routes. Some of the stops are common to other routes which makes it quite easy to change.
The Northern route and the Southern Route are approx. two hours long, while the Forum route is 40 minutes long. The Forum route runs only during summer season!
Every bus has a guide who will give you an introduction about what you can find at each stop. This is very useful and will make the trip more fun. Together with the ticket you’ll get also a guidebook with information on where to eat, what to see and where to go shopping at each stop. Look out for the discounts given in this book! 
If you are planning to visit the city for a short while, this is one of the best ways to see quickly all the monuments, the most interesting tourist sights, museums and landmarks of Barcelona. So you gain a quick overview of all these attractions. But if you like you can go back later for a small troll or just to discover all the sights more deeply by feet. Some people call this bus the “hop on, hop off bus” because you can do just that. 
You can stay at each attraction as long as you want, and when you are finished you just have to wait for the next bus to take you to the next sight. The buses leave approx. every 10-15 minutes, so you don’t have to wait much for the next one!
Both routes start between 9 and 9:30 every day from Plaza Cataluña, all year long. The last bus leaves at 19:00 in the winter season (November to March), and 20.00 in the summer season (April to October). The Forum route runs through summer seasons only. Furthermore, the Barcelona Tourist Bus offers a very unique ride in summer. You can experience the magic summer of BCN at NIGHT! Isn’t it incredible?!? The bus will take you around the city for special events like the ‘Montjuic’ Magis Fountains! This is really worth a visit!
Tickets are available on the bus, or in any tourist information office. You can get them as well in metro stations with customer service offices. You can also buy them in advance online at the Barcelona Bus Tour Official Website.
I hope all this information is useful for you. There are a lot of places to see in BCN! Take your time and do them all!
Greetings,
Daniel
February 21st, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Hi Daniel! I’m glad you’re recommending this to those who are studying in BCN. I had a 2-day pass for the Bus Touristic in BCN and saw way more than I thought possible. The greatest part by far is that they allow you to get off and get back on as many times as you want. Thanks for sharing and have fun in the beautiful weather!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Hey Daniel, I DEFINITELY recommend taking the tour bus. I have been to Barcelona three times now and taken the open top bus every single time! There is just so much wonderful stuff to see in Barca that you can take easily spend a few days hopping on and off the bus to see the sites. The other great thing is, if you sit on the open deck up top you can sunbathe while you sightsee!!