barcelona airport

I have no information on Barcelona airport hotels, but the Aerobus makes trips from Plaça de Catalunya to the airport at least every 10 minutes from 5 AM till 12:30 AM. The trip takes about 35 minutes. The fare is under 6 euros. There are other options for getting to the airport, but there are a lot of hotels within walking distance of Plaça de Catalunya, and staying there on your last night would put you close to restaurants, etc. I imagine you'd pay less for a hotel in that area than out at the airport, too.

I wouldn't want to be as far away as Girona on my last night, but I'm very risk-averse where international flights are concerned.

+1 acraven!!

Staying in Girona would make for a 'stressful' morning as you haven't done this itinerary before. While the fast-train is always very punctual, one cannot avoid delays from time to time for unforeseen reasons. Assuming none was to happen, let's work it backwards: if you're flying at 10:30 from El Prat airport near Barcelona, you need to be at the airport at 8:30ish --in practice you don't really need two hours, despite being the official advice, but you never know when the airport is going to be extremely busy, and trust me... it really is sometimes that early--, which means departing Sants station (tren from the city to the airport) by 8:00ish, which means you should have taken the 7:11 fast train from Girona to Sants station in Barcelona. Yet counting on top of that you're not familiar with Sants station in Barcelona -it's a hub with 16 tracks!- you might need a few extra minutes to get your bearings plus some more for purchasing the ticket -at that time it's quite busy so a queue here or there wouldn't surprise me- that means that you should instead take the earlier train from Girona at 6:46 -which happens to be the first fast train!... and obviously have booked it in advance as there is quite a lot of commuting between Barcelona and Girona -one being the capital-city and the other one of the principal cities of Catalonia- so the fast train in the morning and in the evening tends to be pretty full, not necessarily always, but quite often.

I would take the last train to Barcelona the night before and stay in a hotel near Plaça Espanya or near Plaça Catalunya so next morning you can easily catch the Aerobus which -to me- it's probably the best method to the airport for those not familiar with the city.

PS. for info Barcelona has ONLY one airport, in El Prat de Llobregat, a nearby town located at 15km from the city. Despite so, one airline (RyanAir, who else!) unethically labels two other of their destinations as Girona-Barcelona and Reus-Barcelona. That's simply not so, both airports are at 100km from Barcelona, not even in the same province, and their official names are Girona-Costa Brava and Reus (-without the word Barcelona in them!). Besides being a dirty marketing subterfuge (Barcelona 'sells' better), flying to either of those adds a sizable extra cost and also extra time to those whose final destination is Barcelona.

I was going to suggest that you just pay the advance rate for checked luggage on Ryan Air, but I don't actually see any flights between Girona and Vienna. Maybe you meant Ryan Air's Girona-Eindhoven + Eindhoven-Treviso combo (for Venice), in which case I agree that it's not attractive and would sleep in Barcelona.

I myself have never gone from Girona to Barcelona Airport, but a little research indicates that another viable option for 3 people, probably with least hassle but more somewhat expense, would be a taxi. The cost I have seen mentioned is about €120, which would mean €40 per person, not so bad given the other options, which could include moving hotels.

Ryanair uses El Prat, the main airport in Barcelona. I flew into there a couple of years ago from Glasgow. They do not, however, fly to Vienna.

Why not switch.

Arrive Barcelona then immediately train to Girona.

Ending your trip in Barcelona will remove the stress.

The advice about reversing your schedule is spot on. Unless there is some event that you want to see the day you are in Girona.
Completely removes the stress of trying to make it back to Barcelona in time. Also, when flying Ryan Air and you are from a non Schengen (Sp?) country (anything outside the core European Union) you will need to find the Ryan Air passport check station before you go through airport security. There is usually a line there as well so allow an extra 1/2 hour.

As of Nov2016 Ryanair uses THREE airports that they missell as "Barcelona"... however, would-be visitors should know that:

Ryanair uses the Girona airport (code: GRO). Yet, as I've mentioned in other posts, the Ryanair Mktg Dept. is extremely dishonest with their customers and has misappropriated the name 'Barcelona' for commercial purposes. But, neither the airport has the word Barcelona on its name as they claim, on the contrary, it's "Girona-Costa Brava"; neither it's near Barcelona, it's 100km away to the north, nor it's even in the province of Barcelona, but in the province of Girona.

Ryanair also uses a second airport, in Reus (code: REU) and it's the same story: the name is simply Reus, not Reus-Barcelona as shown in their advertisements, and this is because it's next to the city of Reus (btw, birthplace of Gaudí!), in the province of Tarragona, at 110km south-west from Barcelona!!!

And finally, they also serve the one and ONLY airport of Barcelona, which is located in El Prat de Llobregat, a town 12km from the city of Barcelona, it's code is -obviously- BCN.

Beyond any claim of being too purists about the names, the practical issue is that landing in another airport but BCN requires extra traveling time (and extra cost!) to get to Barcelona as they're rather far from the city... so at the end of the day it isn't necessarily neither that much cheaper nor more convenient than flying directly into Barcelona.

Just clarifying.

Great Info, thanks.
So my Barcelona hotel got goofed up. The thing I liked about it was the location. Now it's hard to just find anything economical. Apparently New Year's Eve is huge in Barcelona. So now I found a place called The Patio Rossello' 32 Interior 3. It seems nice tho I am questioning the location. It doesn't seem to be close to much. And what is a good area to stay in Barcelona? We want to be on walking distance of attractions, interesting architecture, but not wild, party area. Again, many thanks.

Barcelona is not a summer resort, it'a regular city with nearly 2 million inhabitants (5 with the metro area)... there are no "wild party areas", what you'll find are neighbourhoods where people live, work and have fun. The city has one of the highest ratios of available 'beds' around, yet at certain times during the year occupation is above 90%. Barcelona receives over 10 million visitors every year, throughout the year, so no high or low seasons either. Hotel availability is governed by events, not seasons: international congresses, sports events, festivals, concerts, special dates, etc. That's why availability (and prices!) vary so much from one week to the next regardless of the time of the year. Jun to Sep have traditionally been the months with a higher occupation due to the fact is when most visitors take their annual holidays. Nevertheless, here in Europe, short escapades have become a very common practice so these days with the low-cost flights so affordable, many don't take a long annual leave anymore but many short escapades throughout the year instead.

As per areas in the city... that's of course, a very personal thing. Each one of us has different tastes and expectations (and perceptions and prejudices!) about places, quality, safety, suitability, etc. Barcelona has no "no-go" areas so, in principle, any neighborhood can be a potential choice. Having said that, as in any city, there are some more suitable than others IMHO so I made a post with my personal choices if I were a short time visitors to this city: http://bit.ly/BCNwhicharea which includes a map: http://oi44.tinypic.com/20r5nd3.jpg --important, red only means I personally wouldn't choose, not that it's dangerous or not recommended. Also, in order not to paint too much of the map, I decided to paint green my preferred areas only, but these are not the only ones I could recommend!

There is no "being in walking distance to everything" -this ain't a theme park, LOL! Barcelona has plenty of things to see and they're spread throughout the city. If anything I would agree that the area around Plaça Catalunya and also around Plaça Espanya are two (only two!) of the epicenters of visitors to the city.

El Patio has been referred to by a number of visitors in the TA forum and it seems a good choice. Location-wise is in l'Eixample, a classy Modernist area with wide streets, and about 8 blocks from Plaça Espanya.

Yet location shouldn't be much of a concern to anybody visiting the city... for starters, hotels are only to crash in at night, right? You're supposed to be out and about visiting the city!; and secondly and most importantly, Barcelona has an excellent public transportation network (bus, tram, metro... and taxis, plenty of them!) so moving from one end to the other is easy, cheap, and relatively fast. If you decide not to be based near one of those two epicenters I mentioned above, make sure you're near a metro station and voilà... location problem solved!

Enjoy!

Thanks, I did find a place central and close to a metro. I read your info regarding Montserrat. Incredibly helpful so I have that covered. I am going to Girona/besalu. Do people prepurchase train tickets in Barcelona to save money? I will be going from BCN directly to Girona. I also may want to go to Sitges or Tarragona, do people buy those train tickets in advance?

Thanks for your help

No, you don't need to purchase tickets in advance for going to Girona -assuming on a fast train, right? I do but because it's so easy to do so online, but normally the day before. Some of the trains (in the morning) are the ones going to Paris, and sometimes are full, but it's not the norm -in my experience that is! As per Besalú, there's no train, you'll have to take a bus (either from Barcelona or from Girona -it's the same bus line!) and you can purchase the ticket on the same day, at the bus station/stop.

For the rest of the trains -commuting trains- you cannot pre-book as tickets are sold at the station on the day of the departure, in fact, a rule not a lot of visitors know: for commuting trains, tickets are valid only until TWO hours after they are purchased. That means you have to board a train before two hours.

I don't think this has been covered. If so just point me to that discussion, please. Could you list directions from BCN to Girona. I 'm guessing I'd have to take a bus or metro from the airport to the train station? We'll be jet lagged etc., and it would be great to have specific instructions especially since I cannot speak the language.
Thank you

Enric can give a more comprehensive reply, but the train looks like a decent option. From Terminal 2 at the airport you can take a train to Barcelona Sants Station. It's a short 20-minute ride, and the train runs about every 30 minutes. At Sants you change to a Girona-bound train. Those also run frequently, and most take only 38 minutes for the trip. The price of the Girona train will vary with the train selection and the date of purchase. The cheaper tickets will go to early purchasers and are non-refundable/non-changeable.

The Rodalies train schedule from the airport to the city is not available very far out, so you'll need to check a date in the immediate future; choose the same day of the week you anticipate traveling. The Girona schedules are not fully posted for January and it's too early to buy those tickets. I'd suggest waiting till you arrive in Barcelona, anyway, since walk-up tickets are not very expensive and you can't predict when you'll be ready to hop on the train at Barcelona Sants until you land at BCN.

Barcelona Sants is a well-organized station that is equipped with a handy tourist office where you can grab some Barcelona information for future use. Unfortunately, pickpockets are reported there from time to time, so focus on paying attention to your belongings since you will be jet-lagged.

A bit simpler and also a bit slower, even if you happen to hit the timing exactly right, would be the Sagales bus from the airport to Girona via Barcelona.

Nothing much to add to Ann's (is it Ann, right acraven?) excellent post.

I would say you're landing in Terminal 1 (right?). If so, outside the terminal you'll find a green bus, which is a free shuttle between terminals serving every 5'-10'. That bus will take you to Terminal 2. When you reach that terminal, you'll see a long corridor crossing the main road (bear with me, this picture is very old!) The station is at one end. There's no need to look for the schedules of the airport train, it runs every 30' and if I'm not mistaken is at '8 and '38 on the hour from 5:30am to nearly midnight. Tickets for this train -as it's a Rodalies train- are not sold in advance, it's a walk-in train.

When you reach Sants stations, simply walk to the main hall (up from the tracks which are under it) and look for the Information desk in the middle of the station (easy to spot!). There they'll address you to the right track for the high-speed train to Girona. Note that to go to Girona you can use a high-speed train (type AVE or ALVIA) which take you to Girona in under 40' (cost between 12 and 30 euros) --and I strongly advise!--- or take a Rodalies train which stops in several stations along the way and takes 90' (cost under 10 euros). For the first you can purchase a ticket online in advance -use the link Ann gave you- and for the second you need to purchase the ticket on the spot.

The option of the bus is also available... albeit personally I always prefer the train: faster and more comfortable.

We are flying Delta from the U.S. via Paris.
As much as I try to be frugal (so I can travel even more!), I usually take the mode of transportation that is faster because slower just reduces my vacation time (except I generally do not go as far as using a taxi) I do find I've saved a lot of money in other countries by prepurchasing train tickets. But, in this case, I just feel like it could cause me a lot of trouble/expense if my plane is late. My plan would be to use the high speed train and just hope they have the cheaper tickets for the three of us when we get there.
This is so helpful. On my recent trip to France, when we arrived the Paris train station we walked around exhausted and looking silly for quite a while. It will be nice to know what we are doing this time!