Barcelona city transit plan for a 7:50am outbound flight from BCN T1

If you're flying back to the US, I'd say three hours, not two. That's the general guideline, and I flew out of Barcelona to Washington-Dulles a few weeks ago. I spent about 50 minutes in the United check-in line. I would have been a very nervous person if I had only allowed 2 hours' lead time at the airport, and I might well have missed the flight. The security line wasn't bad, but I got tapped for a random bag inspection that sucked up a lot of time.

It's probably OK to stay downtown if you prefer that. How bad can the traffic be at 4 AM? If it turns out that a taxi is the only option, I'd ask my hotel to arrange it.

At 4AM you have two options only: taxi or the night bus, the N17 bus... but honestly, get a cab, it's faster and less cumbersome. It should cost around 35€ and it'll take you to the airport in say 45' tops -probably less than that! At that time there's hardly any traffic. Note that at that time of the night and on a Monday, the taxi fare is T2: http://bit.ly/BCNtaxi2016

If you're in a hotel, ask the reception to book for you, otherwise, you can either book it yourself the night before or simply go to any main street and wait for one to pass by -it shouldn't take that long, there are plenty of taxis roaming the city during the night shift.

Some taxi companies: Taxi Class Rent tel.933070707 www.taxiclassrent.com ||| Barnataxi tel. 933222222 www.barnataxi.com ||| Ràdio Taxi 033 tel.933033033 www.radiotaxi033.com ||| Servi-Taxi tel.933 300 300 www.servitaxi.com ||| Taxi Ecològic tel.932783000 http://taxiecologic.com ||| Taxi Amic tel.934208088 www.taxi-amic-adaptat.com ||| Fono-Taxi tel.933001100 http://www.fonotaxi.net/

I wouldn't stay at the airport the night before... you can squeeze a few more hours enjoying the city. And you can surely find cheaper hotels in the city.

You guys are awesome! Thanks a lot!

I just flew back from BCN, had a connection in MUC. Took a taxi from my apartment (next to La Pedrera). My flight was at 8 am and I got to the airport a bit after 6 am. Taxi fare (Saturday morning) was about 35-37 Euro. I flew with Lufthansa. At first there wasn't much of a line but after 6:30 am it got full. It took about 20-25 mins to get to the airport.

Hi Gabriel,
Your real time experience helps a lot, since I will fly Lufthansa to MUC at almost the same time, too.
Did you book the taxi in advance, or just catch one on the street early in the morning?
Thanks!

Chris, we had asked the taxi driver we had the day before if he could take us to the airport. But I guess there was a miscommunication because he never showed up. My dad was supposed to call him and I'm sure the taxi driver was not going to remember to pick us up without that call. Anyway, since we were staying right off of Passeig de Gracia, we were able to see a small line of taxi's a few feet away on the street. If you're staying near some major landmarks then you should have no problem finding a taxi on the street. Otherwise, best to reserve one the day before. We did this in Madrid and a taxi driver was waiting right outside the apartment when we walked out.

Thank you very much, Gabriel!

I just got back last night from Barcelona. The hotel booked the taxi for us the night before. It cost us 38 euros. I will mention our experience at the airport. The ticketing agent told us that after security, we should go downstairs where the shops are. As we wanted to get something for breakfast, that is what we did. My husband always likes to linger oever coffee. I persuaded him to go to the gate about 35 min. before boarding. Boy, was that a surprise. We got off of the elevator and had to wait in a huge line for passport control. We got to our gate as boarding had already started. Lesson learned!

You must have been at a different terminal. I think I flew out of T1. Once I passed through security the shops and eateries were right there. Your destination is important. If you're flying back to the US with a connection outside of Europe, you will have to go through passport control. However, if like me, you connect to the US through another European city there is no passport control until you reach the city in which you're using to fly back to the US. In my case, I went through passport control in Munich.