We are traveling to Europe this summer with our 10 and 13 year old kids. Any advice on whether or not to do the Barcelona hop on and off Bus Tour??? I understand you can get on and off as much as you wish and there are two routes to choose from. A waste of money and time or valuable??/
Posted by
19 posts
We were in Barcelona four years ago in September. We bought the hop on and off bus tickets and only rode them once or twice. Seems they were always full or else a really, really long wait. Especially at the popular places such as La Sagrada Familia or Montjuic. Perhaps we just happened to hit them at the wrong times of day. It seems such an ideal way to get around if they added more buses and it worked. Hopefully someone who has been there more recently will have had a better experience.
Posted by
270 posts
The Barcelona HOHO buses have four routes, if I remember correctly. We rode most of them last summer. The biggest crowds to get on the buses were at Plaza de Catalunya. If you don't have to wait to get on the bus, I think it's worth it to take the ride. I'd recommend walking down the Ramblas towards the water and then finding the bus stop at Christopher Columbus statue. We had four days in Barcelona so we took our time and got off the bus when we saw something we wanted to explore more. Have fun!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
I have not tried the bus service, but had no trouble navigating the city by walking and metro. Rick's book also mentions that taxis are reasonable, especially for four people, e.g. 10 euros from (somewhere on) the Ramblas to Barcelona Sants train station.