I am going to Barcelona in September and see the airport is about 30 minutes from downtown. What is the best and/or cheapest option? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
The bus is inexpensive and takes you to Placa Catalunya.
Aerobus http://www.aerobusbcn.com/ Cheap and easy. Just mind your bags and personal items when you get off the bus at Placa Catalunya - it's pickpocket heaven.
I would definitely use the metro. Just get a metro map from the info center at the airport and go. The metro is fast and inexpensive. It will get you close to where you want to go.
Barcelona is pickpocket heaven. We saw two episodes where people had belonging taken because they were distracted for a minute. So when I went to Paris I took the metro to our hotel. But when in Bacelona I break down and take a taxi. They are not really that expensive and when you just got off an all night flight, you are tired and don't know the city, they are your best bet even though you will pay more than the public transit.
We used the Aerobus and it worked well for us, very quick and inexpensive. I liked that once we got on the bus we could just zone out until we got to our stop, because we were very jet-lagged; as opposed to the metro where you need to stay alert and may need to make transfers. Since Aerobus has only 3 drop-off points check to be sure that one of them is convenient to your hotel.