There are so many things to do and see in Barcelona that a tour is really the best way to see it all. Tours of Barcelona come in many shapes and sizes from hop on hop off buses to talking cars to walking tours. We have found the best and most fun ways to tour Barcelona.
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Hop on Hop off buses in Barcelona
A Hop on / Hop off bus tour of Barcelona is an easy and practical way to get an impression of the whole city of Barcelona, while seeing major sights in just a few hours. These buses have audio guides in several languages. Hop-on/hop-off means that you can get on and off at all stops along the way. If you want to get off the bus to spend more time an attraction, then just get off the tour bus and get back on later when you are ready to continue the tour. They have open-air top decks, , which is great for taking superb snaps of Barcelona’s landmarks, but remember your sunscreen in the summer and a jacket in the winter.
There are three different hop on / hop off bus tours of Barcelona Two of them are Hop on/ Hop off open top double decker tour buses that drive around the city in different routes - you can find links to the city wide tour buses a little bit further down this page .
The third hop on / hop off bus is smaller and drives around the sights on Montjuic mountain . Find the details below. If you prefer more traditional sightseeing tours, where a bus takes you to each destination and a live guide accompanies you around the sights, then scroll down this page and look for Guided Bus Tours.
Bus Turistic - Hop on/ Hop off tours of Barcelona. Red and White open top double decker red and white buses. They have 3 different bus routes. The ticket prices includes a discount booklet with many discounts for major sights and attractions.
Barcelona City tours . All red open-air top deck, double decker buses with an East and West route of Barcelona. Audio guide in various languages.
Montjuic tour busesGreen single decker open-air top bus, which circulates around the sights of Montjuic mountain in Barcelona.
Above: The Montjuic tour bus has a cool open air design. It will take you to all the many sights of Montjuic Mountain .
You can also find traditional and perhaps more comfortable guided bus tours of Barcelona where you board a tour bus in a group with a personal guide who accompanies you to the top sights and stays with you during the whole day.
A local tour guide is not as impersonal as the audio tours and often more fun and informative. If you want to know more than just the basic information about historic sights and buildings like the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi’s buildings, or the Roman ruins of Barcelona, then a guided tour is often the best solution. Guide books and websites like BarcelonaYellow can be a great help for planning a visit, but a only local tour guide can really bring the history and culture of the city to life with rich detail, anecdotes, gossip and rumours that are not always in the guide books.
The tour guides in Barcelona are accredited and usually natives or long term residents of Barcelona. They know Barcelona and the Catalan way of life like the back of their hand and can often help you with little translations and answers to questions.
BGB is a BarcelonaYellow Recommended Partner for quality and value for money tours of Barcelona. BGB offers a range of guided bus tours in Barcelona. They are widely respected for high quality and also provide guides for the Barcelona tourist office tours. BGB also offers tailor-made tours and walking tours.
If you prefer to avoid the crowds, but still want information, then why not consider a personal tour guide?
It is a little more expensive than group tours, but excellent value for money. Personal tour guides in Barcelona will tell you all the city and the sights and also enrich your stay with exclusive information about where you to shop at reasonable prices, where to eat, the best things to do in Barcelona from breakfast at the best coffee shops in Barcelona to the best restaurants and clubs in the city.
Personal tours guides are often more than guides - they are your interpreters, hosts, ambassadors, entertainers, helpers and general source of information to make sure your trip to Barcelona is as meaningful as possible. Often they will also drive you or provide cars with drivers.
Audio tours and Mp3 Audio guide to Barcelona
If you prefer to plan your own tours of Barcelona, then for just 12 euros you can buy and download an Mp3 audio tour guide of Barcelona. The Barcelona audio guide has almost 6 hours of playing time with detailed descriptions of 100 top sights and attractions in Barcelona. Download the audio tour to your Iphone, Mpg player or other mobile phones. Along with the audio guide you can print free maps of Barcelona that show the positions of the sights included on the audio guide tour.
Walking tours, Jogging tours & Bike tours of Barcelona
If you want an active and healthy way to see the most famous sights of Barcelona, and perhaps have a bit more time to chat to your guide, then you might choose one of the many guided walking tours of Barcelona. The walking tours are excellent because the guides provide a lot of information and there is plenty of time to absorb it all.
However walking is too leisurely for you and want to improve your fitness levels, then why not try a jogging tour of Barcelona .
Another very popular way to see Barcelona are the bike tours of Barcelona This is a clean, green and healthy way to see the sights of Barcelona and Barcelona is putting in new bicycle lanes every day. Friendly and well- informed tour guides will give you many insights into the city while dispensing traffic safety tips. The traffic in Barcelona can be a bit, shall we say, unpredictable, so helmets are always a good thing and remember not to take photos while you are riding the bike!
Other new and fun ways to explore Barcelona are the Segway tours of Barcelona and the absolute most fun way to see Barcelona has to be the Yellow talking Go Cars. The Go cars are very easy to drive and have a GPS sytem which guides you around the top city sights.
The Tombbus T1 shuttle shopping bus service which leaves from Plaza Catalunya
If you want to stock up your wardrobe, then book a shopping tour of Barcelona. Your personal shopping guide to steer you through the winding streets of the Barri Gotic to find the best shops in Barcelona. A shopping tour guide will also give you personal style and fashion tips. BGB - Barcelona Guide Bureau also offers shopping tours.
Or hop on the Barcelona Shopping Bus. It's rather ominously for English speakers, called the Tombbus (T1) but it's not not the ride of death, except perhaps for your credit cards. The Tombus leaves from Plaza Catalunya. It is a blue shuttle shopping bus, which drives up and down the 5 km "BSL - Barcelona Shopping Line" route with some of the biggest brand names shops in Barcelona on the streets of Av Diagonal and Passeig de Gracia. The BSL Barcelona Shopping Line and the Tombbus starts from the Plaça de Catalunya, heads up the Passeig de Gràcia, then turns left at Avinguda Diagonal. From the top of Diagonal the bus heads back the same way. Personal shopping tours of Barcelona Barcelona Shopping Bus Tombus T1
Movie tours & Book Tours of Barcelona
Barcelona also offers great movie tours and book tours. The number of movies shot on location in Barcelona is growing every year. El Perfume starring Dustin Hoffman was shot here in 2006 and Director Woody Allen shot the hit move "Vicky Christina Barcelona " here in 2007 which wonPenelope Cruz an Oscar for best supporting actress.
In the meantime why not try the unique Shadow of the Wind tour based on the on the bestselling novel “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
