What's the smartest way to use public transit in Barcelona?
Buy a T-Casual card (10 trips, roughly €11.35 for Zone 1) the moment you land at El Prat — the Aerobus is separate and overpriced, so take the R2 Nord train from Terminal 2 or the L9 Sud metro from either terminal instead. The T-Casual covers metro, bus, tram, and FGC suburban rail within Zone 1, which covers virtually everything tourists need, and transfers within 1 hour 15 minutes count as one trip. Download the TMB app for real-time arrivals and route planning; it is more reliable than Google Maps for Barcelona's network. The metro runs until midnight Sunday through Thursday, 2 a.m. Friday, and continuously through Saturday night, so you rarely need a taxi. Avoid the metro during the 8–9 a.m. and 6–8 p.m. rush on L1 and L5. For the waterfront and Barceloneta, the Bus Turístic is a waste of money; the D20 bus covers the same ground at standard fare.
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