English

 Under Construcion

The Hop-On/Hop-Off Tips & Tricks



This blog is to provide useful information for those travelers who have chosen to ride with Barcelona City Tour or are considering doing it. For those not interested, you may find other useful information on the regular posts, but you can totally skip this page guide.

What can this service do for me?

This bus is one of the many options to visit the city of Barcelona, however, as opposed to some other cities you can find tour bus services, the designed is done with the main idea of a Hop-On/Hop-Off and the lines within the service are long enough to consider not sitting the whole loop without stepping out of the bus. To put it plain and simple, this is an alternative to the regular public transportation that connects the main attractions (call it "must see" places if you prefer) so the visitor doesn't have to put much work into transfering between different transportations or many lines.  

  • It can bring you to the all "must see" places 
  • It can offer you discounts to some attractions
  • It can offer you other tours from Julià Travel
  • It can give you a general idea of what's the city like*

*This is in case you choose the service because you haven't much time and you don't plan to hop-off, however this blog won't focus in this type of travelers.

Posts Index



            1. Atractions
            2. My Itineraries
            3. Historical Itineraries
            4. Supplementary Services
            5. The Cruise Ship Visitor
            6. Rules & Guidelines 
            7. Frequent Asked Questions 
            8. Where to Buy



Keys to the Service

  • The Regular Ticket includes the Main 2 Lines
  • The Premium Ticket includes the 3rd Line (City Sailing)
  • Each Main Line takes 2 hours to complete
  • Buses stop for 10 minutes at the Main Stop (Catalonia Square)
  • There's no toilet in the Bus
  • The Main 2 Lines are Orange & Green
  • Transfer Points are ONLY 3 between Main Lines
  • Each Main Line has 1 Transfer Point with City Sailing
  • The 3rd Line is City Sailing, the Eco Catamaran
  • City Sailing takes 1 hour
  • Tickets for the Bus Service are for either 24 or 48 hours
  • Tickets can be Upgraded from 24 to 48 hourse
  • Vouchers acquired online or offline MUST be exchanged for the proper Ticket
  • Tickets MUST be KEPT in PHYSICAL format
  • Tickets MUST be shown anytime the staff requires of it (& when Hopping-On)
  • City Sailing can be done at any time in or out of the Bus Ticket hours
  • Schedule for City Sailing must ALWAYS be consulted
  • Bus Service Schedule is from 9am to 7pm (Main Stop)
  • ALWAYS consult the frequency between buses with the staff
  • Bus ONLY Days Off are December 25th & 31st
It is important to remember these points because these are the things that create most misunderstandings due to outdated or wrong information, be it on the official channels or at third party tour operators' sites. Also, these are the things that will save you time when using the service and prevent you from having any mishaps.




The 2 Lines of the Main Service are quite long, they take more than 4 hours to complete at once because one must remember pauses are required between end and beginning of each loop and some stops do have other pauses for regulation. There is no toilet in the bus, so make sure you go before hopping on because the distance to an available public toilet can be longer than expected (there aren't many in Barcelona unless you're near a Shopping Mall or a Department Store).

It is important to remember the colors designating both Main Lines are Orange and Green, because that's the main cause for our travelers (and viceversa) to get confused with the other company in the City (and that does make people lose time trying to find out our inexistent "Red" Line, and viceversa). A useful tip is to always mark which Line you started with and where (ask the staff if you don't know where you're hopping on at), so you don't end up repeating lines unwillingly (it does happen).

Transfer Points are the Main Stop (#1, Catalunya) and the Last 2 Stops which differ in number for each line: For the Orange are #18 and #19, for the Green are #15 and #16. These 2 places equal to the Stops of Casa Milà (La Pedrera) & Casa Batlló (L'Illa de la Discòrdia) both located at Passeig de Gràcia (Gràcia Boulevard).

City Sailing's Transfer Point is marked in the map provided on board, for the Orange is Stop #4 Colom (Columbus), for the Green is #3 Port Vell (Maremàgnum) at the Old Harbour. You can always ask the staff for directions, especially now that Les Rambles is fully under construction works.

City Sailing is a 1 hour boat trip in an ecologic catamaran that takes you away from the buzz of the city and gives you a different perspective of it. Of course you have other alternatives, but this one is provided as a plus service with a fair discount when bought as a joint combo. You can also acquire it on board as a separated service if you've already bought the Bus Regular Ticket. You don't need to do this ride within' the time-frame of the Bus Ticket, but you do need to consult the schedule with the staff, because it changes with the seasons.

Tickets can be Upgraded within the time frame you're using them from 24 to 48 hours, just paying the difference. There is no longer format of the ticket. Tickets must always be carried on its physical format and when lost those aren't replaceable. If what you bought prior to hopping on is a voucher (from any official channel or 3rd party), you ALWAYS need to exchange that for the proper official ticket, you can do that on board (when not, you'll be guided when and how to) as well as buy the ticket there if you didn't acquire a voucher beforehand. Have always your ticket well saved but ready when hopping on, especially if you are confused whether you're at the right company's stop (it helps us quickly tell where you need to go in case you're at the wrong stop).

Please, always consult the frequency between Buses as it varies with the seasons. It is important to rembember that services finishes overall with the Last Bus of the Day departure, which is at 7pm. This means that past that time, all the Buses on route will finish their courses up till the last stop (Main Stop, unless there are any inconveniences caused by 3rd parties aka demonstrations and other events). To be able to change routes one last time, one must be at the Main Stop before 7pm and the same goes to return to a point past that stop.

In case you happen to buy/exchange your Ticket for any of the days BEFORE the only 2 holidays for the company, the hours will be extended to the day AFTER those holidays.