HolaBCN! Ticket – Is it worth buying 2023?
What exactly is the HolaBCN ticket? Does buying a HolaBCN ticket make sense for you?
What does the Hola BCN card offer?
The Hola Barcelona Card (English: Hello Barcelona Card) is a multi-day ticket for public transport in Barcelona. It entitles you to:
1 Any number of journeys on the metro (Metro), the city buses (TMB), the tram, the light rail (FGC, Zone 1), the Montjuïc funicular railway and the regional or suburban railway (Rodalies de Catalunya, Zone 1).
2 Use of the airport line of the Metro. You cannot use this route with regular single tickets or a 10-trip metro card (T-Casual). If you do not have a Hola Barcelona card, you must buy the Airport Ticket. For a return journey, the Airport Ticket currently (2023) costs €10.30 per person.
Hola Barcelona Card: Unlimited use of Metro (incl. airport transfer), TMB city buses, tram, FGC light rail zone 1, Montjuïc funicular and the Rodalies de Catalunya regional train (zone 1) – (Pictures: Blog Viajes, F. Lenn, R. Rodríguez, Alquiler de Coches , A. Marques – CC 2.0 licence)
One card – many names:
“HolaBCN!”, “Hola Barcelona”, or “Hola Barcelona Travel Card”?
Many names for one card. Until 2019, the card was called “HolaBCN!” Card. Now it is called “Hola Barcelona” or “Hola Barcelona Travel” Card. Nothing has changed except the name. Since both names are familiar, we will use both names here.
How much does the Hola Barcelona Card cost in 2023?
In 2023, the Hola BCN! Card costs per person when purchased in Barcelona:
2 days /48h validity: 16.40 Euro (8.20 Euro per day)
3 days / 72h validity: 23.80 Euro (7.93 Euro per day)
4 days / 96h validity: 31 Euro (7.75 Euro per day)
5 days /120h validity: 38.20 Euro (7.64 Euro per day)
Is the Hola Barcelona Card useful for your Barcelona trip?
Whether a HolaBCN Card is worthwhile for you depends, of course, on how you have planned your stay in Barcelona.
We have calculated this for a typical 3-day trip:
Barcelona is a large metropolitan region with almost 5 million inhabitants. If you want to be reasonably mobile and see a few of the city’s attractions, you will use local transport.
It’s nice, especially in the summer heat, to be able to use an air-conditioned bus or metro train instead of walking for kilometres.
You arrive by plane and then have to get from El Prat Airport to your accommodation in the city centre. The metro offers a fast and inexpensive connection.
You can either buy the “Airport Ticket” for the metro or the Halo Barcelona Card. Regular single tickets or the T-Casual 10-trip card are not valid here.
Our conclusion:
For a typical 3-day stay, buying a Hola Barcelona card can quickly pay for itself:
Just 2-3 trips per day by metro, bus or tram will save you money.
We can’t put a monetary value on comfort or time savings:
- What is it worth to you, for example, if you don’t have to buy single tickets from the ticket machine more often and may have to stand in a queue?
The Hola Barcelona Card is very convenient here. You don’t have to worry about the validity of single tickets and can also use the bus spontaneously for 1 or 2 stops. Just get on and ride… - Moreover, they don’t notice that local transport is operated by different companies. Even the Metro has two operating companies (TMB, FGC).
The HolaBCN card is valid for all of them: TMB (Transporte Metropolitans de Barcelona), FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) and Rodalies de Catalunya.
Save yourself time and stress abroad.
The Hola BCN! Online Ticket can be purchased via this website.
With an online ticket, you don’t have to deal with ticket purchase and fare systems after a flight.
Save yourself time and stress abroad. When is the Hola Barcelona ticket not suitable – what are the alternatives?
There are several cases when the Hola BCN ticket is not worth it. Here are some examples and alternative suggestions:
- You are staying in Barcelona for a longer period of time. In this case, a monthly ticket could be the better choice.
- You are not travelling by plane and hardly want to use local transport. In this case, single tickets or a 10-trip T-Casual card are the better choice.
- If you want to visit a lot of sights. In this case, the “Barcelona Card” may be cheaper for you. The Barcelona Card includes all the services of the “Hola BCN” card and offers additional free or reduced admission to many sights.
→ You can find more information about the Barcelona Card here
Area of Validity of the Hola Barcelona Travel Card (+City Map)
The Hola Barcelona Travel Card entitles you to unlimited travel on all metro (Metro), city bus (TMB), tram (Tram), light rail (FGC, Zone 1), Montjuïc Funicular and Rodalies regional trains lines (Zone 1).
In Zone 1 are almost all of the major sights in the city of Barcelona and El Prat Airport.
HolaBCN cards on Rodalies / FGC suburban trains
The Rodalies trains (Catalan: local transport) connect Barcelona with the surrounding area. Trains go to destinations more than 50 km from the city center.
Here, the HolaBCN card is valid in zone 1.
→ Download: Map with public transport zones in Barcelona
Not valid on buses operated by private companies
With the Hola Barcelona Travel Card, you can travel on more than 100 lines of the city’s TMB bus company.
In bus routes of private companies, such as the airport shuttle bus Aerobús or NitBus, the HolaBCN! Card not valid.
The HolaBCN card is valid on the red TMB bus. But not in the blue bus of the private company Aerobús. For the transfer airport ↔ city center you can use the metro as an alternative. The metro ride is free with the Hola Barcelona card.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ 2023
Where can you buy the Hola BCN card?
You can buy the Hola Barcelona either in Barcelona at the ticket machine, or online before your trip.
We recommend buying the Hola BCN cards online before your trip. You can do this, for example, via this website – click here. This saves time and stress in Barcelona.
There are more exciting things to do in Barcelona than dealing with the local transport fare system.
Where is the Hola Barcelona Travel Card valid?
With the Hola Barcelona Travel Card you can make as many journeys as you like on all lines of the metro (Metro), the city buses (TMB), the tram (Tram), the light rail (FGC, Zone 1), the Montjuïc funicular railway and the regional or suburban railway (Rodalies de Catalunya, Zone 1).
This zone includes almost all the sights of the city of Barcelona and El Prat airport.
You can find more information and a map in our travel guide.
Is there a Hola BCN card for children?
No, unfortunately not. As with most other tickets in Barcelona, the same applies here:
Children under the age of four do not need a ticket. From the age of 4, children must also have a valid, correct and paid ticket.
Validity: What exactly is the period of use of the Hola Barcelona Travel Card?
The period of use is no longer measured in days, but in hours. The time starts running with the first validation.
So, for example, you can use the 3-day ticket 72 hours after the first validation.
Is the HolaBCN! Card valid on the AEROBUS (shuttle bus to and from the airport)?
No. As the Aerobus is privately operated, it is not part of the Barcelona city bus system. However, you can use the metro to the airport or city centre for free with the HolaBCN card.
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