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SITUATION

Barcelona is situated on the Mediterranean coast, very close to France and the rest of Europe. It is a well-connected capital which can be easily reached by ground, sea and air.
There are several train stations in the city and the local train network is connected to the rest of Spain and numerous European cities.

Barcelona has become the Mediterranean’s leading cruise ship port. It currently has 9 terminals where 844 ships carrying one million passengers docked in 2007 alone. There are also 4 maritime stations from which ferries headed for Genoa and the Balearic Islands depart.

Barcelona’s international airport, which was designed by Ricardo Bofill for the Olympic games in 1992, is reported to have had passenger traffic of over 32,8 millons people in 2007.

Traffic in an around the city is kept fluid by two ring roads, known locally as the “Rondas”.
The city also offers ample public transport. There are currently 5 underground lines comprised of 122 stations covering a total of 81.2 Km. There is also an urban train network, which is run by the Generalitat, Catalonia’s autonomous government to complement the underground network.

A fleet of near 1000 buses connect all of the city’s neighbourhoods. Passengers can choose from several different types of passes, all of which are valid for the entire metropolitan transport network (underground lines, urban trains and buses) and are based on an integrated tariff system which allows passengers to use the same pass for different modes of transport.
Barcelona’s taxi fleet numbers 11,000. Taxis are easy to spot, as they are painted in yellow and black.

When taxis are available the light on the car roof is green. There are taxi stations throughout the city, though you can hail one anywhere simply by raising your arm to call the driver’s attention. Taxi services can be requested by phone and many taxis are equipped for credit card payments.