While I was in Barcelona recently I discovered that a much cheaper way to get around and also to and from the city centre is to buy the T-10 Travel Card

In the past I have got the Airport bus which goes to Plaça Catalunya, stopping a couple of times along the way, or else I have taken the train to Sants and purchased a three day tourist pass for 12.40 Euros, but it cannot be used on the bus nor the train to and from the airport (or any other Renfe train) nor can it be used on the night buses.

The T-10 however gives you 10 trips for 6.30 Euros on any means of transport including the Renfe train from the airport, but not the airport bus. What's more, if you complete your total journey, using a combination of any means of transport, in less than an hour and a quarter, then that counts as just one trip. For example, say you are going to Hostal Opera near the Ramblas, you could purchase your T-10 at the airport railway station (which is reached by overhead walkway from the air terminal) then take the train to Sants station where you take the Metro L3 green line and get off at Liceu. The cost is just 63 centimos per person.

Four friends of mine from England took a taxi from the airport the last time they were there and paid 40 Euros to get to the other side of Barcleona at Sant Andreu and again this alternative method of travel would have cost them 2.52 Euros in total instead and would not have been any longer in the time it took their taxi to negotiate the traffic.

Another advantage to using the T-10 is that you can put the card through the gate to the metro or in the machine on the bus, then leave it there for someone else in your party to use following you through, registering two trips of course and all perfectly legal. The number of trips remaining is printed out on the back of the ticket each time you use it. Any unused trips can be used as on your next visit as long as the fares have not increased during that time.