Flights to Barcelona
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Although Barcelona has always been a popular destination, the city has enjoyed a spectacular revival since the 1992 Olympics, with recent growth buoyed by the increasing availability of cheap flights into the city. The city currently has ambitious plans to double the number of available hotel beds, with the recent opening of a second runway at Barcelona Airport (El Prat) aiming to facilitate the growth in flights to cater for this additional demand.
Alternative Barcelona Airports
Barcelona is additionally served by Girona airport to the east and Reus to the east. Both airports are well used by Ryanair, and marketed as being access points for the city of Barcelona, as well as destinations in their own right. Girona has for a long time been the main gateway for charter flights to the Costa Brava, whereas Reus has been the starting point for holidays along the Costa Daurada.
Which airport is best for cheap flights to Barcelona?
In terms of distance from the city centre, both Reus and Girona are at a heavy disadvantage, compared to the main Barcelona International Airport, which is a mere 15 km from the city centre. Naturally, due to the heavy presence of budget airline Ryanair, cheap flights to "Barcelona Girona" or "Barcelona Reus" can often cost much less than flights to Barcelona's main El Prat airport. Our usual advice would be that the price differential would have to be quite substantial to justify using airports which are much further out, compared to the city's main hub.
However, El Prat airport can get extremely congested, both on the taxiways and inside the terminals. Traffic in Barcelona can severely hold up the airport bus service, whereas the train to the airport only operates every 30 minutes, and is easy to miss due to the long walk to the station from the terminal building.
Going by road to either Reus or Girona still needs a negotiation of central Barcelona's traffic system, combined with the hour or so to get from the suburbs to the airport. In our view, if you are visiting Barcelona itself, you are still at a disadvantage if you are taking flights to Reus or Girona. However, this disadvantage is nothing like as substantial as it is between the main and secondary airports in cities such as Oslo, Frankfurt, Stockholm and Paris.
Barcelona Flight News
- New Spanish flights from Norwich - 29/04/2008
- New Barcelona flights from Cardiff - 14/03/2008
- Thomsonfly scraps Barcelona flights from Coventry - 29/10/2007
Other flights and travel news stories:
- New Biarritz flights from Luton - 15/07/2008
- Ryanair plan major cut back of Dublin flights this winter - 15/07/2008
- Easyjet to scrap Berlin flights from Belfast this winter - 14/07/2008
Flights to Spain - Other Cities
Can't find any good value flights to Barcelona? Read our general guide about finding flights to Spain, or try one of the other cities in Spain mentioned below:
- Flights to Barcelona Any (BCN0)
- Flights to Malaga (AGP)
- Flights to Alicante (ALC)
- Flights to Tenerife Any (TCI)
- Flights to Madrid (MAD)
- Flights to Ibiza (IBZ)
- Flights to Murcia (MJV)
- Flights to La Palma (SPC)
- Flights to Fuerteventura (FUE)
More flights tips
- It is well worth bagging a window seat if you are flying to Barcelona. The Catalan capital looks especially spectacular at night. [by James Avery; Flightmapping.com - 17/08/2005]
Other useful Barcelona travel websites
- Barcelona (BCN) Airport Transfers - Find airport transfers with Transfers.net
- Barcelona International Airport - Official AENA Website (select airport from menu)
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