Barcelona Card with Museums and Public Transport

Museums and views on Montjuïc

Montjuïc hill gathers several of the card's best visits. The National Art Museum of Catalonia occupies the grand National Palace, built for the 1929 International Exhibition, and holds one of the world's finest collections of Romanesque wall paintings, rescued from small mountain churches in the Pyrenees, along with Gothic, Renaissance and modern art. The terrace in front of the palace offers one of the best free views over the city.

Higher up, Montjuïc Castle, an 18th-century fortress with bastions and a moat, is also included, with sweeping views over the harbour and the sea. Nearby you can visit the Ethnological Museum and the Botanical Garden. Is the Barcelona Card worth it? If you plan to see two or three museums a day and use public transport, a day on Montjuïc alone shows its value.

Roman and medieval Barcelona

The Barcelona History Museum is spread across several sites in the old town, and the card opens many of them. At Plaça del Rei you walk underground through the excavated streets of Roman Barcino, with workshops, a laundry and remains of houses beneath the medieval palace. Other sites include a Roman funerary way lined with tombs, the medieval Jewish quarter known as El Call, and an air-raid shelter from the 1930s.

In the Born district, the El Born Cultural and Memorial Centre covers the remains of an entire neighbourhood destroyed in the early 18th century, now preserved under a striking iron market hall. Combined with a visit to the Gothic Quarter, these sites help you understand two thousand years of Barcelona's history in a single day.

Contemporary art and culture in El Raval

In the El Raval district, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art fills a bright white building with works from the mid-20th century to today, and its square is a meeting point for skateboarders and local life. Next door, the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona hosts exhibitions on cities, society and culture, with a glass-fronted terrace offering views over the rooftops. Both offer skip-the-ticket-queue entry with the card.

Design lovers can head to the Design Museum of Barcelona at Glòries, set in a dramatic modern building, while the Moco Museum in the Born presents modern and contemporary works in a historic palace. These visits show a creative side of Barcelona that many travellers miss, and they combine easily with shopping and cafés in the surrounding streets.

Science, nature and unusual collections

Families especially enjoy the card's science and nature visits. A large science museum at the foot of Tibidabo features a flooded rainforest with living plants and animals, and the Museum of Natural Sciences, known as the Blue Museum, presents fossils, minerals and the story of life on Earth. The Egyptian Museum on Passeig de Gràcia displays a rich private collection of mummies, jewellery and statues from ancient Egypt.

Smaller museums add variety: the Music Museum with instruments from around the world, the Chocolate Museum telling the history of cocoa in Barcelona, and the peaceful Gothic Monastery of Pedralbes, founded in the 14th century, with one of the largest Gothic cloisters in the world. Barcelona Card tickets let you pick what suits your interests each day.

Free public transport across the city

For 72 hours the card works as a transport pass on the metro, trams, city day buses and the urban and suburban railway lines in zone 1. That means you can move between museums without buying tickets, and reach areas such as Montjuïc, Barceloneta, Gràcia and the upper neighbourhoods quickly. The Montjuïc funicular from Paral·lel metro station is included as part of the metro network.

The airport express bus and night buses are not included. If you are wondering how to get the Barcelona Card, exchange your voucher at a tourist information office at the airport, at Plaça de Catalunya or at the kiosk near the Sagrada Família. The 72 hours start from the first time you use it, so plan to begin with a busy day.