Barcelona City Tour Bus or "Hop On and Hop Off Sightseeing Tourist Buses" is a popular way to view Barcelona City. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience as a first time traveler by riding the tour bus in Barcelona. I have always tended to write off the concept of a tourist bus tour as only for those who have no interest in truly understanding a city. From the tour, I managed to obtain a better understanding of the layout of the city and I had fun.
The Barcelona City Tour is operated by Julia Tours & Grupo Moventis which is a large Spanish Transportation Company in Spain. The bus city tour has 2 different routes to explore the city which are the
Orange Line and
Green Line. The tour will highlight all the things to do in the city so that the tourist can hop on and off at more than 44 stops provided. The key sights and world famous attractions of this fantastic city are included on the tour route. Click
here to know the place covered by the
Orange Line and
Green Line.
A map provided by the company
Barcelona tour bus makes both options possible and convenient. There are some hitches in the service and systems provided on boarding the bus. On first entering the bus, they provide us with a paper map to accompany our journey. It is useful because the map shows the route line and allows travelers to figure out what there is of interest in the vicinity of each bus stop. They also provide us wit a small set of disposable headphones.
The Map and Headphones
Other than that, next to each pair of seats there is a small system into which two sets of headphones can be inserted. It is a wall mounted unit with a small screen indicating the channel number, which can be changed by pressing the buttons with up and down arrows on them. It has another set of buttons to adjust the volume. A small chart on the seat in front shows what channel number should be used depending on what language we prefer. The commentary is available in 10 different languages which are Catalan, Spanish, French, English, Italian, Russian, Deutsche, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Audible System
Those who do not wish to
have commentary during their journey can choose not to wear the headphones but there
is no commentary on loud speakers. Commentary is provided by way of a lady's
recorded voice. The information is sporadic and interspersed with classical
music. On one of the buses that I boarded there were numerous occasions when
the commentary was out of syncs with the area that the bus was travelling
through. This normally occurred when the bus was stuck in traffic and had not
yet reached the destination being discussed. This was usually rectified within
approximately five minutes. The bus staffs interrupt the recorded commentary
when each new stop is reached. The information provided is very factual with
lots of dates and names. This may suit true fact finders and history.
The bus also provides a ramp at their back door and an area on the ground floor for wheelchair users. However, the top deck of the bus would be inaccessible to wheelchair users. Similar to a standard bus, it has a narrow, winding staircase to the open deck area. Here are some of the clearly picture of the Barcelona City Tour Bus for their valued passengers.
The top deck of the bus
Comfortable Seats
Barcelona City Tour Bus Stop
Barcelona City Tour is a new official touristic bus service that shows us the city from a new perspective which we can SEE, HEAR & ENJOY!
SEE. Thanks to the Barcelona City Tour
panoramic deck because I am able to see the city’s monuments from a different
point of view and enjoy its wonderful climate!
HEAR. The audio guide system service provides me all the information on the
city and its most attractive places and monuments.
ENJOY. With the two new Barcelona City Tour routes, I enjoyed the most
emblematic areas of the city and discover the new Barcelona, from the
spectacular Agbar Tower to the city’s new beaches.
