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Q: Can you advise me whether I should buy the Barcelona Card or the T-Casual ticket on my visit. What are the factors I need to consider to make the right choice?
A: The first thing to be aware of is that the Barcelona card and the T-Casual are totally different products. Therefore making a direct comparison between the two is not really possible.
Barcelona Card vs T-Casual for discounts
There are no discounts with the T-Casual. It is a transport only ticket.
The Barcelona Card not only gives you free transport in Zone 1 (the main tourist area) on the metro, buses tram and RENFE train to the airport but it also gives you free entry to selected Barelona attractions. The Barcelona Card will give you other discounts for many selected museums, attractions and performance venues. The T-Casual is a transport only ticket. You do not get any discounts. See our summary of benefits with the Barcelona Card
In summary for discounts: Barcelona Card gives you discounts on entrance fees for attractions, selected performances, tours and leisure activities. T-Casual is a transport only card.
T-Casual transport ticket vs the Barcelona card in relation to the transport
Sharing of the tickets
The T-Casual transport ticket cannot be shared with users on the same journey however you can give the ticket to someone else that may use the ticket on a separate independent journey to your journey.
The Barcelona card is specifically assigned to one person and it cannot be shared or given to other members of your group.
Operating hours of the tickets
The T-Casual transport ticket can be used at any time 24 hours a day. There are no hours of operation limits with the T-Casual ticket. You can travel at both on-peak or off-peak times.
For a one day card the Barcelona card is valid until 00:00 Midnight of the day on which you activate the card. It is important to note that if you activate the Barcelona card late in the day then you may only have a few hours of use. If you purchased a three day card then the card will be valid until 00:00 Midnight on the third day after the day of activation. It is therefore important when you activate your Barcelona card. This limitation does not apply to the T-Casual ticket.
Expiry of the cards
The T-Casual transport ticket expires at the end of January of the following year of purchase. You can use any unused journeys allowances on the card within that time period.
The Barcelona card is only valid for the number of days for which you have purchased it starting from the activation date and ending midnight on the final day of validity. You cannot split or choose the dates on which you will use the Barcelona card. Once activated the card will only allow you to have consecutive days of transport until it expires.
Barcelona Card vs T-Casual on the Journey duration time.
The T-Casual transport ticket has a maximum journey time of 75 Minutes. If your journey time goes beyond the 75 Minutes you would be required to use another journey allowance on your ticket. Provided that you are in zone 1 and that your journey takes no longer than 75 Minutes you can use a combination of transport systems for example the metro, the bus, or the RENFE train to the airport. Whenever you change the transport system you would need to validate your T-Casual ticket using the validation machines on the transport. The validation machines for the Metro are situated near to the sliding doors entrance to the Metro system. The validation machines for the bus are situated inside the bus.
The Barcelona card gives you unlimited time of travel on the transport system therefore you could have a journey which lasts longer than 75 Minutes and still not be required to pay any extra money.
Fundamentally these are the primary differences between the Barcelona card and the T-Casual ticket in terms of transport.
However it must be borne in mind that the Barcelona Card offers many other advantages in the form of discount entries to museums and major attractions in Barcelona. The T-Casual ticket is a transport only ticket and does not give you any discounts to any attractions in the city.
We have many other pages on the Barcelona card and on the T-Casual ticket which you can find by referring to the related links below. I hope this answers your question on the Barcelona card vs the T-Casual ticket.
You can use the Barcelona Card to cover your cost on the metro L9 Sud from both T1 and T2 of Barcelona Airport. However the T-Casual ticket is not valid for use on the Metro L9 stops at Barcelona Airport.
Prices for T-Casual vs Barcelona Card:
Zone 1 T-Casual: €12.15
Mainly purchased by tourists this transport ticket gives you a total of 10 journeys on the metro, tram and buses in the city centre.
Barcelona Card: Unlimited travel (as many journeys as you want) during the time of validity for metro, tram buses and RENFE train to airport.
To find out up to date prices of Barcelona Card and Barcelona Card express, see our detailed pages below.
Validity of the Barcelona Card Express:
2 days.
Validity of the Barcelona Card:
3, 4 or 5 days.
See our page on the Barcelona Card for more information.
See our page on the Barcelona Card Express for more information.
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