Barcelona Airport is located 12km southwest of the city centre and is the second busiest airport in Spain. The airport consists of 3 modules operating in Terminal 2 which are known as sections A, B & C and the new Terminal 1 which is a completely separate building that can be accessed via a shuttle service which runs every 7 minutes as well as a bus service between the Renfe train station and the T1 terminal. The journey time between terminals 1 and 2 is approximately 10 minutes.

If you are arriving at Terminal 1 in Barcelona Airport the first thing you will need to will be to check the information screens to find out which baggage reclaim belt is associated with your flight. Passengers arriving from a non Schengen country must go through passport control before entering the baggage reclaim hall. On your route towards the exit you will pass through the Sky Centre to get to the baggage reclaim hall which is used for all flights from both Schengen and non Schengen destinations.

After you have exited the baggage reclaim area you will come out into an area known as La Plaza which is the arrivals lobby meeting point and the gateway between T1, the public car park, the intermodal lobby and the taxis, buses and car hire desks

If you are arriving at Terminal 2 in Barcelona Airport you will need to access 1 of 3 baggage reclaim areas on the ground floor which will take no longer than a 3 to 5 minute walk. The information screens will indicate which baggage reclaim area to collect your luggage from. As soon as you have entered the relevant baggage reclaim area be sure to check the information screens again on the ground floor to find out exactly which carousel to go to.

The majority of flights will have their baggage reclaim in either Zone A or Zone B. Lufthansa operate from Zone A and British Airways from Zone B. The Terminal 2 arrivals lobby can be accessed from each of the seperate baggage reclaim areas.

Zone C operates from a separate area which is adjacent to Zone B. Barcelona Airport follows the criteria of terminal use by company, regardless of the destination or origin of the flight, so flights may arrive at any of the three terminal zones, A B & C.

If you need to get a taxi from Barcelona Airport you will find the taxi ranks located directly outside each of the Terminal buildings operating on a queue system. The queues tend to move quickly as there are many taxis usually available at any given hour of the day.

If you are planning to catch a bus from Barcelona Airport then the new Terminal 1 building has 15 public transport routes connecting it with T2, the airport Renfe suburban train station, the city of Barcelona, many towns in the province and the cities of Girona, Tarragona and Lleida.

For those wishing to hire a car at Barcelona Airport and arriving at terminal 1, you will find the car hire desks located on the first floor of the terminal building. For those arriving at Terminal 2, head for the Arrivals area in Terminal Zone B where you will find all the corresponding car hire desks. Alternatively, if you have arrived at Terminal Zone C and you are collecting your luggage from there, the car hire desks are located in the baggage reclaim area.

If you are picking someone up at Barcelona Airport or if you are flying out from Barcelona Airport and need to park your car there, you will find that the new Barcelona Airport T1 has two public car parks that offer over 12,000 spaces. The main entrance is from the C-31 motorway. One consists of 9,400 spaces plus an outdoor car park that offers 1,600 spaces with direct access to the terminal and another, long stay car park offering 1,059 spaces 2km away from T1.

Terminal 2 at Barcelona Airport also has approximately 12,000 parking spaces: 2,300 of which are located in the PC car park connected to Terminal Zone C by a walkway bridge on the second floor. 2,600 in the PA car park opposite Terminal Zone A which is also connected by a walkway on level 2 and 7,600 open air parking spaces in car park PA.

The parking tariffs are reasonable with the first hour costing just over 2.00 euros, and a subsequent hourly rate of just over 1.50 euros. The maximum daily rate up to 4 days is 18.00 euros with every other day thereafter costing a maximum of 14.40 euros. Parking for people with reduced mobility is available throughtout all the car parks and VIP parking is also available.

Departures at Barcelona Airport are handled via 5 boarding zones in Terminal 1, these are classed as A, B, C, D and E. Terminal 2 has 6 boarding zones or modules and they are known as M-0, M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4 and M-5. Terminal Zone A consists of Modules 4 and 5 which are used for gates 40 to 59. Terminal Zone B consists of Modules 2 and 3 which are used for gates 20 to 39 and Terminal Zone C consists of modules 0 and 1 which are used for gates 1 to 19.

There is 6 VIP lounges available at Barcelona Airport. Iberia has 2 VIP lounges known as the Gaudi lounge, located in Terminal Zone B and the air shuttle Iberia lounge by Module 1 in Terminal Zone C. The Aena Canudas, Spanair and Airfrance (L'espace) VIP lounges are also located in Terminal Zone B which can be found after the security checkpoint to your right and just behind the Aldeasa duty free shop in Module 3 by gates 30 - 35.The Aena Salvador Dali VIP lounge is located in Terminal Zone A by module 5 and next to gates 50 - 59.

Finally, if you are planning on grabbing a bite to eat, something to drink or doing a bit of shopping at Barcelona Airport then you are literally spoilt for choice in both Terminal buildings and you will find that there is a huge selection of restaurants, cafetrias & bars to choose from as well as a mountain of shops to explore.



The author of this article is Roberto Rodriguez who has lived in Spain for a number of years. He works for Plus Four SL who specialise in writing airport guides including Gerona Airport which contains detailed information on flights to Gerona and Gerona Airport car hire.