Barcelona Hop On Off Bus / Shuttle from Port ?

[Bevi65]

Hi Everyone ,

 

With regards to HOHO bus in Barcelona , how easy is it to get a seat on one? As the ship has thousands on board , I imagine many passengers would have the same idea .

 

Apart from HOHO, is there any other type of shuttles for the city centre?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Huntingdon1701]

You can usually get a seat, but it can be much harder to get one up top. At peak times there will be a rush that will fill up the first few buses, so you might want to stagger your disembarkation time.

 

There will be a port shuttle bus to the Columbus' column, and from there you can walk up Las Ramblas. At the top is placa catalunya, where both HOHO buses start, and you might find it easier to get a good seat there.

 

It's not far, or very expensive, to the city centre in a taxi either. If I were doing Barcelona again, I might get a taxi to montjuic and see the castle/cable car and get on the HOHO there - as that's the first stop where lots of people get off the bus; so if you're first on the queue to get back on, you can get good seats up top.

[Bevi65]

Thanks so much, that helps alot.☺

[hancogran]

We did the HOHO bus last week in Barcelona and usually had no problem finding a seat. The only exception was when we got off at Sagrada Familia, it was about an hour wait in line to get back on the bus. The buses came frequently but there was only room for so many passengers at a time... the line moved slowly. I guess it's because it was one of the more popular stops. It's a great way to see the city though.

[Pixiemom2]

We were wondering if there was a near the Sagrada Familia on the Hop on/off bus. We have tickets early so would it be a good idea to take a taxi there and then do the HOHO bus? Does the bus stop near the cruise dock (on RCL Symphony)?

[Huntingdon1701]

Yes, the stop is immediately outside.

 

There is also a stop by the cruise port, but sagrada familia is almost two hours away if you get on there. So your suggestion of a taxi to Sagrada Familia and then hoho back to the port makes sense.

[Bobal]

Yes, the stop is immediately outside.

 

There is also a stop by the cruise port, but sagrada familia is almost two hours away if you get on there. So your suggestion of a taxi to Sagrada Familia and then hoho back to the port makes sense.

 

This is only the case if you are cruising from the small terminal at the World Trade Centre. Since the OP mentions thousands of people onboard this will not be the case and they will have to catch a port bus from the larger cruise terminal and then board the HOHO bus near the Colon monument or indeed at the World Trade Centre.

[Huntingdon1701]

Which is very straightforward.

[John Bull]

Yes, the stop is immediately outside.

 

There is also a stop by the cruise port, but sagrada familia is almost two hours away if you get on there. So your suggestion of a taxi to Sagrada Familia and then hoho back to the port makes sense.

 

 

Just to clarify........

 

The port is huge, ho-ho buses don't go into the port.

It's permitted to walk out of the port - whether that's practical depends on the location of your ship.

Our ship didn't seem far from the port gate - big mistake, it took ages to walk & at the end of the day we took the port shuttle back to our ship.

It's a payable shuttle, but only a few euros.

 

The shuttle drop-point is not far beyond the port gate, close to the afore-mentioned Columbus monument and Trade Centre - ho-ho buses stop at the Trade Centre. No different to the few small ships which berth at the Trade Centre, other than the need for the port shuttle.

We didn't experience a line there, and found good seats upstairs - just our experience, I don't know whether it's typical.

 

There are several ho-ho routes and, importantly for you, that route doesn't go to Sagrada Familia.

You need to switch buses at (?) Placa Catalunya (?), and that's where the grief begins. Hence Huntingdon's "almost two hours .... from the port" , though they were perhaps unluckier than most.

 

The number of cruise ships in on a particular day isn't very relevant, there are tens of thousands of other tourists in the city.

Lines at (?) Placa Catalunya for the ho-ho route to Sagrada Familia were long, so we walked from there.

Leaving SF, the line was even longer though when a bus was at the stop there was almost always another waiting to take its place. The operators weren't being mean with the number of buses, the problem is the sheer number of tourists.

One thing we found - don't know whether it's standard policy - at each stop nobody was allowed to board until those leaving the bus had alighted and folk on the lower deck were given time to go upstairs to the vacated seats.

So we had to take a seat downstairs, but were able to move upstairs a couple of stops later. A very fair way of doing it.

 

But if you want to get to Sagrada Familia quickly, best do so by other means.

I think it's fairly easy by metro (just one change of train?), or by taxi.

 

The ho-ho is great to do a tour of the city, but if it's busy it's no good for hop-on hop-off to spend time at different sites.

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB :)

[wheezedr]

The HOHO was great for getting a first feel of Barcelona when we land toured years ago. It would not be my means of getting to the Sagrada. As noted you will need the port shuttle to the entrance. From there a taxi will always work, but other than feet, my favorite transport around Barcelona is the Metro. It is quick, trains are frequent and for the Sagrada Familia it stops right outside the door.