Europe is one of the costliest places in the world. Keeping expenses down is not an easy task to perform. I am traveling to three countries & already a bit confused about how to keep cost low. I was searching for tips & hacks & found an article on city cards. Most of the major cities in Europe offers city cards. These have various benefits like free transport & free entry to museums. I have bought Barcelona City Card for Barcelona trip through Barcelona.de.
The benefits of city card are immense. From getting free local transport to free entries to certain attraction. It is best for a budget traveler. The cost involved in the same is also minimum. For 5 days, city card one needs to pay somewhere around 60 euros. Further, there are also options for 2, 3 & 4 days. So depending upon the requirement you can buy a city card.
I chose Barcelona city card through Barcelona.de as they were offering best services. The number of museums covered in their card is good enough for 4 to 5 days. Also, free transport service is an added bonus while traveling outside. They are in business from 1997 thus shows how trusted they are in this market.
Benefits of having a Barcelona city card is as follows:
Free admissions to 25 unique sites
Discounts for over further 85 museums, cultural institutions, leisure activities, shops, pubs and restaurants.
Free use of public transport, i.e. metro and urban buses, trams, trains and Montjuïc Funicular and FGC in zone 1 (total urban area).
Free train ride and free use of bus 46 from the airport into the city center and back.
Booklet with a city map, metro plan and brief descriptions of the institutions where you get discounts.
The Barcelona Card is available for 3, 4 or 5 consecutive days (72, 96 and 120 hours from the first use). For 2 days (48 hours) you can book the Barcelona Card Express.
Further, the booking process is very simple one is just need to apply online & receive the mail of the confirmation. Also, the cancellation procedure is also there so in case there is some last minute changes in the plan, one can cancel the card with no extra charge. The validity of card is for full year. Thus, it can be returned at any point of time during that whole year.
There are two modes to get the card one is by picking it up from their offices & other is through shipping. However, there is shipping charges involved. So, until & unless you are no short period or any emergency it is better to pick up the card from the authorized centers.
Barcelon.de not only offers city cards but also offers small tours for those who are interested in guided tours. There are many offerings like walking tour, barcelona pastry tours, guided tour to picasso etc. This website is extremly valuable for the people traveling to Barcelona for the first time.
I booked my city card through this website only. The complete information about the place helped me to plan my tour in a better way.
Here is the link to the website