Barcelona passes compared

by the barcelonageek editorial team • Updated 14 June 2026 • How we research

Four products get called "the Barcelona pass", and they solve completely different problems. One is transport only. One adds museum discounts. One bundles big paid attractions. One is for art museums. Most visitors need none of them. This page sorts out which pass, if any, fits your trip, and flags the catch nobody mentions: the Sagrada Família and Park Güell are not in the headline city cards.

Our decision tree

Most visitors should buy no pass at all: a 10-trip T-casual transit ticket plus the individual attraction tickets you actually want is the default winner for a relaxed trip. Buy a pass only when a clear case below matches yours.

Hola Barcelona if you will ride public transport a lot, every day, and want the airport metro covered. Transport only, no discounts.
Barcelona Card only if you will ride transport heavily and visit enough of its free-entry museums to clear the price. It does not include the Sagrada Família or Park Güell.
Go City only if you are cramming several big paid attractions into a few days. It does include the Sagrada Família and Park Güell, so the maths can work, but you have to move fast.
Articket BCN if you are an art-museum person doing three or more of the city's six major galleries.

What each one covers, in one line

The four passes at a glance

Hola Barcelona: Transport only: unlimited metro, bus, tram and the airport metro (L9 Sud) for 48 to 120 hours. No attractions, no discounts.
Barcelona Card: Transport plus free entry to around 25 museums and attractions, plus discounts, for 3 to 5 days. No Sagrada Família or Park Güell.
Barcelona Card Express: The 2-day version: transport plus discounts only, with no free museum entry.
Go City: Attractions only, no transport. All-Inclusive (unlimited within N days) or Explorer (pick a number). Includes the Sagrada Família and Park Güell.
Articket BCN: Six art museums on one ticket (MNAC, Picasso, MACBA, Miró, CCCB, Tàpies), valid a year, fast-track entry. No transport.
The Sagrada / Park Güell catch: Of the headline cards, only Go City covers both. The Barcelona Card does not; book those two separately or via the All-in upgrade.

Hola Barcelona: who it suits

The Hola Barcelona travel card is unlimited public transport and nothing else. It runs for 48, 72, 96 or 120 hours of continuous use and, the part that earns its keep, it covers the airport metro (line L9 Sud) to and from BCN, where a single ticket carries a hefty airport supplement. It does not give you a cent off any museum. It suits a visitor who will genuinely ride the metro and bus many times a day, every day, and who arrives or leaves on the airport metro. If your days are mostly walking the old town with the odd metro hop, a 10-trip T-casual is cheaper. We pull the head-to-head with the Barcelona Card apart in Hola Barcelona vs Barcelona Card.

Barcelona Card: who it suits

The Barcelona Card is the official Barcelona Turisme card: it bundles the same unlimited transport as Hola Barcelona with free entry to around 25 museums and attractions, plus a sheaf of discounts, over 3, 4 or 5 days. There is also a 2-day Barcelona Card Express, but that one drops the free museum entry and keeps only transport and discounts, so treat it as a transport card. The catch on the full card is the one most people miss: confirm current inclusions, but the standard card does not include the Sagrada Família or Park Güell, the two sites most visitors actually came for. It pays off only if you will both lean on the transport and visit enough of the included museums to clear its price. Our worked savings example lives on the is the Barcelona Card worth it page.

Go City: who it suits

Go City is an attractions pass with no transport, sold as two products. The All-Inclusive pass gives unlimited entry to 40-plus attractions within a set number of days; the Explorer pass lets you pick a fixed number from the list and use them over a longer window. Unlike the Barcelona Card, Go City does include the headline names: the Sagrada Família and Park Güell (as hosted or guided entries), Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, the hop-on bus and the Camp Nou tour among them. That is why the maths can land in its favour, but only if you cram: you have to visit several paid attractions per day to beat buying each ticket. For a relaxed pace it loses. The break-even and a worked example are in our Go City Barcelona review. If you have already priced your list and the pass wins, you can see Go City inclusions and current prices.

Articket BCN: the art-only alternative

If your trip is really about art rather than ticking off Gaudí, Articket BCN is the one to know. A single ticket covers six major galleries, the MNAC, the Picasso Museum, MACBA, the Fundació Joan Miró, the CCCB and the Fundació Tàpies, with fast-track entry and a full year to use it. It carries no transport and no Gaudí sites. Do three or more of those six museums and it pays for itself against individual entries; do one or two and it does not.

Which one for which traveller

Picture a few honest profiles. The relaxed three-day couple doing the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and one museum at a gentle pace should buy no pass: individual timed tickets plus a T-casual win every time, because the cards either exclude those two Gaudí sites or need you to rush. The fast-moving sightseer with two or three days and a long hit-list of paid attractions is the one traveller for whom Go City can pay, since it folds the Sagrada Família and Park Güell into the bundle. The transport-heavy visitor who is out on the metro from dawn, especially staying far from the centre and using the airport metro, wants Hola Barcelona for the transport alone. The museum lover splits two ways: Articket BCN if it is the art galleries, the Barcelona Card if it is the broader museum-and-monument set plus transport, and only after checking the included list against what you will really visit. When in doubt, add up your real list against the pass price; if it does not clearly win, skip it.

Top-rated Barcelona experiences

If you decide against a pass, here are individually bookable Barcelona tours and tickets with free cancellation, so you only pay for what you will actually do.

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We earn a commission when you book through Viator; the price you pay is the same. Prices and ratings are checked on a schedule and may have changed.

How we checked this

Pass structures reflect how Hola Barcelona, the Barcelona Card and Card Express, Go City and Articket BCN are sold as of June 2026, including the Sagrada Família and Park Güell exclusion on the standard Barcelona Card and their inclusion on Go City. Exact prices and included lists change each season, so confirm current inclusions and run your own list before buying. We re-check periodically.

Verified14 June 2026 · the barcelonageek editorial team

Common questions

Which Barcelona pass is best?

For most visitors, none: a T-casual transit ticket plus individual attraction tickets wins. Hola Barcelona suits heavy transport users, the Barcelona Card suits people who will use both its transport and enough included museums, Go City suits fast sightseers cramming paid attractions, and Articket BCN suits art-museum visitors.

Is Go City better than the Barcelona Card?

They do different jobs. Go City is attractions only and includes the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, so it can win if you cram several paid sites into a few days. The Barcelona Card is transport plus museum entry but does not include those two Gaudi sites. Pick by what you will actually do.

Do any Barcelona passes include the Sagrada Familia?

Go City does, as a hosted or guided entry, and so does the Barcelona Card All-in upgrade. The standard Barcelona Card does not include the Sagrada Familia or Park Guell, so confirm current inclusion and book those two separately if you choose that card.

What is the difference between Hola Barcelona and the Barcelona Card?

Hola Barcelona is unlimited public transport only, including the airport metro. The Barcelona Card adds free or discounted museum and attraction entry on top of transport, for a higher price.

Is the Barcelona Card Express worth it?

Only as a transport card. The 2-day Express keeps the unlimited transport and the discounts but drops the free museum entry of the full card, so it competes with Hola Barcelona and a T-casual rather than with the full Barcelona Card.

Keep planning

Passes