Barcelona Bus Turístic: is it reliable, and is it worth it?
Yes. Barcelona Bus Turístic is run by TMB, the public company behind the city's metro and buses, and it is the most frequent tour bus we cover in Spain. The catch is a strict rule: once you buy a ticket there is no refund.
8.6/10
Traveller rating · 8.6/10 across 1,785 reviews
Company details checked on 5 October 2026
Barcelona Bus Turístic at a glance
Founded1987
Head officeBarcelona, Spain
OwnerTransports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), in partnership with Turisme de Barcelona
Average of the ratings on Civitatis for the cities below, weighted by the number of reviews.
Is Barcelona Bus Turístic reliable?
Who is behind it
The operator is Transports de Barcelona, SA, part of TMB, which is publicly owned and runs Barcelona's metro and city buses.
Turisme de Barcelona is the partner on the tourism side.
There is no franchise and no outside investor between you and the company that drives the bus.
Invoices and customer queries go to TMB's customer address, clientstmb@tmb.cat.
Refunds and cancellation
The general conditions are blunt: refunds cannot be made once a ticket has been purchased.
Lost or stolen tickets are not replaced or refunded.
A booking does not have to be used on a fixed day, but it expires, and the conditions give 90 calendar days from purchase while the store has shown a longer period.
Go by the date on your own voucher.
When something goes wrong
Stops are cancelled or moved for roadworks and events.
On 4 October 2026 the operator listed three affected stops: Estació de Sants cancelled, Torre Glòries relocated and Futbol Club Barcelona out of service.
The conditions exclude liability for changes caused by events outside its control and say staff and tourist offices will tell passengers about altered timetables.
Complaint forms are carried on the buses, and you can also write to TMB.
What to expect on the day
A bus comes every 10 to 25 minutes on both routes, and each full loop takes about 2 hours.
The first bus leaves at 09:00 and the last at 19:00.
Commentary is an audio guide through headphones in 16 languages, and the buses have a wheelchair ramp.
On 4 October 2026 Estació de Sants was cancelled, Torre Glòries had been relocated to Carrer de Badajoz 160 and Futbol Club Barcelona was out of service.
The table below shows how travellers rate it in each city.
Good at
Run by the city's public transport company, with nothing hidden about who is responsible.
A bus every 10 to 25 minutes on both routes, all year.
Audio guide in 16 languages and a wheelchair ramp on the buses.
Service notices posted stop by stop on the route pages.
Watch out for
No refunds after purchase, for any reason listed in the conditions.
Tickets count calendar days, not hours from first use. A one-day ticket ends with that day's service.
Barcelona City Tour looks similar and is a different company. Its tickets are not valid here.
Last buses leave Plaça de Catalunya at 19:00, early for a summer evening.
Barcelona Bus Turístic, city by city
The same company can be worth the ticket in one city and a poor deal in the next. These are the cities we have checked.
Barcelona Bus Turístic has been running since 1987.
It is a joint service of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the city's main public transport operator, and Turisme de Barcelona, the tourism body set up by the city council and the chamber of commerce.
The company named in its conditions is Transports de Barcelona, SA, the bus arm of TMB.
TMB runs the buses itself, with its own drivers and depots, and sells tickets through its Hola Barcelona store, on board and at tourist offices.
That makes this a public service with a tourist fare and not a private brand.
It describes itself as the only tour bus endorsed by both bodies.
It operates in Barcelona only, on two daytime routes with a shared ticket.
A second, private company, Barcelona City Tour, runs green and orange routes in the same streets.
The two do not accept each other's tickets, so check the colour of the bus before you board.
How Barcelona Bus Turístic tickets work
There are two tickets, sold as 24 and 48 hours, and one ticket covers both the Blue and Red routes. The conditions define them by calendar day: a one-day ticket is valid until the end of service on the day you first use it, and the two-day ticket covers two consecutive days. Start in the morning to get the full value.
The cheapest place to buy is TMB's own Hola Barcelona store online, which is about 10% under the price on the bus or at the Plaça de Catalunya shop. Over 65s get a reduced rate. The Night Tour and the Christmas Tour are separate tickets and are not hop-on hop-off.
There is no 72-hour ticket and no bundle with the metro. If you also want public transport, the Hola Barcelona travel card is sold in the same store.
Barcelona Bus Turístic: quick answers
Is Barcelona Bus Turístic the official tour bus?
Yes. It is run by TMB, the city's public transport company, with Turisme de Barcelona, and has operated since 1987.
Can I get a refund on a Barcelona Bus Turístic ticket?
No. The general conditions say refunds cannot be made once a ticket has been purchased, and lost tickets are not replaced.
Is Barcelona Bus Turístic the same as Barcelona City Tour?
No. Barcelona City Tour is a private company with green and orange routes. Each company accepts only its own tickets.
Is the ticket valid for 24 hours from first use?
Not according to the conditions. The one-day ticket is valid until the end of service on the day you use it, and the two-day ticket covers two consecutive calendar days.
How do I complain about Barcelona Bus Turístic?
Ask for a complaint form on the bus or write to TMB customer service at clientstmb@tmb.cat with your ticket details.
Sources
Read on 5 October 2026. Timetables and prices change with the season, so check the operator's page before you travel.
Yes, Big Bus Tours is a real and long-established company, and the bus you paid for will be there. How good it is depends on the city: the service is frequent in Edinburgh and London and thin in New York and Dublin, and getting money back after you activate a ticket is hard.
The brand is genuine and has been around since 1999, but City Sightseeing does not run your bus. A local company does, so quality, refund rules and the place to complain change from city to city.
Yes. Madrid City Tour is the city's official tour bus, run by two of Spain's largest coach and tour companies, and its cancellation terms are better than most. Route 1 is frequent, while Routes 2 and 3 can leave you waiting 35 minutes.
Yes. Münchener Stadtrundfahrten is an old Munich company that runs the buses itself, and the same buses are sold under the Gray Line and Big Bus names. Check the cancellation terms before you book, because its published terms charge a fee that rises as the date gets closer.
Yes. Sights of Athens is a licensed Greek tour company that runs its own blue buses, and its cancellation rule is clear: free up to 24 hours before. The city loop is frequent, while the Piraeus and beach lines run only six times a day.
Yes. Tootbus belongs to RATP Dev, part of the group that runs the Paris metro, and its refund rule is one of the clearer ones: free up to 24 hours before the tour date. In Brussels the weak point is frequency, above all on the Atomium shuttle.
Yes. Yellow Bus belongs to Carris, the public company that runs Lisbon's buses and trams, so you are dealing with a transport operator and not a reseller. The weak point is frequency: in Lisbon a bus comes every 40 minutes.