Step-by-step guide: Buying tickets to Barcelona sights with a discount

Would you like to buy tickets for Barcelona's most famous attractions online, from the comfort of your home, and still get an interesting discount? In that case, my guide to buying tickets for official tourist e-shop Barcelona Turisme. It is there that you can get an interesting discount on all the main tourist attractions that you will find in Barcelona.

Na official website Barcelona Turisme you will find tickets for almost 300 attractions and monuments

Why buy tickets online?

For me, the main benefits are two: saving money and time:

1. when you buy online, you get an interesting discount - somewhere up to 50% compared to the checkout
2. you will skip the queue and save time and nerves by waiting at the ticket office - it is common that in the season the waiting time to buy a ticket at the biggest monuments can be even more than an hour

In addition, you are also sure that you will get to the souvenir on the day you need it. It is quite common that the number of visitors is limited at the attractions, so if you arrive somewhere in the afternoon, it may well happen that the nearest free "slot" will not be available until the following day. 

My experience: How we (didn't) have to wait when visiting the aquarium

When we were in Barcelona for the first time with the family, we wanted to take the children to local aquarium. So one day we went to the harbor where the aquarium is located. I didn't buy the ticket in advance because I thought that it wouldn't be necessary and that we would solve everything on the spot. I was horribly wrong - when I saw the long line snaking from the registers, I did not like the idea of ​​standing there for an estimated hour with two small children. We preferred to wrap it up and come up with another program.

I bought tickets at the hotel that evening and we went to the aquarium the next day. We skipped the line at the cash registers, went straight inside, where we were checked in in less than a minute. I was glad I saved my nerves in the end :)

Detailed instructions: Buying a ticket step by step

Step 1: Choosing an attraction

You can find it on the official website list of all available attractions in Barcelona, ​​for which you can buy tickets online. Choose one of them, click on it and go to detail.

I chose Cosmocaixa fun science museum see the article.

For an initial purchase, click on the button "Purchase". 

Step 2: Choosing a variant and adding it to the cart

You are now on a page where you can select a ticket option and the date of your visit.

In the case of the Cosmocaixa museum, two options are available - morning and afternoon. At other attractions, however, you will normally see different variants that differ, for example, according to age or what is included in the given ticket.

On this page, select the number of tickets (Units) and, if necessary, select the date of the visit (somewhere the date needs to be entered, somewhere not). I.e. if you want to visit the given monument in two, select in "Units" 2 and then click on "Add to basket" to add items to the cart. 

Step 3: Cart contents

Once you have placed the ticket for the attraction in the basket, you have the option to continue shopping and select more tickets (Continue purchase) or proceed to pay for what you currently have in the basket (Pay through the internet). 

If you decide to continue shopping, you will always find the contents of the basket accessible at the top right - simply click on it and you will see what you have put in there. Once you have tickets for all attractions, click on Pay through the internet and you will continue to the next step.  

Step 4: Information about you

In this step, you fill in information about yourself as a buyer. Enter your name here (Name), last name (Surname), country (Country: Czech Republic), email and phone. In addition, you must fill in the date of arrival (Arrival date) and the number of nights you will spend in the city (Duration of stay). Although these two things are mandatory, they have no connection to the purchased tickets – are purely for the Barcelona Tourist Office's internal statistics. 

You can see the order summary and total price below your details. 

To continue you need to click mandatory consent with terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can optionally subscribe to the newsletter or donate 1 euro to a Barcelona charity. 

Then you proceed to choose a payment method (if you have more than one available): payment by Paypal (Pay with PayPal) or payment by credit card (Pay through the Internet). Choose one of the methods and pay. 

Step 5: Download the voucher

Once you have paid, you are redirected to the confirmation screen, where there is once again a summary of the order and the option to download a voucher to gain entry to the attractions just paid for. On the voucher you have all the necessary information regarding the visit of the selected monument. The voucher will also be sent to your email. 

How do I redeem the voucher I purchased?

Once you have purchased a voucher with entry to the selected attraction or monument, its application is really simple: it is enough to show it when entering the given monument. So it is necessary to have it with you. I personally recommend saving the voucher on your phone, but you can also have it printed on paper. 

You can show your voucher either at the ticket office (e.g. the aforementioned Cosmocaixa), where they will exchange it for a regular ticket, or directly at the entrance to the monument (e.g. the aquarium), when you are allowed straight inside and do not have to wait at the ticket office.

The situation is a little different if you are buying one of the tourist cards like Barcelona Card or Hola Barcelona. You then pick it up at any tourist office Barcelona Turisme. There are several around the city, the best is of course directly at the airport - you can find counters at both airport terminals. They are in operation every day from half past nine in the morning to half past nine in the evening. Card Hola Barcelona can also be picked up at any ticket machine. 

In the case of a card on tourist bus (Bus Turistic) then to get the card, just go to any bus stop and show the voucher to the operator. 

Frequently asked questions about buying tickets online

When does the card start paying? Barcelona Card?
When buying a card Barcelona Card You do not enter the validity date anywhere. This is because you have to write the date from which it starts to pay on the card yourself. You do this the moment you want to start using it. 

When does the card start paying? Hola Barcelona?
Map Hola Barcelona it starts to apply the moment you use it for the first time, i.e. you mark at one of the turnstiles. 

How to combine discounts with tourist cards?
If you have a tourist card that includes discounts on entrances to monuments (e.g. Barcelona Card), unfortunately you will not get this discount when buying online. The system is not (yet) sophisticated enough to offer you discounts by itself when you enter your voucher or card number. If a discount on one of the attractions, e.g Barcelona Card you want, you have to show your card at the ticket office when entering the monument. 

If I have a discount card and entry is free, can I go straight in? 
Yes, with a card containing free admission to monuments (e.g. Barcelona Card) you can go straight in and there is no need to wait at the box office for a ticket. This will save you a lot of time.