Barcelona’s El Prat airport is the second largest in Spain, right after Madrid’s Barajas Airport. It’s also one of the busiest in the world and the main air hub of Catalonia.
The airport is mainly served by domestic and European flights from major cities, as well as several North African and Middle Eastern destinations. Vueling, the Spanish low cast airline, has its main base at El Prat, with other major airlines frequenting the runways on a daily basis.
Location
Located just 13km to the south west of Barcelona’s bustling city centre, El Prat is really easy to reach with plenty of public transport options heading there regularly throughout the day. It’s the nearest airport to the city as well as the busiest, receiving more than 30 millions travellers every single year.
If you’re visiting Barcelona or any of the major cities and towns in Catalonia, this is the airport to go to. There are even high speed trains between Barcelona and Madrid which take 2 hours and 30 minutes. They were introduced to minimize the oversubscribed domestic flights that travel the same route.
Terminals at Barcelona El Prat Airport
Barcelona’s airport has two terminals situated about 10 to 15 minutes apart by shuttle bus. The green buses leave from outside terminal 2 regularly to take travellers to terminal 1 and vice versa.
Terminal 1 (T1)
Terminal 1 was opened in 2009 and is now the fifth largest terminal in the entire world. Situated to the west of the airport, it is the main take off point for Vueling domestic and intercontinental flights. It was designed by Ricardo Bofill to take pressure off the ever growing numbers travelling from Terminal 2.
Terminal 2 (T2)
Terminal 2 is the original terminal at the airport, dating back to 1968. It’s made up of three separate buildings, T2A, T2B, and T2C. Terminals 2A and 2C were introduced to cater to the demand for the 1992 summer Olympics held in Barcelona. Today, T2C is dedicated solely to Easyjet flights, whilst other low cost and international carriers travel from T2B.
The expansion was also designed by Ricardo Bofill, but after Terminal 1 opened, Terminal 2 became almost empty – so empty, in fact, that T2A is no longer in use.
As of 2014, both terminals together have 268 check-in counters and 64 boarding gates.
Services and Amenities
Barcelona’s El Prat Airport is a modern facility with plenty of services and amenities for passengers to enjoy. As well as a forecourt filled with restaurants and cafes, there are also several places to store baggage, ATMs, and thousands of parking spaces.
Navigating the airport is really easy thanks to the simple, colour coded signage and designated walkway areas. As well as a train shuttle that travels to Barcelona’s central Sants station every half an hour, there are buses from T1 and T2 that travel directly into the city centre. There is a bus station, too, which has regular services to hotspots around Catalonia, particularly in the summer to shuttle passengers to the popular seaside resorts.
