Barcelona - Hop On Hop Off Bus

[English_in_Spain]

Hi there (I posted a new thread before realizing this is where you ask the HOHO questions, sorry),

 

My hotel stay includes Bus Turistic tickets. We are staying at the Eric Vokel Gran Via. Placa Espanya is the closest HOHO stop. Do you think it is possible to find seats for 7 at this stop in the morning around 10am? Placa Espanya looks to be one of the earlier stops on the HOHO route and I'm concerned that we will end up just watching buses go by.

 

Other than Placa Catalunya, where is the best place to get on the HOHO without crowds?

 

We are visiting in 3 weeks,at the end of May. I'd like to time it so that we're not waiting in a crazy line just to get on the bus. We plan on staying on for the entire loop until the Gothic Quarter.

 

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

Rather than getting on the HoHo bus at Espanya, my advice would be to get the metro from Rocafort (about 100 yards from your apartments) to Hostafrancs (2 stops on line L1). This is the bus stop before Espanya and is likely to be much less crowded.

 

If you come out of the metro by the Carrer de la Creu Coberta exit by the market ‘Mercat d’Hostafrancs' just there (slightly to the right) you will see the HoHo bus stop

 

 

[MaddieEms]

Hi Carol,

 

Wow, you are amazing. That helps so much. Our goal was to avoid Placa Catalunya in the morning to avoid the crowds and I think this will help out so much.

 

If I get off at Hostafrancs, which stop on the Red route am I getting on?

 

Thanks!

 

http://www.barcelonabusturistic.cat/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=c6766281-d42e-41b8-8c4a-75ba9768da5c&groupId=10136

 

Just a second consideration ---- Do you think that the stop at MNAC might be even less crowded since people might be getting off at MNAC? If I decide to use the MNAC stop as a back up, which metro stop am I getting off at? And would you have a picture of the Bus Turistic stop near the MNAC? Thanks!

[MaddieEms]

Sorry, two more questions (in addition to the above). If we end up going to Placa Catalunya in the morning and the line is TOO long, I was thinking of walking down to the Cathedral and starting in the Gothic Quarter.

 

(1) Is the Bus Turistic stop for the Cathedral on Via Laietana? If so, do you know where the stop is here? Thanks again!

 

(2) Since this stop looks to be close to the end of the full loop, will buses pick up here at 10am? Or much later? Thanks!!

[English_in_Spain]

Hi Carol,

 

Wow, you are amazing. That helps so much. Our goal was to avoid Placa Catalunya in the morning to avoid the crowds and I think this will help out so much.

 

If I get off at Hostafrancs, which stop on the Red route am I getting on?

 

Thanks!

 

http://www.barcelonabusturistic.cat/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=c6766281-d42e-41b8-8c4a-75ba9768da5c&groupId=10136

 

Just a second consideration ---- Do you think that the stop at MNAC might be even less crowded since people might be getting off at MNAC? If I decide to use the MNAC stop as a back up, which metro stop am I getting off at? And would you have a picture of the Bus Turistic stop near the MNAC? Thanks!

 

The HoHo stop at Hostafrancs is called Creu Coberta. It is the stop before Plaça d'Espanya.

 

I would not recommend MNAC as there are no metro stations near there.

 

[MaddieEms]

Hi Carol,

 

We got back in mid-June and I wanted to thank you for all your help in planning the Barcelona portion.

 

Our hotel ended up giving us the Red bus tickets rather than the Blue which worked out better. The red always had WAY less people waiting and boarding.

 

On our 1st day, we boarded at Placa Espanya as it was the closest to our hotel. A major concern I had prior to the trip was how to find the bus stop. Well that was dumb :D

 

Both the blue and red bus HOHO stops were easy to find. For anyone else who might be interested:

 

(1) The Bus Turistic (blue) bus HOHO stop at Placa Espanya is located at 2:00 o'clock of the traffic circle if you are facing the MNAC. It is right next to the metro exit coming up out of the metros. When you come up out of the metro exit, look left and there it is.

 

(2) The Red Grayline bus HOHO stop at Placa Espanya is located at 11:00 o'clock if facing the MNAC. However, the bus is going away from the MNAC. To reach this stop, you must cross the street with the MNAC to your right and the traffic circle to your left. Turn right after crossing the street and the bus stop is right there.

 

I was also concerned about not getting a bus due to crowds. We arrived at 10am and it was not crowded at all. It was, however, very crowded to get on at Placa Catalunya and so we were glad we caught the bus earlier.

 

At the Cathedral, the red bus' HOHO stop is across the street from Burger King and right next to the bank, just outside the Cathedral Square on Via Laietana. If the Cathedral Square is behind you, go left on Via Laietana and you'll see it just around the corner with the Burger King straight across the street.

 

HTH other people!

[goldiegaylee]

Does anyone know the name of the stop closest to Barcelona Hilton,

Avenida Diagonal 589-591 for the Red HOHO bus ?

Thanks, Dan

[Courier95]

Does anyone know the name of the stop closest to Barcelona Hilton,

Avenida Diagonal 589-591 for the Red HOHO bus ?

Thanks, Dan

 

We have a map of the HOHO routes as we have recently returned from Barcelona where we used the red HOHO bus. From the map it looks as if stop No 15 L'illa Diagonal, on the West Route is virtually on the hotel doorstep. We found that we never had long to wait for a bus to come at any stop and were pleased we used them.

[goldiegaylee]

We have a map of the HOHO routes as we have recently returned from Barcelona where we used the red HOHO bus. From the map it looks as if stop No 15 L'illa Diagonal, on the West Route is virtually on the hotel doorstep. We found that we never had long to wait for a bus to come at any stop and were pleased we used them.

Thank you so much ! Glad to hear there was never a long wait, we do plan to use them. Dan

[onevacationlover]

Back to Barcelona, so I need to check out the current prices...:)