Travelling to Barcelona for the Football

• Dave is an avid Football fan and has been a Manchester United Season ticket holder for many years, traveling all over Europe to see some incredible European matches. He wrote this piece for the blog.

Camp Nou (which translates as ‘The New Stadium’) is the largest stadium in Europe, with an impressive 98,000 seating capacity. It really is a spectacular stadium and one that any football enthusiast will want to visit at least once.

Watching football at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou (often referred to as Nou Camp) is on every football fans bucket list and if you’re lucky enough to visit as an away fan for a football trip, the experience is even more exciting.

Having now done this trip twice, I’ve put together this mini guide to provide some useful information for those looking to make a similar pilgrimage to this great footballing city and stadium.

Getting to the city from the airport (Barcelona El Prat)

Look no further than the Aerobus – https://aerobusbarcelona.es/?lang=en

They’ve expanded their operations in recent years and their buses now travel to and from the city 24/7, 365 days a year so they are definitely the best way to get to the centre of the catalan capital. From early morning to late in the evening, they go every 5 minutes, then every 10 minutes up until midnight, and every 20 minutes in the early hours.

There are modern ticket machines at each stop, all in a variety of languages where you can buy your tickets. Currently, as of 2023, a single fare is 6.75 euros whilst a return is 11.65 euros. For a return, you simply keep the paper ticket and it’s scanned by the driver when you make your return trip. Return tickets are valid for 90 days from the day you make your outbound journey and children under 4 travel free.

Journey time is around 30 minutes and it makes a few stops but the last stop is Placa de Catalunya, which is the central plaza in Barcelona and right on the famous La Rambla. On the way back, be mindful there are two lines – A1 and A2. A1 goes back to Terminal 1 and A2 goes back to Terminal 2. Most flights from the UK will fly into and out of Terminal 1.

Where to stay

Clearly, there are many places to stay in Barcelona, but if you’re coming for the football then one of the best places to stay is around Placa de Catalunya, in the centre of Barcelona. Here you can access the stadium easily and it’s generally where most away fans congregate on the day of the match.

On my last visit, I stayed at a small hotel on Placa de Catalunya called Hotel Monegal. Nothing special, but very good value at around £50 for a night and had a bed, shower, and free wifi plus a couple of free bottles of water. Less than a minute’s walk from the Aerobus terminal and the metro which will take you to the stadium. There are however plenty of youth hostels, airbnbs and more luxury hotels in the area too.

Where do the away fans meet up?

You’ll likely have some free time during your visit. You’ll find away fans scattered around the city on the days when there are football matches, but most seem to congregate at Placa Reial which is a little plaza off Las Ramblas – 10 minutes walk south from Placa de Catalunya.

There are lots of vendors walking around with packs of beer that they sell for a euro or two per can but there are also plenty of shops on La Rambla where you can buy drinks.

Placa Reial is a charming little plaza with lots of restaurants but it can get very rowdy on a matchday so avoid it if you would prefer somewhere quieter!

Other areas of Barcelona are also accessible, such as La Sagrada Familia, the Camp Nou Museum or the Picasso Museum. Barcelona is a fantastic City so you could even extend your trip to allow more time to explore.

How to get to the stadium?

From the city centre, you can simply jump on line L3 which runs the length of La Rambla. Trains heading towards Zona Universitària are travelling in the right direction for those going to Camp Nou.

Les Corts and Palau Reial are both on Line 3 and are 10 minute’s walk to the stadium. Match stewards and police will guide away fans in the right direction from the stations.

As a tip, get your metro tickets during the day as the metro stations are very busy on matchdays. Just go into one of the many metro stations and find a ticket machine. The machines display information in multiple languages and you can purchase 2 single tickets at around 2.4 euros each.

You’ll then have a ticket for both getting to the stadium and coming back. After the match, the ticket machines will have very long queues so it’s much better to get your return ticket earlier in the day.

It is possible to walk back to the city centre. I did this on my first visit and it took about an hour and only involves a couple of roads.

I made a short video of my recent trip, I had a great time, so click on the link below to see what to expect:

Fancy exploring the surrounding Costa Brava while you are there? Then check out 5 of the Best Beaches on the Costa Brava here. We spent a month here in August 2022 so researched the beaches throroughly!

Did you know I am a qualified Independent Travel Agent and can book your hotels, flights, villas, cruises, and more? Contact me at beckyscholestravel@outlook.com for a no-obligation quote!