Cheap flights to Barcelona – flying within Europe

With a number of no-frills airlines offering a numerous daily flights to Barcelona and other airports in Catalonia, you’d think that it was a simple matter to find a cheap flight to Barcelona. However, if budget is vital then you should spend some time planning and researching your trip to ensure you get the cheapest flight possible.

It’s all in the timing

First of all, consider when you will be travelling. If you are flexible on when your trip takes place then you’ll find cheaper airfares if you avoid public holidays in your departure country – i.e. if you’re leaving from the UK then avoid UK holidays, peak travel times such as Christmas and Easter, as well as the first and last weekend of August due to the enormous number of travellers headed to and from their summer holiday.

In addition to avoiding the peak travel days during the year, it is also worthwhile remembering that the same thing happens during the week. Friday and Sunday are particularly busy and therefore more expensive, while midweek flights, or those departing early or late are much cheaper.

The lesson is clear – if you are able and prepared to be flexible about when you travel you’ll find cheaper flights to Barcelona.

Book well in advance

When the no-frills airlines were launched in the 1990s they revolutionised our expectations of how much we expect to pay for a flight. EasyJet was the first to popularise the route from the UK to Barcelona by offering ridiculously low fares to reward travellers who booked early, while the more tickets sold the higher the fare.

The no-frills airlines became so popular with this strategy that they took a good chunk of business from the traditional airlines such as British Airways and Iberia. Eventually they responded by cutting their own prices and today you may find that they offer better prices than the no-frills airlines once they have sold their cheaper seats, so it is still worthwhile comparing the prices to find a bargain. With EasyJet you don’t even get an allocated seat, so if that is important to you and the price difference is minimal then you may as well opt for comfort.

When Barcelona airport is not what it seems

While most airlines are straightforward about where they fly, it does annoy me that Ryanair doesn’t fly to Barcelona Airport and advertises its flights to “Barcelona Girona” and “Barcelona Reus”, which I’m amazed they have been allowed to get away with.

For a start, neither airport serves Barcelona directly; secondly, neither is even in the province of Barcelona; and lastly the names of the airports in English “Girona-Costa Brava Airport” and “Reus Airport” – no mention of Barcelona.

Both Girona and Reus airports are approximately 100 km from Barcelona and so you need to factor in the additional time and cost, although there are cheap bus services from both Girona and Reus specifically laid on for Ryanair passengers – listen for any announcement about bus tickets n your flight. The journey time depends on motorway traffic, but should take 90 minutes to two hours and takes you to central Barcelona.

Essential links

Below is an essential list links to websites you should use to compare flight prices to Barcelona in order to get the best deal.

Opodo

Compare cheap flights to Barcelona from a variety of airlines, including British Airways and Iberia. Simply enter your departure and destination airports and you’ll be presented with a variety of flights.

EasyJet

EasyJet has excellent European coverage and was the company that pioneered cheap flights to Barcelona when it launched in the 1990s. It’s big advantage is that it flies into Barcelona Airport (BCN) and so transfer to the city is quick and straightforward.

Ryanair

Ryanair flights to Girona (GRO) and Reus (REU) airports and has been aggressive about cutting the cost of flights to the bone. It has a reputation for offering free or extremely low cost – i.e. less than a euro – but when taxes and other expenses are added the price isn’t as good as the headline price suggests. However, you can get extremely good deals on Ryanair but they do not use major airports, one of the ways in which they have been able to slash their costs.

Vueling

Vueling is a Catalan airline based at Barcelona Airport with a high reputation for service. It flies between locations throughout Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Belgium.

Monarch

Monarch offers a service from Manchester to Barcelona.

Jet2

Jet2 flies to Barcelona from Leeds Bradford.

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