Barcelona’s train stations

There are currently two main train stations in Barcelona – one of them the functional, 1970s designed suburban sprawl of Barcelona Sants and the other the altogether more impressive Estació de França.

The Estació de França, in fact, is worth visiting in its own right – whether or not you want to make a train journey. Originally built in the 19th century for trains arriving from, as you might guess, France, it was completely revamped for the 1929 International Exhibition. It is a stunning piece of architecture, with two huge curving ‘sheds’ in a U shape around the railway lines, with a superb vaulted concourse and an unsurpassable marble floor. A mix of classical and modern styling, it pays its due homage to the modernista and art déco styles of its age and contains some highly impressive bronze, crystal and marble decorative elements. The whole place just oozes style. If you visit the Parc de la Ciutadella, it’s well worth just popping in to the Estació França, just for a look. The nearest Metro to the station is at Barceloneta.

Until the development of Barcelona Sants and the building of the east to west railway line through the city, this was Barcelona’s main station and even now is a starting point for express trains to Madrid and Valencia, as well as other Spanish destinations. Some overnight trains to France still begin from here, some long-distance international trains and so does the Aerobús, A1. The new Estació de la Sagrera, being built to cater mainly for the increase in AVE traffic, is likely to diminish the importance of the station further, though – but at least that has been designed by Frank Gehry, designer of the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

From an architectural point of view Barcelona Sants is fairly hideous, but no-one could ever say it wasn’t functionally successful. Built in the 1970s, you would probably say it was in Airport terminal style and has plenty of facilities – a tourist office, lots and lots of shops, newsagents and chemists – and its very own MacDonalds. But perhaps the best feature has always been the Barceló hotel situated directly above the station, which is enormously useful and convenient – words that sum up the station itself, I suppose.

Barcelona Sants was re-vamped somewhat in 2008 to cater for the new high speed AVE service and has a new ticket office and there are rail routes here now to just about all the national rail stations and France and Portugal. The Sants Metro stop is underneath the main station and Blue Line (5) and Green Line (3) both stop there. It’s not the same sensation getting out of a train here as it is at França – but that’s just me being an incurable romantic.

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