Barcelona commuting suggestions

[Martin_Edney]

My work is sending to me to Barcelona for a week, and I'll be in a hotel about 3 miles from where I'll be working. Linking the two is a great looking bike track, so I thought I'd use the city's bike sharing system Bicing - all looks ideal.

One major problem, Bicing is only for residents of Barcelona (and requires an annual subscription of €47.15).

So I wondered about hiring a bike for the week, but prices look silly given that I'll only be using it for a few minutes twice a day.

Does anyone know if there are any other bike sharing options in Barcelona? Any independent bike sharing schemes?

Any other ideas.

Otherwise it looks like I'll be walking or getting the bus, which is a shame as I'd love to cycle in Barcelona, and I was also looking forward to making a bit of a statement by arriving at the swanky work location by bike.

Thanks,

Martin

[Cyril Haearn]

Talk to the reception people at the hotel, their job is to fulfil your wishes, they are in a good position to find out, they have contacts
Often enough hotels have cycles

[PH]

I'm so jealous, it's my favorite European city and some lovely cycling routes.
There's at least one dockless bike scheme, I've seen them rather than used. There's also loads of daily/weekly hire places, there always have been and it was to protect these that Bicing was created as a residents only service. I've usually got a bike with me, but it's still worth doing one of bike tours if you want to get a feel for the place. If not cycling the public transport is good and any trips with less than 30 min between them are counted as the same journey, caught me out as I couldn't work out how my 10 trip ticket was lasting so long...

[Brucey]

you could take a folding bike with you perhaps?

cheers

[tod28]

http://www.barcelonarentabike.com/movil ... and-prices

This place was fine in the spring of last year. The city tour is good fun and gives you your bearings for some of the sites. 55€ weekly rate doesn't sound unreasonable but for 3 weeks it may be cheaper to take your own. I assume your expenses will be paid anyway!

[hondated]

Best suggestions, having been there, I can think of are !) if you acquire a bike get a really good lock for securing it if you leave it outside anywhere,
2) wear any ruck sack on the front but your see everyone doing that anyway and finally 3) if you use the railways stay conscious of who is behind you.
Sorry its all negative but we had our ruck sack dipped last time we were there. Their modus operandi is for one of them to stop in front of you and when you stop colleagues behind get into your bag.
Thankfully the compartment they got into was empty and we were only aware of it been opened when someone told us traveling on the escalator.
As Shaw Taylor use to say at the end of Police 5 " keepem peeled " but that said enjoy your week.

[simonhill]

I think Brompton have a good hire/borrow scheme in London. I remember someone saying it's so open ended you could take one touring.

Take into office and hotel so avoids theft. Also decent bike for some evening rides.

Could be worth looking into and taking with you, although maybe too much hassle for a week.

[Redvee]

I've been to Barcelona 5 times now and would love to use the hire bikes but as stated it's an annual subscription so pointless for tourists though there are numerous bike hire places around the city but wether this would be viable cause of needs investigating. When we first visited the cycle infrastructure was poor but in recent visits it has improved vastly. Luckily for us the hotel we use has a bike hire place across the road so it's an option for us if we have the time to do so.
There is a Brompton hire service in Barcelona http://www.envilleapartments.com/en/location which might be of help, surely you could claim it back on expenses
Assuming you're flying in to El Prat airport and will be needing to get into central Barcelona, jump on the 46 bus from outside T1C IIRC which takes you to Plaça d'Espanya at the top of Parrallel, cost if you board without a ticket is €2.20 though you can get this down to €1.20 if you buy a T10 ticket from RENFE railway stations which costs €10.20 and the T10 can be used on buses and metro, the Aerobus from the airport is quicker but costs €8 return. If you want anymore tips on travel feel free to PM and I'll do my best to help.

[Cyril Haearn]

Is crime such a problem as described by hondated?

Can one get by with English?

[tim-b]

Hi

Is crime such a problem as described by hondated?

IME, no more than in the tourist areas of any other large European city. When we were last there there were lots of police in places like Las Ramblas keeping the obvious gangs and hawkers moving; it's amazing how fast a pop-up stall can be popped down
Regards
tim-b