10 agosto 2026 · 5 min read
The honest comparison
Travelling alone with hand luggage, the Aerobús is hard to argue with. It leaves both terminals frequently, takes about 35 minutes to Plaça de Catalunya, and costs a fraction of a taxi fare.
The calculation changes with people. The Aerobús charges per head; a taxi charges per car. By three passengers the gap has narrowed considerably, and by four it has often closed entirely — before you count the convenience of being driven to your actual door.
Door-to-door time, not headline time
The Aerobús journey is roughly 35 minutes, but that is stop to stop. Add the walk from arrivals to the bus bay, the wait, and then the leg from Plaça de Catalunya or Sants to wherever you are actually staying — with luggage, possibly on the metro or on foot over cobbles.
A taxi from El Prat to central Barcelona is 25 to 35 minutes, and it ends at the address you gave. For most people the real difference in total door-to-door time is larger than the timetable suggests.
When the taxi clearly wins
Arriving after midnight, when the Aerobús has stopped and the metro is closing. Travelling with children, a pushchair, or more than one large suitcase each. Staying in the Gothic Quarter or Gràcia, where the final leg from a bus stop is genuinely awkward. Catching an early flight that needs a 04:30 pickup.
When it does not
One or two people, light luggage, staying near Plaça de Catalunya or on a direct metro line, travelling in the middle of the day. In that situation the Aerobús is the sensible choice and we would say so.