Barcelona

Fira Gran Via: the address is well known in the travel ecosystem, particularly for the IBTM trade show which is held there every November. It will now also be the name of the first Meininger establishment in Barcelona and more broadly in Spain. On June 25th, the 162-room hotel – and over 500 beds…

This is a first since the opening of rail transport to competition in Spain. For the first time, high-speed traffic has declined on the Madrid-Barcelona route, according to the Spanish National Commission on Competition (CNMC). The decrease in the last quarter of 2025 is also significant, at 13%, totalling 3.3 million...

A few weeks ago, Renfe withdrew its Avlo low-cost high-speed train service from the Madrid-Barcelona route. The Spanish national rail company immediately replaced these departures with classic AVE high-speed trains, whose more expensive tickets offer greater flexibility and services, as well as...

Oscar Puente, Spain's Minister of Transport, has announced the forthcoming modernisation of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line, inaugurated in 2008. The aim of these future works is to increase the speed of the high-speed trains to 350km/h in order to reduce the journey time to 2 hours, compared with 2h30 to 2h50 according to the...

Barcelona-El Prat airport is preparing to take a step forward in its intermodal development. The Catalan hub is awaiting the arrival of an express train. Designed by Alstom and operated by FGC Mobilitat, it is due to enter service in late 2026 or early 2027. The first of the ten electric trains was unveiled at the end of October. The President of the...

Renfe is taking another step towards its possible exit from France. The Spanish company has just announced that it will be abandoning its Toulouse-Barcelona route, which was due to operate seasonally from April to September. A daily return trip by AVE - the Spanish high-speed train - between the two cities was scheduled to take 3.5 hours,...

A sense of innovation and a taste for tradition: while Catalonia is at the cutting edge with world-class scientific infrastructures such as the ALBA Synchrotron and pioneering organisations such as Tech Barcelona, the region also offers a journey through time, from the modernist architecture of Gaudí to centuries gone by. The organisers...

Renfe, the Spanish rail company, has carried one million passengers since the launch in July 2023 of its two routes linking Lyon to Barcelona and Marseille to Madrid. The three most successful routes are, in order, Lyon-Barcelona, Barcelona-Montpellier and Lyon-Montpellier. The Marseille-Madrid corridor accounts for 60% of its overall traffic,...

The Olympic legacy. While Paris hopes to see its appeal boosted after last summer, Barcelona is still reaping the benefits of the dynamism generated in 1992 by hosting the Olympic Games. A key event for a city that has always been a magnet for major sporting events. Last October it hosted the most prestigious of all nautical competitions, the America's Cup, and every...

New technologies have become almost essential to most events and meetings. Indeed, many of these meetings revolve around technology itself, one of the most dynamic sectors of the Catalan economy. For this reason, Catalonia offers a wide range of meeting spaces and related proposals, including...

Sea and mountains, urban and rural, avant-garde and traditional, technology and relaxation: these two sides of the same coin make Catalonia the ideal setting for your conference or seminar. A perfect 'fifty-fifty', since the destination leaves organisers spoilt for choice, but also a real guarantee with over 300 days...

Having failed to obtain authorisation to run to Spain from Paris Gare de Lyon, Renfe has just announced the opening of an AVE train link between Toulouse and Barcelona in the second quarter of 2025. On this route, the Spanish company's high-speed trains will stop at Carcassonne, Perpignan, Figueras and Girona. The trainsets...

Since yesterday, business and leisure travellers have been able to book the latest addition to the Volotea network: a Bordeaux-Barcelona flight, which will make its debut on 20 February. The airline plans to operate two flights a week, every Thursday and Sunday. New routes this winter for Volotea from France The inauguration of the Bordeaux-Barcelona flight will bring to...

For several years now, Barcelona has been waging war against companies offering private flats for short-term rental. This is due to growing public hostility towards tourism, which seems to have no limits. Last year, Barcelona welcomed almost 11.5 million tourists. While...

The Olympic sailing events in Marseilles won't be the only international sailing competition to take place in the Mediterranean this summer. The 37th America's Cup will be held in Barcelona from 22 August to 27 October, the New Zealanders having decided to put their title back on the line in Europe. A first since...

Barcelona's business hotel sector is reinventing itself. Shortly after the revival of the former Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I, next to the Palacio de Congresos and now, after a long renovation phase, the Gran Melia Torre Melina, another hotel designed for business travellers has just appeared: the Grand Hyatt Barcelona. A hotel whose history...

Airports Council International (ACI) and Amadeus have announced their verdict, ranking the world's best airports by region and by traffic category. Rome-Fiumicino and Barcelona-El Prat stand out among the 'big carriers' on the Old Continent (more than 40 million passengers a year). As for the hubs...

From King to Gran. One of Spain's great hotels for events and meetings. Launched for the Barcelona Olympic Games to welcome sports delegations with the honours due to their rank, the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I stopped its career in 2020, hit by the pandemic. The Melia Group is taking up the story...

(Article updated on 19 June) After Trenitalia, the opening up to competition in the rail sector is about to become a little more of a reality in France with the arrival of Renfe. The Spanish national operator plans to launch an AVE line between Lyon and Barcelona on 13 July. Renfe will then inaugurate the Marseille-Barcelona-Madrid route on 28...

As MICE activity picks up, Catalonia is 'the' Spanish province of choice for business event organisers. With Barcelona as its standard-bearer, the destination is making the most of its assets, from its Mediterranean coastline and the natural spaces of its hinterland, to its Catalan culture and tasty cuisine, its original activities and its accessibility, in...