Hello, I am considering booking a flight that departs the Barcelona airport at 6 am. In Spain do they advise to be there 2 hours early, like in the US? I am wondering if I'd have trouble catching a taxi at 3:30 am. We're planning on renting an apt in the Born or Barri Gotic area, so if you could please advise if this would be too difficult, I would appreciate it. Thank you!

I don't remember the gates opening until 5, so you wouldn't need to be there much before 4:30.

You will almost certainly have to order a taxi the night before, though there may be places where all-night taxis congregate. But could you be sure of finding one there at 4 AM?

I would think hard about this very early flight because of the following experience a year ago.

Three couples in three taxis left the same hotel in central Barcelona at the same time, roughly 4 AM. The taxis were ordered by our hotel. We arrived roughly ten minutes apart after various "scenic" routes to the airport, despite there being a very direct route available.

I noticed we were going in a unique direction and challenged the cab driver in Spanish; he told me he was avoiding construction (!) but then took us by a relatively straight route. He only cheated us out of what would have been his tip.

The other couples, not Spanish speakers, to say nothing of Catalan speakers, were cheated respectively of twice and three times what we were cheated of.

In the middle of the day, you could ask to be let out at the nearest corner when you realize you are being cheated. At 4 AM, you are at their mercy.

beckytx,

If you go ahead with booking this flight, I recommend that you reserve a car ahead of time, with a flat fee agreed upon. I have used the following taxi company in Barcelona:

[email protected]

You might pay a few Euros more that an honest,metered cab ride, but at that time of day , I think it's worth it to avoid the hassle.

Our flight was slightly later. We stayed in a Habitat Apartment and they arranced for a van to pick us up at 5 am. I was very nervous that he'd forget us, but he didn't. (The trip to the airport was quite interesting, because we passed lots of areas where the nightlife was still jumping!)

Although we were flying AA, the leg to Heathrow was on BA. The bad thing is that when we got the airport, BA had not opened its check in desk yet. When they opened they had only 2 employees-one for coach and one for first class...30 minutes later, another person showed up. There were people behind us in line who were there two hours before their flight who almost missed their flight because BA opened late and then with so few employees!!!

Thanks for the tips! We are hoping to rent via Habitat so I'm glad to know that's an option, and I'm also happy to have the barcelonataxi email. The later flight connects twice on the way home to Dallas (and is $100 more pp), so I feel better about my early choice now.