My wife & I plan to spend 4 days in Porto, staying with a friend, from May 11, then 4 days in Barcelona, probably in a fairly central hostel. As we've been to neither before we'll want to see all the main sites. Should we get passes for metro/bus or buy individual tickets? How does the carnet (French spelling) system work in Barça? I read somewhere about 2 people travelling on one ticket.
We both enjoy walking too, so if we are fairly central, perhaops we won't need public transport much. In Porto we hope to do a train ride up the Douro valley or somewhere scenic. Do we just buy tickets at the station?

In Barcelona one can buy a 10 ride metro/bus ticket. This can be used by any number of people at the same time, just put it in the validating machine once for each passenger.

#1 is right. 2 people travel on one ticket but pay 2 fares. It's called T-10 and you can buy it at any of the ticket machines inside the metro. It costs €7.85.
What I'd recommend is buying one of those and use it until it's finished, then buy another one. If you use it more than 6 times is already cheaper than single tickets. Also, you can use it to travel from Barcelona airport.

Enjoy your trip!

OK, I am familiar with the Paris metro carnet which is 10 separate tickets; clearly this is different, thanks. I'm still trying to grasp a couple of things: I believe there's a time limit on each ticket: does that mean you can stop somewhere for a while, then get another metro without paying any extra?
If you buy a one-zone ticket, is it for any zone, or only zone 1? If you cross zones do you have to pay again? What if you weren't originally planning to cross into another zone, do you have to get off the train at the zone boundary and validate it again or do it on the train, or wait till the destination?
I daresay I sound ignorant, but I'd rather know exactly how it works; my Spanish is extremely basic, & my Catalan is probably about zero.
We are flying to/from Girona airport so will be using the Sagales bus. I have the timetable, linked from ryanair website.

You can check www.cp.pt/ for information on the rail system in northern Portugal, including purchasing your tickets. The Regional train will take you from Porto to Barga and Viana de Castelo, and finally up to Valença, across the river from Tui, Galicia.

In Porto you can buy an Andante Card valid for 1 or for 3 days.
You can also buy a Andante card for €1.90 (price of one ride - €1.45 - included -). It is a magnetic card and you can "reload" it as many times as you want. You can use it for one or several people as long as you have put enough money in the machine.



You just buy train tickets at the station for the Douro valley.

I do think it is possible .. don't have time to check the website but when I was in Barcelona I remember something about a short transfer at no extra charge.

Locals please jump in and confirm!

Here's a quote from the English language page of the Porto metro http://www.metrodoporto.pt/en/PageGe...PaginaId=16261
Crystal clear?

Do I have to interrupt my journey if the duration of my travel title expires?
No.
What matter is the hour and the zone of the 1st validation. You have a limit to validate the title for the last time, before another travel title is deducted. In fact, the travel duration is the time counted between the 1st validation and the last validation that you do in the same journey.
Example: if you have a Z2 title (valid for an hour), you can validate it for the last time at 59 minutes and 59 seconds and continue the journey to your destiny. In this case, the last validation that you did is still in the limit of the hour that imposes the travel title Z2, so you don’t need to interrupt your journey.

I love the bit about continuing the journey to your destiny. What is my destiny?

Re: Barcelona T-10 ticket

Some of the answers to your Qs can be found here: http://www.tmb.cat/en_US/barcelona/m...getes/t_10.jsp

<i>I believe there's a time limit on each ticket: does that mean you can stop somewhere for a while, then get another metro without paying any extra?</i>

YES AND NO. The time limit is 75 minutes; and transfer is only good for <u>bus->bus</u> or <u>metro->bus</u>. So, you can't do a metro->metro "transfer" if you leave the metro station, even if it's within 75 minutes.

<i>If you buy a one-zone ticket, is it for any zone, or only zone 1? If you cross zones do you have to pay again? What if you weren't originally planning to cross into another zone, do you have to get off the train at the zone boundary and validate it again or do it on the train, or wait till the destination?</i>

Chances are most tourists will not leave zone 1. If you know in advance you are going outside of zone 1, you can either purchase a multi-zone T10, or just buy a single ride ticket to the destination outside of Zone 1.