{"id":70103,"date":"2016-07-14T09:29:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T07:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=70103"},"modified":"2022-05-16T10:15:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T08:15:09","slug":"funicular-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/funicular-railways\/","title":{"rendered":"Funicular railways of Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A <strong>funicular<\/strong> is a type of <strong>railway<\/strong> which ascends a steep slope by means of counter-balanced cars being connected by cable; the weight of the descending car on the cable pulls the ascending car up the slope. Being a city bounded by mountains, Barcelona has 3 historic and dramatic <strong>funicular railways<\/strong> which represent a fine way to view the city and a vital transport link to its <strong>mountain<\/strong> neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_17 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-grey\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/funicular-railways\/#Tibidabo_and_Monjuic_-_leisure_funiculars\" title=\"Tibidabo and Monjuic &#8211; leisure funiculars\">Tibidabo and Monjuic &#8211; leisure funiculars<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/funicular-railways\/#Vallvidrera_-_the_commuter_funicular\" title=\"Vallvidrera &#8211; the commuter funicular\">Vallvidrera &#8211; the commuter funicular<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tibidabo_and_Monjuic_-_leisure_funiculars\"><\/span>Tibidabo and Monjuic &#8211; leisure funiculars<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_70811\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70811\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-70811\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Tibidabo-Funicular-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"Photo credit: Biblioteca Nacional de Espa\u00f1a via Visual hunt \/ CC BY-NC-ND\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-70811\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Biblioteca Nacional de Espa\u00f1a via Visual hunt \/ CC BY-NC-ND<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first <strong>funicular railway<\/strong> to be built in Barcelona (and indeed in Spain) was that of Tibidabo (pictured left), connecting the Pla\u00e7a del Dr Andreu with the summit of the <strong>mountain<\/strong>. Dr Salvador Andreu i Grau (a pharmacist and entrepreneur from whom the Pla\u00e7a takes its name) had a plan to connect the city of Barcelona with the mountain-top through the building of the<strong> funicular<\/strong>, tramway (Tramvia Blau) and amusement park. The <strong>funicular<\/strong>, which was designed by engineer Bonaventura Roig, rises a total of 275m with a track length of 1130m . It was opened in 1901, at the same time as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tibidabo.cat\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">amusement park<\/a> was being developed. It consists of a single track with a passing loop in the middle, where the cars meet and swap tracks. The <strong>railway<\/strong> underwent a complete overhaul in 1958, and was renovated once again in 2007.\u00a0 Today, it is still the most dramatic way to visit the <strong>mountain:<\/strong> as you rise up the slope, extensive views of Barcelona and the sea beyond are revealed. The <strong>funicular<\/strong> is not part of Barcelona&#8217;s integrated transport system, so a separate ticket must be purchased for \u20ac7.70 return. If combined with entry to the amusement park, the rate is discounted to \u20ac4.10. You can also buy a Tibidabo Classic ticket from the Barcelona Tourist agency which, for \u20ac11 includes a ride on the Tramvia Blau, <strong>funicular<\/strong> and one ride in the park.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Montju\u00efc <strong>funicular<\/strong> was opened in 1928 in order to provide access to the hill-top in time for the 1929 International Exhibition. Like the Tibidabo <strong>funicular<\/strong>, it is a single track with a passing loop. It has a total track length of 758m and a rise of 76m. The <strong>railway<\/strong> was reconstructed in 1992 in order to cope with increased traffic from the Olympic games, and today it is owned and operated by TMB. A journey on the <strong>funicular<\/strong> is included in any integrated travel ticket (the lower station is located in Paral\u00b7lel), and you can continue to the summit of the hill as part of the same fare on the 150 bus.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Vallvidrera_-_the_commuter_funicular\"><\/span>Vallvidrera &#8211; the commuter funicular<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_70104\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70104\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-70104\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Vallvidrera-Funicular-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Photo credit: sunxez via VisualHunt.com \/ CC BY-NC-SA\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-70104\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: sunxez via VisualHunt.com \/ CC BY-NC-SA<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This <strong>railway<\/strong> was opened in 1906 in order to link the Balmes line (running from\u00a0Pla\u00e7a Catalunya to the Vall\u00e8s region) to the residential area of Vallvidrera on the Collserola mountain ridge. It has a length of 736.6m with a 165m rise. Since its opening it has provided a vital commuter link between Vallvidrera and the city of Barcelona, enabling this hillside neighbourhood to grow and flourish. It has been owned by the government-run FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) since 1979, and was rebuilt and upgraded in 1998, with modern cars being added. There are trains every 6 minutes on weekdays, and the total journey time from base to summit is less than 3 minutes. It is not as popular with tourists as Tibidabo and Montju\u00efc, but should not be overlooked by leisure travelers as it provides delightful views and access to many walking and cycling routes around the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.parcnaturalcollserola.cat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Collserola nature park<\/a>. Its base station is Peu del Funicular, reached by taking any of the &#8216;S&#8217; services from the FGC station at Pla\u00e7a Catalunya). It is within zone 1 of the integrated fare system. From Vallvidrera summit it is around a 1km walk to Tibidabo, so it is easily possible to travel by one <strong>funicular<\/strong> up and the other down, if you are keen to explore the Collserola ridge and experience these stunning <strong>mountain railways<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: none;\"\n    class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-valign-bottom kksr-align-left \"\n    data-id=\"70103\"\n    data-slug=\"\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 142.5px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-legend\">\n            <strong class=\"kksr-score\">4.9<\/strong>\n        <span class=\"kksr-muted\">\/<\/span>\n        <strong>5<\/strong>\n        <span class=\"kksr-muted\">(<\/span>\n        <strong class=\"kksr-count\">121<\/strong>\n        <span class=\"kksr-muted\">\n            votes        <\/span>\n        <span class=\"kksr-muted\">)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A funicular is a type of railway which ascends a steep slope by means of counter-balanced cars being connected by cable; the weight of the descending car on the cable pulls the ascending car up the slope. Being a city bounded by mountains, Barcelona has 3 historic and dramatic funicular railways which represent a fine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":70835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4346],"tags":[457,1779,1366],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70103"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110216,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70103\/revisions\/110216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}