Category Archives: Barcelona Tips

Practical tips for living in Barcelona, including transport, services and local advice.

Register to vote in Spain as a foreigner

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If you are a from an EU country or a country which has a special agreement with Spain (Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Ecuador, Iceland, Norway , New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, United Kingdom, or Trinidad & Tobago), you can vote in the upcoming election of 28 May 2023!

Notes:

  • You should have your DNI/NIE/TIE or passport available
  • If you are not from the EU but from one of the countries listed above, you should have lived in Spain for at least 5 years (or 3 years if you are from UK/Norway) in order to vote.
  • It is important to note that by agreeing to vote in Spain, you cannot also vote in your home country elections
  • As with most digital paperwork in Spain, be prepared to use an online authenticator (sistema Cl@ve)

How to register:

It’s possible that you’ve received a form previously in the post which you could use to register to vote by returning the letter to the Oficina del Censo Electoral. If you’ve received this letter, it’s an indicator that you are eligible to vote in Spain. If you’re not sure, we’re happy to tell you that you can check all the information online and register directly.

You can start by going to the Sede Electronica: https://sede.ine.gob.es/manifestacionVotoPermanente/presentacion

Click the link on the right which will take you to the form to complete using the Cl@ve or identifier of your choice.

Once you have successfully accessed your profile using the authenticator, you should see your census and voting information in front of you. You should check that these details are correct.

Then, click on pulse aqui in order to continue with the registration.

Here, it will ask you a few questions to which you should confirm:

  • Deseo ejercer el derecho de sufragio activo en las elecciones municipales    SI/NO
    I wish to exercise the right to active suffrage in municipal elections  YES/NO
  • Deseo ejercer en España el derecho de sufragio activo en las elecciones al Parlamento Europeo SI/NO
    I wish to exercise in Spain the right of active suffrage in the elections to the European Parliament  YES/NO
  • En caso afirmativo declara que: Solo ejercerá este derecho en España [X]
    If so, you declare that: You will only exercise this right in Spain [X]
  • La entidad local o circunscripción del Estado miembro de origen en cuyo censo electoral estuvo inscrito en último lugar es:  ________
    The local entity or constituency of the Member State of origin in whose electoral census you were last registered is:  [the name of your country]

Then, you can finalize the form and voila! You are registered to vote in Spain. Save or print the receipt if you wish.

Next, see How to Vote in Spain for info on how and where to vote as well as finding information on the political parties.

How to get your FREE Renfe train pass for Barcelona

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The Renfe/Rodalies train pass was introduced to encourage travel by train at the end of 2022, and the offer is still going until December 2023. You can find the full info here in Spanish but we will give a summary below.

The Rodalies trains are the ones that take you to cities surrounding Barcelona (but not ALL the trains. Keep an eye out for the R trains). Here is a link to the map of the trains and zones. As you can see, there are 6 zones total.

The pass will give you unlimited travel on these trains for the time period when you bought it. Those time periods are as follows:

  • 1 Jan 2023 – 30 Apr 2023
  • 1 May 2023 – 31 Aug 2023
  • 1 Sep 2023 – 31 Dec 2023

Cost: The ticket is “free” however requires a deposit of €10. If you complete 16 or more trips (8 round trips), the deposit will be returned to you. If you don’t do 16 trips, then still €10 is not a bad price to pay for this service (It’s already worth it after 2 trips depending on where you are going).

A few important notes:

  • You must have a DNI/NIE/TIE/Passport number to get the pass, and the ticket is not transferable so you can’t share with anyone
  • You will get a paper ticket which looks similar to a metro ticket. It’s important you do not lose this paper ticket, as you will not be able to get a replacement!
  • It is valid for most but not all of the R-trains. You can take the R1, R2 Nord, R2, R2 Sud, R3 (direction Sant Quirze de Besora), R4, R7 and R8.
  • After you complete a trip and return to Barcelona, for the next 15 minutes you can use the same ticket to transfer via the metro in order to go home.
  • Travel to Montserrat: Note that the ticket is NOT valid for the R5 which takes you directly to Aeri de Montserrat to visit the mountain, however you can take the R4 and change trains in Martorell Central (The price from here is about 6.80 EUR round trip) (The price to go directly on the R5 from Pl. Espana is about 11.50 round trip).

How to get the ticket from the ticket machines

Firstly, note that you should take it from the orange Rodalies ticket machines which are found in the Rodalies stations (Sants, Passeig de Gracia, Pl. Catalunya, Arc de Triomf, Estacio de Franca, El Clot-Arago, La Sagrera being the most central stations but check the map to see if there is one closer to your home)

Just to make things more complicated, Rodalies has 2 types of machines which function a bit differently, so pay attention to which type of machine you find:

New machine with black interface 
Old machine with silver interface

The next steps are quite simple on both machines. (Scroll down for instructions with the old machine.)

New machines*:
*Easier to use than the old machines, we recommend finding one of these!

You will see on the main screen a big orange button on the button that mentions the abono gratuito. Click that button.

Then, simply enter your DNI/NIE/TIE/Passport #

Make sure on the next page that you select the destination that is in Zone 6. It doesn’t matter the destination, because you can use the ticket on all Rodalies lines. For example, we suggest choosing Manresa.

Then, make the payment of 10 EUR (We recommend using a card so that you can get your money back on that account).

The machine will print you a card. Don’t lose it 🙂

Old machines:

You will see a screen with many options. Choose “Abonament recurrent”

Next, it will ask for your phone number AND your ID number (DNI/NIE/TIE/Passport). Enter this information and continue.

Make sure on the next page that you select the destination that is in Zone 6. It doesn’t matter the destination, because you can use the ticket on all Rodalies lines. For example, we suggest choosing Manresa.

Then, you can finalize your payment of the 10 EUR deposit. We recommend using a card so that Renfe can return your money on this account.

The machine will print you a card. Don’t lose it 🙂


Now you can enjoy trips to many cool places surrounding Barcelona, and even join New in Barcelona group day trips to places like Sitges, Manresa, Vic, Castelldefels, Sant Pol de Mar, and more! (See here some pictures of the trips we have taken!)


Have anything to add to this information or find a mistake? Please let us know!