The Barcelona Provincial Council and Renfe have presented today at the B-Travel Tourism Fair the first two tourist routes of the "Turístic Trains, Barcelona molt més" project, which seeks to bring tourists visiting the Catalan capital closer to other towns and thus decongest the city. Each one of the routes propose exclusive packages and activities to get to know the different places, thus betting on local tourism.
The president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Núria Marín, has defined it as "a different, exclusive proposal that is not found on conventional routes". The profile that this offer seeks to attract is that of a familiar and curious audience, "wanting to get to know our closest environment", in the words of Marín.
The first itinerary to be carried out is the so-called "Route of the modernist gourmets" and it wants to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the first Barcelona-Mataró train, which is celebrated in October. The route will leave on Saturday, May 13 at 9:00 a.m. from the Francia station with stops in Mataró and Canet de Mar. In the capital of Maresme, visitors will be able to enjoy a dramatized visit to the Nave Gaudí, eat some strawberries in the square Great or visit the Coll i Regàs house. In Canet there will be another theatrical visit, in this case in the House Museum, and a stained glass factory will also be visited. In this town, the gastronomic offer will consist of discovering how "sweet stained glass" is made.
The second route that has been announced is called "Discover the sea of Barcelona Coast" and is scheduled for Saturday June 3, from the same time and starting point as the previous one. In this case, the train will depart south, on its way to the towns of Vilanova y la Geltrú and Sitges. In the capital of Garraf, tourists can visit the Railway Museum, while in Sitges they will have the opportunity to stroll through its seaside streets to the center of Malvasia, where they will taste this liquor.
Both trains will have capacity for around one hundred people and the routes will last approximately from 9am to 9pm. Tickets will go on sale one month before the start of the first train on the Renfe website and at station ticket offices. Regarding prices, these will vary according to the age of the passengers. Adults will pay around €50, children from 4 to 13 years old will pay €20 and those from 0 to 3 years old will be able to travel for free.
The two driving parties of the project have also shown their willingness to expand the offer with new routes during the autumn, foreseeably in September and October, based on the experience of other autonomous communities such as Aragon or Galicia.
