City Tour Reviews 

Frustrating and Poorly Managed Experience – Tuesday, 12th August
Our experience with City Tour Barcelona was disappointing from the very beginning. Within just 10 minutes of boarding, the bus broke down at a junction, performing multiple emergency stops as the engine repeatedly overheated and the vehicle began rolling backwards. We were eventually transferred to another passing City Tour bus—but it too had to stop to collect passengers from yet another broken-down bus.
We immediately contacted customer service to request a ticket cancellation, but were told we had to submit a complaint via email and wait up to two days for a response. With no alternative offered, we had no choice but to continue the journey.
Unfortunately, the problems didn’t stop there. Throughout the day, several audio guide points didn’t work, and in one seat the entire audio unit was missing. I switched seats four times and still couldn’t find a working one. On top of that, multiple seat belts wouldn’t pull across properly, and the condition of the bus overall was outdated and poorly maintained.
Staff on board admitted these weren’t isolated issues and even encouraged us to submit a complaint, noting that the company had ongoing problems. To make matters worse, our planned stop at Avenida Diagonal—clearly listed on the route map and shown on the digital display—was skipped without warning. When we asked, staff informed us it had been removed from the route, though no updates had been made to reflect this.
Despite all of these issues—including safety concerns and poor service—we were told we were not eligible for a refund because we completed the journey and “no one else had complained.”
When we stopped at Sagrada Família, I spoke with other families who were considering joining the tour. After hearing our experience, they decided to go with another (better-known) tour company. They thanked us for the honest feedback—and it’s a reminder that word of mouth can have real impact. While we may not get our money back, I hope this review helps others avoid making the same mistake.
I would not recommend City Tour Barcelona and it ruined our last day of our holiday.

Being the proactive traveller that I am, I booked these tickets months before our trip of a lifetime tour of Europe. Booked hop on hop off 48 hr tour. When we got on the bus we discovered our tickets had expired the day before the tour. How shocked was I? And not very happy. Luckily the guide on the bus said he’d take us to the end of the line which wasn’t too bad considering we were at the farthest end. He could not accommodate us with the second day of the pass so He gave us directions to the city tour main office but after asking many locals, we could not find it. Didn’t exist. I am very disappointed that we could not get a refund for the second day or for that matter even get a ticket so we could continue with the tour the following day. Word of advice. Use “get your guide” They are miles ahead for customer service. And pretty sure we would not have had these issues. Lesson learned!!

We decided to use the bus to have a look round and went on the top as on the bottom you couldn’t really get a proper view of anything due too the dirty windows.

The bus did not go to the Olympic stadium which was one of the more interesting things on the route.

Also the headphones did not work in a lot of the seats and even in the one I sat in I could only hear out of one ear.

The tour was completely over sold! After purchasing our tickets at the cruise terminal, get to the stop and wait an hour for 4 buses to come and go as they were full in 30°c + heat with a 1 year old! Staff attitudes were horrendous, with one throwing his hands in the air and getting in a taxi and leaving the massive queue of people waiting. We had to purchase more tickets for another tour, costing us even more money. We only got to see one attraction and it completely ruined our trip to Barcelona. The email response and customer service since has been terrible. We've done several City tours, and this will be our last with this company!
We were warned about pick-pockets... no one warned us about this company robbing us in plain sight!

It was epic.
Thanks for the adventure!

4 weeks ago, on 29.08. I had bought 2 tickets online at The homepage of Barcelona City Tour for a day ticket for the sightseeing bus. The total price was 54 EUR.

After the purchase, I did not receive any e-mails with the tickets. I waited a few minutes, checked spam and then called a service number (+34933176454). The person on the phone was very nice and explained that there were problems with sending the tickets at the moment. She advised me to send my request by email to get a refund.

The same day I sent an email the one I got named. I attached a screenshot of the payment and clearly described the issue.

There was no reply from Julia Travel. I wrote further emails on 4 September, 16 September and 22 September. For the last two I also included a mail found on their website in the mails sent.

After 4 weeks and 4 mails to 2 mail addresses still no answer.

I understand that sometimes something doesn't work and no tickets are sent. But paying for something you can't use and then not getting an answer after 4 weeks is simply not acceptable.

I don't understand how a company with such poor customer service can act economically in the long term. I am disappointed in Julia Travel, the employees who saw the email and willingly did not reply.

The tour was good and can recommend it, but please do not buy tickets online. There is a risk that you will not get them sent to you. And no one will respond to your attempts to contact them.