Where to live

Barcelona, by university.

Every guide to student housing in Barcelona sorts neighbourhoods by atmosphere. Almost none of them tell you how long it takes to get from one to your actual campus. These pages do that first: 41 neighbourhoods, five ways of travelling, modelled door to door, with the rent and where the rent came from.

Which of these is easy to live near.

For each campus we take the neighbourhood with the shortest modelled journey to it. The column below is the range of those numbers across a university’s campuses, so it reads as: at best, this is what a good commute looks like here. Where the two ends are far apart, the campus you are assigned to matters more than the neighbourhood you choose.

Shortest commute available, per campus

Modelled

Esade

10 to 18 min

Pedralbes for Esade - Pedralbes, Sant Cugat for Esade - Sant Cugat

2 campuses1 reached by train

IESE

IESE Business School

11 min

Pedralbes, to IESE - Barcelona

1 campusall on the city network

Universitat de Barcelona

9 to 26 min

Eixample Esquerra for UB - Medicina Clínic, Santa Eulàlia (l'Hospitalet) for UB - Bellvitge

5 campusesall on the city network

UAB

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

8 min

Bellaterra (UAB), to UAB - Bellaterra

1 campus1 reached by train

UPF

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

10 to 11 min

Poblenou for UPF - Poblenou, Barceloneta for UPF - Campus Mar

3 campusesall on the city network

UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

9 to 50 min

Pedralbes for UPC - Campus Nord, Sarrià for UPC - Terrassa

5 campuses2 reached by train

UIC

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

11 to 11 min

Sarrià for UIC - Barcelona, Sant Cugat for UIC - Sant Cugat

2 campuses1 reached by train

TBS

TBS Education Barcelona

11 min

Provençals del Poblenou, to TBS Education - Barcelona

1 campusall on the city network

University	Campuses	Best commute per campus	On the city network
Esade	2	10 to 18 minPedralbes for Esade - Pedralbes, Sant Cugat for Esade - Sant Cugat	All but Sant Cugatreached by train, not metro
IESEIESE Business School	1	11 minPedralbes, to IESE - Barcelona	All campuses
UBUniversitat de Barcelona	5	9 to 26 minEixample Esquerra for UB - Medicina Clínic, Santa Eulàlia (l'Hospitalet) for UB - Bellvitge	All campuses
UABUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona	1	8 minBellaterra (UAB), to UAB - Bellaterra	All but Bellaterrareached by train, not metro
UPFUniversitat Pompeu Fabra	3	10 to 11 minPoblenou for UPF - Poblenou, Barceloneta for UPF - Campus Mar	All campuses
UPCUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya	5	9 to 50 minPedralbes for UPC - Campus Nord, Sarrià for UPC - Terrassa	All but Baix Llobregat (Castelldefels) and Terrassa (ESEIAAT)reached by train, not metro
UICUniversitat Internacional de Catalunya	2	11 to 11 minSarrià for UIC - Barcelona, Sant Cugat for UIC - Sant Cugat	All but Sant Cugatreached by train, not metro
TBSTBS Education Barcelona	1	11 minProvençals del Poblenou, to TBS Education - Barcelona	All campuses

How these minutes are worked out

Minutes are modelled from published average speeds and measured door to door from the centre of each neighbourhood. Not a journey planner: no timetable, no live disruption. 5 of the 20 campuses in this table sit outside the metro network and are modelled as three legs, the middle one being the operator’s own published train time.

One page each, and what is on it.

Each page ranks every neighbourhood we profile against that university’s campuses, by metro and bus, on foot, by bike, by Bicing and by car, and says which tempting neighbourhoods the numbers argue against.

Esade

The bachelor campus is not in Barcelona. Sant Cugat is over the mountain, and the train decides where you should live.

2 campuses · 8.4 km apart · 1 off the metro network · not all in Barcelona

IESE

IESE Business School

One campus, high above Sarrià on the FGC line, in the most expensive corner of the city.

1 campus · Barcelona

Universitat de Barcelona

Five campuses spread over 10 km, from Plaça Universitat to Mundet to Bellvitge. Which one you attend changes the answer completely.

5 campuses · 10.3 km apart · not all in Barcelona

UAB

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The main campus is at Bellaterra, outside Barcelona. Nothing we cover is close, so the question becomes which train you live near.

1 campus · 1 off the metro network · Cerdanyola del Vallès

UPF

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Three campuses, all in the eastern half of the city and close together, which makes UPF the most solvable of these.

3 campuses · 2.2 km apart · Barcelona

UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Five campuses across 32 km, two of them off the metro network. The widest spread of any university here.

5 campuses · 32.2 km apart · 2 off the metro network · not all in Barcelona

UIC

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Two campuses 10 km apart, and one neighbourhood is fastest to both. That is rarer here than it sounds.

2 campuses · 10.1 km apart · 1 off the metro network · not all in Barcelona

TBS

TBS Education Barcelona

One campus, on the eastern edge of the 22@ grid. The neighbourhood it opened in is cheaper than the Poblenou core, and empties at six.

1 campus · Barcelona

If you already know your campus, the page for it answers the commute completely. If you want it narrowed by budget and by how you actually want to live, the quiz takes 6 questions.

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