Over 370,000 cars leave Barcelona metropolitan area for Easter holidays

The Easter break is upon us, and Catalans are ready to enjoy the first break without pandemic restrictions for years. 

This weekend tends to be the busiest of the year for Barcelona airport, as more than 8,000 flights are scheduled in and out of the Catalan capital over the long weekend. Additionally, train operators have made around half a million seats available for people looking to escape by rail.

The car tends to be the preferred option for most people making short-term trips such as the Easter long weekend. 

A total of 373,900 vehicles have left the ​​Barcelona metropolitan area from Thursday until Friday afternoon, according to the Catalan Traffic Service. These figures are slightly higher than what was expected. 

Compared to similar pre-pandemic operations, the values ​​are lower: 5.2% fewer vehicles than in 2018, and 7.4% less than in 2017. 

The heaviest traffic jams on Friday were seen in several sections of the AP-7 highway, and also on the C-32. 

On the AP-7, queues reached up to 14 km on the northbound section between Santa Perpètua de Mogoda and La Roca del Vallès. In Llinars de Vallès, there were also queues of 6 km in a northerly direction. On the C-32 on the Maresme area, there have been queues of up to 9 km around Mataró.

In a southerly direction, the AP-7 saw stoppages of 19 km between El Papiol and Martorell.