Barcelona and the wider metropolitan area face a heavy Whit Monday return, with Catalonia’s traffic service, Servei Català de Trànsit, expecting about 300,000 vehicles back between 12pm and midnight on 25 May. The agency says the main pressure point is not just the number of cars, but the short window in which they are expected to arrive.
That compares with about 270,000 cars returning to the metropolitan area on Easter Monday in 2025. Trànsit said the AP-7 motorway is the main concern, after the outbound operation on Friday and Saturday saw more than 40 kilometres of queues, especially in the Vallès area.
For the afternoon, the most affected stretches are expected to be the southern AP-7 near Alt Penedès and the northern link with the Costa Brava. An accident on Monday morning already cut one lane near Roda de Berà, in the Tarragona direction, and caused queues of 1 to 2 kilometres, according to traffic officials.
From 5pm to 10pm, the heaviest congestion is expected on the main routes into Barcelona, including the C-31 and C-32 from Maresme and Garraf, the C-58 and the B-23. The Trinitat junction, Ronda de Dalt and Ronda del Litoral are also expected to see stop-start traffic into the night. For ongoing updates, readers can follow Catalonia news coverage and the Servei Català de Trànsit website.
To manage the return flow, authorities have activated more than 150 kilometres of contraflow lanes on the AP-7, the north section of the C-32 and the B-23 access into Barcelona. Heavy goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are banned from the AP-7 during the peak afternoon hours.
Mossos d’Esquadra have deployed 1,260 officers on the roads and are carrying out more than 1,000 checks for speed, alcohol and drugs. Trànsit has also urged drivers to take care, after three people died on Catalan roads over the long weekend. Official traffic information is available from Servei Català de Trànsit and road conditions can also be checked via Mossos d’Esquadra.
