3 day/4 night Barcelona mid April

I’d encourage you to find a way to include the wonderful Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Monday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Sagrada Familia
Then head to ...
•Hospital Sant Pau
•Park Guell (BOOK)

Tuesday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Palau de la Musica Catalana
Then head to ...
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral
•Las Ramblas - La Boqueria, Placa Real
•Eixample - Passeig de Gracia, Casa Mila & Casa Batllo (choose one to visit)

Wednesday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Picasso Museum
Then head to ...
•El Born - Basilica Santa Maria del Mar
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta
•Port Aerial Cable Car to Montjuic

Monday: Casa Mila and La Pedrera are two names for the same place. Perhaps you meant Casa Batllo? If so, that would be too many sights on Monday if you intend to go inside all of them. If you want to see La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell on the same day, it probably makes sense to schedule them back-to-back (be careful to allow enough time for the first), because of their locations. Sant Pau is rather close to LSF, so it's in the mix there as well.

Tuesday: "Old city" would mean the Barri Gotic and/or El Born/La Ribera to me, not a separate area. The Ramblas is a street mobbed with tourists. It's fine to go there if you have a reason (such as La Boqueria), but really I don't see a need otherwise. You'll probably find yourself there just in the course of moving around the city.

Wednesday: I found Barceloneta underwhelming; it's not a place I would go if I had only three days in Barcelona.

I would try to include Barcelona Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar if it's convenient when you're in the area.

The following places on your list are subject to very long ticket lines, so pre-purchasing of tickets is highly advised. This gets complicated on a short visit like yours, because you have to guess how long you'll want to be at each stop and how long it will take to travel to the next one.

• La Sagrada Familia (will still be crowded if you don't book the first entry period of the day and arrive early)
• Parc Guell
• Casa Mila/La Pedrera (will still be crowded)
• Casa Batllo (will still be crowded)
• Picasso Museum (will still be crowded, possibly unbelievably so)

You have a lot of places targeted. I think you'll be lucky to fit them all in. I believe you'll enjoy yourself more if you allow yourself time to wander a bit and soak in the atmosphere and the architecture. I wouldn't want to be on the go from 9 AM to 9 PM every day. (Dinner typically starts about 10 PM.) However, it may be helpful to know that Casa Mila and Casa Batllo both have rather long hours. I'm not sure about the Picasso Museum.

The Picasso Museum was so packed when I was there last August that I do not recommend it for anyone other than serious fans. Barcelona has a lot of other good art museums where the viewing experience will be much more pleasant.

Thank you so much. Do you recommend a hop on hop off bus?

We loved the Picasso museum. We were there in June (several years ago,) and didn't see anyone else there. The Chocolate Museum is worth a stop, and Sagrada Familia will change your life. Allow time to go downstairs, to see the various models and other exhibits.

I accidentally deleted the detailed response I was writing to your question about recommending a Hop on Hop off bus. The short answer is no. In October 2017, we thought we would use a HOHO to get from Park Guell to our hotel in the Eixample. By the time we got to the money taker, the bus was already moving. It was so expensive that we told them we didn't want to pay and wanted off. We got dumped in the middle of nowhere and had a very long walk back to our hotel. Our original plan was to use the HOHO for the rest of the day.

We are not budget travelers, and if we felt ripped off - you will probably feel the same way. We are not HOHO snobs. We have used them in many cities in Europe - in BCN, not so much. Taxis in Spain are generally a good deal.

I am not a fan of HO/HO buses in general, so take my bias into account here.

When I arrived in Barcelona in August 2016, I was staying near Placa Catalunya and walked through that square on the way to my hotel. There was an unbelievably long line there, waiting for the HO/HO bus. It was far more people than would fit on a bus--maybe as many as 200 people. I would have been furious if I had paid for that service and saw a line like that.

Barcelona has an excellent public-transit network. The Metro (subway) is easy to use. You can buy a card (which can be used by multiple people) that covers ten bus or subway rides at a cost of not much over 1 euro per ride.

Many of Barcelona's attractions really require pre-purchased tickets, else you risk standing in line for a very, very long time. I don't think it would be safe to rely on the HO/HO bus to get to Parc Guell or La Sagrada Familia if you had a timed ticket to use. Many of the other commonly visited sights are relatively easy to walk to.

Barcelona is a lovely city with bits of modernista architecture everywhere. Therefore, I preferred to walk from place to place so I could enjoy the beauty around me.

In summary, I think you'd be better off with a regular bus tour as a much more efficient means of getting an introduction to the city, plus public transportation as necessary.

Edited to add: I really enjoyed the Barri Gotic walking tour offered by the Tourist Office. There are private companies doing something similar, and I'm sure they are fine, but it seemed to me that the private tour groups were quite a bit larger than ours, and I had more confidence that the information we were being given was accurate.

Clearly, different people have different perspectives and priorities in Barcelona, but certainly all will agree that Barcelona has too many sites to visit them all in 3 days, and you will need to set some priorities, and plan your itineraries according to the locations. I was there for 9 days in 2016, and didn't get to all my priorities, so I am going back for 3 nights this June. (Although I did take 3 great day trips from Barcelona during those 9 days.)

My top priorities would be:
(1) Sagrada Familia, in and out (although it did not change my life appreciably);
(2) Sant Pau hospital complex, a 15 minute walk from Sagrada Familia);
(3) either Casa Battlo or Casa Mila, both only if there is time. I went to Casa Mila (La Pedrera) for a dinner + evening visit, and Casa Battlo during the day, both with advance tickets in hand.
(4) Palau de la Musica Catalan, either a tour or a performance, or both if you can; both require advance tickets. You cannot visit without a tour or performance, although the cafe is a nice stop, you can enter with no ticket, and light food is good and reasonable.
(5) old city neighborhoods, and churches, etc. within; they all kind of run together.
(6) La Boqueria OR Santa Catarina market, both only with excess time. La Boqueria is bigger, much more touristy. There are some good ready-to-eat food booths in the back, one where I enjoyed the owner and the food is in the back left corner, facing as you enter the market, which features Catalan dishes. The owner is only there one or two days a week, I think.
(7) of course food, food, food.

My next priorities would be:
(1) Park Guell, I went there first thing on my first day; Afterward, I walked down through Gracia, the old town now a quiet. traditional neighborhood within Barcelona.
(2) Montjuic, which has views, castle ruins, great museums, illuminated fountains some evenings, and more; takes quite a bit of time. I did not go in 2016, and this is a major reason for my return -- same for Montserrat.

My lower priorities would include:
(1) Barceloneta;
(2) Bullring; better bullrings in other parts of Spain, some still functioning.
(3) Picasso Museum, where I did not go. I love Picasso's cubism, but understand this museum focuses on his early life and career, and more realistic early paintings, not his cubism. I went by on a "free day" but they had already given out all the free passes for the day. I did enjoy the little-known Museum of World Cultures right next to Picasso, but it deals with world cultures from Asia, Africa, Latina America, etc. Beautiful exhibits of a modest number of works, but maybe not your thing, it is mine.

You can't go wrong, unless you spend all your time rushing around to fit everything into 3 days, with not enough time to really experience each.

Does this look like a reasonable schedule, or should I schedule Parc Guell earlier? Pre-purchased tickets for La Sagrada Famlia with a tower for 9:15-12:15, then Hospital St. Pau, lunch, 4pm pre-purchased tickets to Parc Guell.
I couldn't find the Barrio Gotico walking tour on the Barcelona Turisme website. Do you remember the name of the tour.
What kind of pass/car should I get for transportation? Looked t the Barcelona card free and discount list, but don't know if it's worth buying for us, since we're not planning on visiting museums, except for the Picasso.
All the suggestions have been great. We decided to add the Palau de la Musica Catalana, Santa Maria del Mar, visit La Pedrera and not Battlo, and only one market.

The T-10 metro pass gives you 10 rides (including transfer) for about 10 euros, and I believe you can share the pass. Not sure if it includes buses, but I think so, as I remember to go from my B & B to Park Guell, I took the metro then transferred to a bus. If you google T-10 Barcelona, I imagine you would find the details.

The T10 is shareable; I think you just run it through the Metro gate twice if there are two of you. I'm not sure how it works on a bus.

Link to BarcelonaTurisme's Barri Botic Tour.

I think your timing is about right on the La Sagrada Familia day. Sant Pau is rather large and it's unpredictable how long it will take you to find a spot for lunch. Unless you leave LSF early (which you may), I don't think you'll have time for a full sit-down lunch. If by some chance things go much faster that expected, you can head on up to Parc Guell and spend some time in the open part of the park before you're due to enter the Monumental Zone.

You can grab something on the 10-15 minute walk from SF to S. Pau. The walk takes you past multiple cafes and restaurants, including take-out options. I took the roof-top tour of Santa Maria del Mar - excellent, and great views.
This is the Barcelona Gotic walking tour.

Lastly, know what to expect at the Picasso Museum. It has a lot of his very early works, and a lot about cubism. Not very much else. It's interesting if you want to learn about the development of some of his styles. There aren't any major works. IMO, great for big Picasso fans, not so much for others.

Which market are you planning on? The Santa Caterina market pretty much closes up around 1-2 pm, it's mainly for locals to do their shopping. La Boqueria is open all day, very much for tourists.

... detailed info about the T-10 travelcard: http://bit.ly/bcn-t10

Lots of good advice. You are going to have a great time. Enjoy.

Thank you all for the great advice and the links. We booked a concert at the Palau de musica Catalan, which coincidentally will be with a tenor that sings music that I love! Will decide on which market to visit depending on when we have time to go. Will probably skip Picasso Museu. Heard they have been having unusually wet and cold weather.

If you can call a delicious gelato your lunch, there is a wonderful Italian gelateria on the right side as you walk up from Sagrada Familia to the Sant Pau hospital complex. By the way, at Sant Pau I signed up for an English language tour, which was very good and helpful in exploring and learning about the beautiful complex. There was just the guide, a Belgian couple, and moi.

@ptovar.... bah, just a feint... we're back to our normal sunny 18-20ºC at noon & 10-12ºC at night. Just come to "suffer" this weather with us poor local residents.