3 ½ Day Itinerary in Barcelona – Thanks in Advance

You'll need to pre-purchase tickets for the following sights. If you do not do so, you are likely to be in line for at least an hour and may not be able to get into the venue at all. In most cases the tickets will be timed, but a few places may have the option of paying a bit more for a "wildcard" ticket that doesn't tie you to a specific time-block. Check the individual sights' websites to see what is available.

None of the times below include transportation to and from the sight, time in the shop, etc.

• La Sagrada Familia: Recommend minimum 1.5 to 2 hours without climbing a tower. This is a good one to schedule first thing in the morning so you will have some time in the church before it gets really crowded.

• Parc Guell: Time required depends on whether you also want to see the free-entry part of the park and/or the gatekeeper's house, for which you must line up separately once inside the park. (That line was at least 45 minutes when I visited in 2016, and Barcelona has gotten busier since then.) I didn't do either of those extras and spent perhaps 1.5 hours walking around. Suggest avoiding mid-day because it may be rather hot and humid.

• Casa Batllo: Allow at least 1-1/2 hours, plus a bit extra in case your entry is delayed despite having a timed ticket. This site is very crowded, and that will slow you down somewhat.

• Casa Mila: Same as Casa Batllo. I spent extra time here (about 1 hour) because there was an exhibition about Gaudi's other buildings. I don't know whether that was temporary or permanent. Just a few blocks from Casa Batllo, so it's easy to do these back-to-back, but with limited time you might reasonably opt to choose just one of them.

• Palau de la Music Catalana: If you decide to take the tour rather than attend a performance, you'll need about 1 hour.

• Palau Guell: In 2016 the lines here varied but were never as bad as those at Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. I'd say this is not quite as interesting as the first two Gaudi residential sights, so I would slot it farther down the priority list. I don't remember how much time I spent at Palau Guell. Probably just under 1.5 hours.

• Picasso Museum is an utter zoo most of the time. Since it's not a top priority for you, you should certainly skip it.

Many of us are puzzled about why Rick is still recommending the Ramblas walk. It is a big nothing unless you want to play spot-the-pickpockets. Spend your time in the Barri Gotic and El Born, go to the cathedral, etc. You may end up on the Ramblas at some point, anyway--such as if you go to La Boqueria. There is no need to make a special effort to walk down that street.

I haven't been to Montserrat yet. Unless getting out into the country and doing some walking is essential for you, I think you should forget about it on this trip. You have only 3 days and a few hours in Barcelona.

So far, no one has reported needing to buy tickets in advance for the Sant Pau Modernista Site, which is lovely. You can keep that one in mind if you don't want to tie yourself down by buying back-to-back entries for three days running. It's a multi-building site with attractive grounds. It's not terribly far from La Sagrada Familia. Allow at least 2-1/2 hours to see Sant Pau.

I think you'd probably have only a short wait in the ticket line at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which is on Montjuic above the Magic Fountains. It's a large museum with an interesting modernism collection (furniture and decorative art) and lovely church frescoes from the Pyrenees in addition to the expected paintings and sculptures. The city has quite a number of other art museums as well. Only the Picasso Museum gives you a sardine-can experience.

I'm also looking at the Tribute to Paco de Lucia concert. I've been to a concert with those musicians and they were excellent. I would choose that over a flamenco performance because I think a flamenco performance should be much more "up close and personal" to be enjoyed and appreciated. If you want to see the stunningly beautiful building itself, a tour is a much better option.

If you want to see a less touristy market, go to Santa Caterina instead of La Boqueria. It's where the locals shop and the architecture is lovely. According to google, it closes at 3.30 on Mon, Wed and Sat, open till 8.30 on Tues, Wed and Thurs.

The Magic Fountain is enjoyable but not different from colorful fountain shows in other places.

A couple of suggestions/ notes:

The Aero bus goes to Placa Catalunya. You would still have to figure out how to get your B&B. Suppose once you arrived at P. Catalunya, you could take the Metro from Catalunya to Verdaguer. I like the metro, but not with luggage. So maybe a taxi, but if a taxi, then you might as well take the taxi from the airport to your B&B

If you want to visit Parc Guell, get tickets in advance to enter the Monumental area, - that's what you're there to see. Otherwise it's just a park with a view. Also, how hot will be in on June Afternoon? A morning visit might be cooler and then you are free to do something untimed the rest of the day.

If you're looking for something to do without worrying about timing on that first day, Do your Ramblas/Boquiera/bari Gotic walk in the afternoon, if you're not tired. Or consider visiting Casa Battlo and.or Casa Mila (they are both near each other on the passeig de grassia) but you would be waiting in line to see these if you don't have advance tickets.

On your walking tour day, I'd take the Metro to Placa Catalunya, walk down the Las Ramblas, visit the Boquiera, walk to see the Placa Real, walk to the Bari Gotic neighborhood, see the Cathedral, and end at the waterfront near Barceloneta/ and or the Columbus statute. From here you can metro back or go somewhere else.
Consider the free (give a tip at the end) Walking tour which starts at Placa Real and visits the Bari Gotic
so. you would walk the Ramblas from Catalunya, visit the boquierna and walk to the Placa Real to catch the walking tour which would show you the Bari Gotic neighborhood and the Cathedral (which you would visit inside on your own)

If you visited Monserrat on a day the Magic fountain was showing, you could would spend the day in Monserrat on your own. The train to/from Monserrat is at Placa Espanya which is a stone's throw a way from the magic fountain, so after you got back from Monserrat, around 6pm you'd walk from the Placa Espanya station and get dinner nearby and go to the bar nearby for the fountain show at 930 pm.
After the show, you could take the Metro at Espanya back to your B&B.

If you want to visit the Picasso Museum, you should get tickets in advance for a timed entry. But it looks like you won't have time or not too interested in this.

If time is running short, consider visiting Casa Mila (la Pedrera) in the evening. They have a guided tour that includes a light show and Prosecco drink and snacks. And it won't be crowded.

We did Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell in one day and it was a nice view of Gaudi's vision. As I recall there is an elevator that takes you into the towers but you do have to climb down steps. I liked the towers because you could see the details of the roof much more clearly. I also think doing Parc Guell on the day you arrive is terrible as if you are jet lagged you won't remember much.

We did the Montserrat trip in the afternoon. We aren't big church people so we did a peripheral visit of the church. We did take the funicular up and hike part of the path and got some great shots of the valleys and the caves the monks used to use for solace. We liked the hiking better than the actual church.

I may be in the minority but the Magic Fountain wasn't that magical if you've seen others in Europe. Too many crowds. We saw the fountains from the Catalan Art Museum steps. I also think your itinerary is Gaudi heavy. I'd do a stop at the beach or at least a cable car ride up to Montjuic.

I don't know why Rick keeps promoting Ramblas walks as it now just a bunch of tacky shops catering to tourists. We walked a bit then moved on to the side streets. Finally if you are using the Metro buy a 10 card ticket at any station. You can both use the card-just put your ticket into the gate slot and then hand it back to the next person.