I’m spending 4 nights and 3 days in Barcelona before flying to Mallorca. I’ve done very little of my own research and hoping some savvy travels can recommend top/must do sight seeing for a first time visit. Any tickets I should purchase in advance? Any restaurants or neighborhoods to walk around. Things to avoid or be mindful of? Appreciate any insight or ideas. Thanks!
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I've been there a couple of times and my son lived there for a semester. Barcelona is awesome. I'm a Gaudi fan, so that and food was a big focus for me. My recommendations reflect that.
We stayed in Gracia near a well connected metro stop. It was nice to be in a neighborhood filled with workaday people, bakeries, restaurants etc. We chose a hotel and for your length of stay, that's absolutely what I'd recommend (beside the fact that short term rentals are a growing problem for locals)
Modernist Architecture - Rick has a walking tour and you can find a ton of google maps to augment that with more stops. You have to get tickets early for Sagrada Familia. There are lots of threads on this. We went in the evening to catch that light and avoid the heat of midday but there isn't a "bad" time to see this masterpiece. I would tack that to a visit to Hospital Sant Pau; it's never crowded, it's connected to Sagrada Familia by a pedestrian street with cafes and wine bars. You won't need an advanced ticket. We did a daytime tour of the ridiculously beautiful Palau de la Musica Cantania. That was a highlight for us. We also took advantage of the advance "Magical Nights" ticket to see Casa Batllo and then go up on the roof for a flamenco concert. It was a lot of fun. We splurged for the expensive ticket but the real benefit was you saw the Casa when it was pretty empty. The cheaper tix are otherwise the same. La Pedrera is also super popular and has a similar program.
Nick Lloyd's Spanish Civil War walking tour is excellent and particularly relevant to the times. Contact him directly via WhatsApp or email.
The food and vermut culture is really fun. We visited La Boqueria market a couple of times. It's a madhouse; especially at lunchtime so plan accordingly. That might be a fun place to do a food walking tour. Otherwise, bear in mind that the eat very late. Restaurants may not even open until 9:00. We ate a lot of tapas mostly but we had a pretty great meal at Botafumeiro. Can Pizza is solid if you want your Neapolitan pizza fix to refuel.