4.5 Days in Barcelona--Itinerary Building Suggestions

If you plan on arriving around two or three pm that means you’ll need to depart Malaga before 8a: https://www.renfe.com/es/en. The train takes 7h which is a full day. By the time you arrive, find your hotel/Airbnb and settle in, early evening will be approaching. Don't make arrival day a sight-seeing day.
Have you bought Rick Steves Spain 18th edition guidebook? If you buy his book, you’ll have access to all his self-guided walking tours. I would take all of Rick’s self-guided walks so you don’t miss seeing anything.
Buy tickets for both the Picasso Museum, Sagrada Familia and Dali’s Theatre-Museum before leaving home. If you don’t, you may not get in. When buying tickets for the cathedral, don’t buy tickets for views from the tower unless you want to see the streets grid pattern. The best views are eye level not from the nose bleed section.
On day one, visit the Picasso Museum first thing in the morning when you have the most energy and afterwards take Rick’s Barcelona City Walk; Google maps will come in handy. When you see an inviting place to sit down El fresco style do it.
On day two, visit the Sagrada Familia first thing in the morning then take Rick’s self-guided Eixample walk.
On day three, take the slow train from Barcelona Todas station to Figueres (not Figueres Vilafant station because it’s further away from the Dali Theatre-Museum). When you get off the train follow the crowd.

Thanks for the response!

Yeah, I'm definitely going to shy away from any major sight-seeing the day I arrive and get all of my stuff put down wherever I'm staying (still debating about hotel vs hostel), but I was curious if there are any recommended parks, promenades, or beaches to stroll around for a bit before grabbing dinner since I'll probably have a couple of hours to kill before heading out to eat.

I'll admit that I haven't gotten that guidebook, though his website and suggested itineraries have been extremely helpful, but I was wondering if it would be worth purchasing. I noticed that a couple of his audio tours are available for free on his website, so I'm curious if the guidebook has additional content that may be helpful in enjoying the city.

Also, thanks for the suggestions for my Barcelona itinerary and advice for the day-trip to Figueres about which type of train and train station to visit, something that I probably wouldn't have figured out until it was too late. I was curious if, for my last day (because I'll have four full days in Barcelona), it'd be worth it to go to Sitges for a day. From what I've seen online, it's got great beaches and a thriving gay culture, two things that initially drew me towards it, and I was wondering if it'd be a good place to have a relaxing beach day.

Hi. You will need minimum 3 days to enjoy any big city in a relaxed manner (which is important in EU -absorbing the sights and sounds, rather than frantic sightseeing). So plan side trips accordingly. If you are big into museums (europe has a lot!) then even more time! If in the middle of your trip, you discover extra time or get a recommendation from a fellow traveler, its easy to go on a day trip on a whim. So - don't overfill your schedule- but keep a couple of ideas in back pocket.

Sagrada Familia, Palau Musica, Casa Batllo are open on mondays. Saagrada is crowded during thr day but i have heard late afternoons are not a bad time to visit. If u r arriving 3 pm by the time to check in and freshen up, it will be 5 pm. Just walking around the city of one of the tours above make you feel good.

You asked about places to stroll: La Rambla and gothic quarter are popular. Any of the major squares are fun places: placa reial or catlunya.

A walking tour (free or paid) of the city the next morning will give you a good overview of the city. You can follow Rick's audio/itinerary but the walking tours are an inexpensive way to get a full overview of major spots.

P.S. this forum as experts living in Barca. But i will be in Barcelona next weekend. Happy to help - pl reach out. I am a huge Rick fanboy but if you like more structured approach and lists, Top 10 guidebooks are also great.

Hostels vs hotels: stay/ed in both. If you are light sleeper, hostels can be a problem. Also be okay with shared bathrooms - they are quite clean in the good hostels. But if you are outgoing you will meet a lot of interesting people. Even if you are not (i am not), you will not feel alone as a solo traveler and meet many others. I enjoy hostels - if you select a good one and go for either private rooms or rooms with minimum shared beds. Also very cost effective! They are often in the center or the city - and Rick will tell you that matters!

Rick’s guidebook is excellent and is way better than this website: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/spain-guidebook.
Park Guell is open until 7:30p. You can take a bus that gives you a pretty good tour of Barcelona.
I’ve never been to Sitges so I can’t say. You need a minimum of three nights for Barcelona and if you add day trips you need to add a night per trip.

Rick's guidebooks are usually very helpful for saving money. He'll help you avoid costly mistakes.

The Ramblas is, to me, just a street--albeit one with a lot of people walking along it. Unfortunately, some of those folks are highly skilled pickpockets. Barcelona has more than its share and the Ramblas is a happy hunting ground. If you wander into crowds, especially on your first day when you may not be mentally sharp, be very careful of your belongings. If you're male, don't make the mistake of assuming a front pocket is a safe place for your wallet.

Barcelona has an exceptionally high percentage of sights open 7 days a week. In addition to the ones already mentioned, you have: Casa Mila/La Pedrera, Parc Guell, Sant Pau Recinte Modernista and the Picasso Museum. A lot of the sights are open into the evening as well, so you can stretch your sightseeing days if you need to.

Of the sights mentioned so far, all except the San Pau modernista site really call for buying tickets in advance. Probably not far in advance--I don't think we've had reports of sell-outs weeks in advance. (You can check the ticket situation on each websites by pretending to buy a ticket for the immediate future.) The problem is the length of the ticket lines. You do not want to spend an hour, or more in the ticket line, and quite likely be sold a ticket for a few hours later. That makes for extremely inefficient sightseeing. It's helpful for scheduling purposes to start each day you'll spend in town with an early entry time at one of the very popular sights, and those early time slots seem to be the first to sell out.

Taking one of the slower trains to Figueres station may be the right thing for you to do, because you'll be able to wait to buy the ticket until the day of travel if you want to; tickets on the fast trains would be a lot more expensive if bought on the day of the trip. However, there's quite a time difference. The fast trains to Figueres Vilafant take about 55 minutes; the slow trains to Figueres station take at least 101 minutes. Both leave you with a walk to the Dali Theatre-Museum if you don't catch the city bus. I think its schedule is aligned with the fast trains, at least, but if your train is late the bus won't hang around, waiting. The difference in walking time to the DTM from the two stations is probably not much more than 10 minutes.

I'm a big fan of Girona and have found on two occasions that a full day there wasn't enough for me to fully explore the medieval center. If I were going to try to see both Girona and the DTM on a single day (which I wouldn't do, but many travelers do that), I wouldn't want to spend 3 hr. 20 min. (or more) sitting on trains. As in Figueres, when you step off the train in Girona, you have something of a walk to get to where you want to be, so the travel time is actually longer than indicated by the train schedule.

Runner Bean Tours have 2 excellent free walking tours. Also the Dark Past Night Tour (small fee) is great too. Took all of them on our trip to Barcelona. Check out runnerbeantours.com

Hey everyone. Just want to thank you for all your suggestions. I've decided to configure my travel schedule to give myself an extra day in Barcelona, bringing the total up to 5.5 days in the city, so 3.5 days to soak in the city and 2 days open to explore nearby areas or just continue to check out the city.

Shaun, thanks for the information about the opening dates and times, which will be useful as I figure out how I want to spend time in Barcelona, and the suggestions about nice places to roam around. Also, I'll be sure to look into the walking tours, and if possible, I'd love to know how your trip next week in Barcelona goes, and if there's anything interesting you discover! I too am also not particularly outgoing, but I'm glad that you had positive experiences with hostels, and it's making me a bit more interested in trying them out. I don't particularly mind shared bathrooms (my current college housing has those), but a private room is a nearly must for me, so I'll start searching.

MaryPat, thanks for the link to purchasing the guidebook and more information. Given how highly recommended it is, I'll probably buy a copy.

acravan, thanks for the heads up about Las Ramblas. I'll admit that I'm a bit paranoid about being pickpocketed, so I'll definitely be aware of avoiding these crowded areas while I'm still getting used to the city. I'm a bit surprised that many attractions are open until the evening, but that'll be a real help when planning out sightseeing some of the less crowded locations, and yes, I'm planning on heading to the most popular attractions earlier in the morning to beat the crowds. Also, thanks for the advice about the Figueres train station situation, which has definitely been a bit confusing. While I know that going to Figueres and Girona within a single day isn't particularly ideal, even if it's a popular choice, if I find myself entranced by Girona like you did, then I'll keep it in mind as a place I'd visit again sometime in the future to explore further.

sdw, thanks for the resource, and I'll check it out tomorrow.

You might want to contact the Picasso Museum before booking a ticket. We didn’t and we’re disappointed to find that more than half of its best-known pieces were out on loan.

Wanderlust, thanks for informing me about that!

If you have any interest in wine, then I would suggest a day trip to Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. It is an easy train ride from Barcelona. The tour and tasting of the cavas at Codorniu Winery is terrific. https://www.codorniu.com/en/visits/our-visits/groups-codorniu-discovery-tour There are also other wineries in the area.
You can also include a visit to Simon Coll Chocolates. https://espaixocolata.simoncoll.com/en/#reserva-visita

TravelBug, I don't drink, but thanks for the recommendations!

@acraven thanks for comments on Girona and for the front pockets are not safe!

Any thoughts on Montserrat? A 6 hour day trip and often a top day trip recommendation

@solotravel pl look up reviews on hostelworld.com to find the good ones. Many hostels have tens of thousands of reviews!

We did a week in Barcelona in 2011--a while back now. We did many of the big sights--Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Born, Ramblas (though that is more of means of getting to other places), Picasso, and Cathedral. But we also really enjoyed taking the tram up to Montjuc Hill (Olympic Stadium, Castle, Botanical Garden), the Cuitadella Park, walking the beach, and taking in the view from the top of the W Hotel at the end of the beach. We also did a day trip by train to Sitges.