5 days in Barcelona

Subtracting one day to Montserrat, you have 4 days. That's not enough to begin to see Barcelona. 2 days for Gaudi. 1 day for Gothic quarter, 1 day for the rest.

Ditto : )....

You need a guidebook. Barcelona has a great variety of sights from which to choose.

Take some of your money to go to the guided tour on Palau de La Musica Catalana. Really beautiful and worthed. My favorite tourist point in Barcelona.

There is this place called Champanheria where you can have a really cheap cava (spanish champagne) with a sandwich. It costs around 4€. It's always full of young people. It's close to Barceloneta, you can ask around.

I've been to Barcelona 3 times and still haven't been to Monserrat, there were too many other places that called to me. I'd recommend a day trip to Figueres and Girona. The Dali Theatre and Clock/Jewel Museum are in Figueres and are wonderful. Get there by train when they open, then spend the afternoon/evening in Girona and explore its well preserved medieval center on the way back to Barcelona. But if you are committed to a Monserrat day trip, that's probably the only one you should do on a 5-day visit.

MNAC is a wonderful art museum. Second the rec for the Palau de la Musica. I'm not a Gaudi fan but I think everyone should see his still-being-built masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia. Runnerbean and the TI offer good walking tours. If your days include a Sunday, the old city hall is open to visitors from 10 to 1 or 1.30 pm (free). Look for a castellers performance in Barcelona.

I've only listed my faves. 5 days is enough to scratch the surface, no more. Eat and drink - everything. Try the vermut (sweet and strong, good on a warm afternoon). Churros!!!

I disagree with those suggesting 4 days is not enough to see and enjoy the main sights of Barcelona. That's not to say there isn't much to see, and one could certainly spend longer. But Barcelona, whilst better than Madrid in tourist terms, is not Rome, London or Paris and doesn't have the depth and breadth of sights they do. With 4 days and another on a day-trip, you can definitely see much of what makes Barcelona so popular. Of course if you want to visit every modernisme building and each art gallery, you need longer. But how many of us really want to do that? It reminds me of those who point out Budapest has over 100 museums - which may be true, but doesn't mean there are 100 you'd actually want to visit.

With four days you can have a great trip to Barcelona. I wouldn't plan it by styles, but zones. Nevertheless, this seems a good starting point apart from missing Camp Nou:

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/barcelona-itinerary

I spent 7 nights there back in September on my first visit. Ran out of time and didn't get to see everything I wanted.
I'd skip the Monserrat trip and spend the whole time in Barcelona - get the most out of your 5 days. Maybe plan on only two major sites per day to allow you some time to just wander and enjoy the wonderful architecture, the great food and the friendly people. I loved, loved, loved Barcelona. Would love to go back and live there for a few months.

Oh, and for most of the major sites you need to pre-purchase your tickets. Happy planning

I just got back from Barcelona with my wife and two kids. We spent 3.5 days there and basically saw everything we had hoped to see: Gothic Walk, El Born Walk, Gracia Walk (not in RS book, but we did our own), La Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Catalan Music, Picasso, Montjuic, Citadel Park, Harbor/Waterfront, Palau Guell and Park Guell (we skipped Casa Battlo because of the renovation, and it wasn't beach season).

With one extra day, like you have, we would have taken a daytrip. But if practical, I would save it for the end of the trip, in case you decide you don't want to leave Barcelona.

We spent 4 nights in Barcelona and were able to see everything on our itinerary. We took the Runnerbean tours of the Gothic area as well as the Gaudi Tour. www.runnerbean.com.
We did these tours at the beginning of our stay which gave us a feel for the city.

Our top sites were: La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Boqueria Market, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Picasso Museum, **tour of Palau de la Música Catalana, Joan Miró Museum, and best view from top of El Cortes Ingles Department store. The basement is a great place to pick up some gourmet souvenirs.

I am going to contradict some others - do the Montserrat trip. It is your vacation and if that is a priority for you, do it! You will not regret it.