Advance tickets for Sagrada and Park Guell

We bought our tickets for both a few days before we left on our vacation, with printed tickets in hand. I don't know if you can show them the tickets on your phone, but I wouldn't want to risk technical difficulties.

We saw them on separate days - that worked for us.

Both the Monumental Zone of Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia are terribly crowded, and this may affect how long you want to stay. We barely made it an hour in each one. We spent more time walking in the free part of the park than we did iin the Monumental Zone.

After visiting the Sagrada Familia, I suggest that you take the 10 minute walk to Saint Pau - the Modernista hospital complex designed by Montaner. I much preferred this to the Sagrada Familia. No need to buy tickets in advance.

You alone know what will work best for your group. Have a great trip!

Thanks @traylaparks!
I would definitely like to see the hospital as I'm in the medical field :)

What is included in the free part of Park guell?

Nice trails with views of Barcelona - you can see the sea - and of the Monumental Zone. There are some houses - not sure of the Gaudi connection.

We just returned from Barcelona and did both Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia the same day. We stayed near Plaza Catalunya and took the bus to Park Guell then grabbed a taxi to Sagrada Familia.

I would encourage you to buy your tickets online in advance. Especially if you want to get entrance to all of Park Guell - as part of it is free and part of it has access only if you purchased a ticket.

Just a heads up - I'd definitely get Sagrada Familia tickets with an audio guide (I think the cheapest ticket possible doesn't include one). Additionally - you can get a ticket that includes an elevator ride up in one of the towers (Passion or Nativity). While its neat to be able to go up in one of the towers - a couple of things. The views aren't as great as you might expect - and there is no elevator down - its a 400 step descent - alot of down a winding, narrow spiral staircase. If it were me - I would still buy a ticket with tower access - but if anybody in your party has issues with alot of steps in a narrow staircase - you might want to rethink it.

Have a great trip! Barcelona is a wonderful city.

I agree with Dave, there is no need in purchasing the ticket to go up the tower of Sagrada Familia. The interiors and exteriors are beautiful. But the views over the city are much nicer from Mirador del Tibidabo or from Montjuic Hill. The tower is normally packed, there is a queue for the lift and there are some remains of scaffolding.

... the reason for going up the towers is not to see the views, after all, a height of 180ft doesn't give you much perspective anyway, but to see close-ups of the magnificent details of the façades: such as this, or this among many other.

Hey Kris. You can always buy them easily on the websites like ticketmaster.com. If you have problems you can also contact companies like https://nicebarcelona.com or www.barcelonaturisme.com
They will also be able to help you very well. Always be careful to buy tickets from official partners, just in case :-)
Another spot to buy on site is at the "la caixa" atm machines. You'll pay a euro extra but it works perfectly. That's where I usually tell friends to buy them once they are here. But if you'd like to book in advance, go to one of those websites.
Enjoy your trip!! :-)

Well, this is, of course, debatable, but in general, I always advise to pre-book any attraction at the source, not thru intermediaries (except www.barcelonaturisme.com which is the official Tourism Information site and charges no extra commission). Thus, for Sagrada Família, it's far better to go to www.sagradafamilia.org

To clarify: Although I have often mentioned that one can buy tickets to a lot of Barcelona's attractions at the tourist office (I used the one under Placa Catalunya), as of 2015 there was an extra fee of 1 euro per ticket when you made the purchase in person. I usually avoid fees like that, but buying four tickets at one time and place was convenient, and the tourist office has a lot of very useful English-language brochures available. This technique works best for those with a lot of time in the city. If you only have a few days, it could prove essential to get some of the tickets before you arrive.

Thanks for the replies! I have booked for the Sagrada with audio guide, no tower ( the teenagers usually get restless) and I'm waiting to pick the best weather day for Park Guell. I'm so excited!

If I may boldly be a little nitpickety.
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is usually just referred to as the ‘Sagrada Família‘. Shortening even further to ‘Sagrada’ is like referring to the Empire State Buikding as the ‘Empire’, or the Golden Gate Bridge as the ‘Golden’.

Ditto David, thanks :)