Barcelona Card

Which sights are you concerned about?

I didn't purchase a Barcelona Card because I figured I wouldn't get to the sights fast enough to make it pay, so I don't know how card holders are handled at the point of entry. I would expect a guide book to address that point.

How long will you be in Barcelona? We've visited there on 3 previous occasions. Two of these were 1-day affairs and we didn't get the BC. The third visit we were there for 3 days and nights and moved around in the city a great deal during the day and well into the evening, on the buses and Metro. For us, the Euro 50+ price for the 3 day card was a good value as we were probably on buses or the Metro a minimum of 10 times a day for the 3 days. I think we used the card a few times for discounts on admissions, but our age (we're old) qualified us for other discounts that were more beneficial to us than the Card.

How many on line admission purchases are you planning? I noted the BC provides "free" admission to the Miro, Picasso and MNAC museums, Were these among the on line purchases you were planning?

We're not well-versed on the queues for all the museums and attractions, but in the case of the La Pedrera, the Palau de la Musica Catalana and Sant Pau Recinte Modernista we had no wait to speak of on our last visit a year ago. Perhaps we were just lucky. Sagrada Familia is a totally different matter, advance purchase of admission is (as frequently noted on the Barcelona Forum) a must, but this venue isn't covered on the BC anyhow, unless I'm mistaken.

If you have flexibility when you can visit the places you want to see, perhaps you can do some research on this and other RS topics, and arrange your days in Barcelona to avoid "peak" visitation times for some of the venues, so you'll make better use of the BC and discounts/free admission that it offers. If you pre-schedule most of what you want to visit, you may, arguably, be constrained, by your pre-set entry times.

Jon was extremely lucky to encounter no significant line at La Pedrera, but it's common to be able to walk right into Sant Pau. As the word spreads about it (they're advertising rather heavily), I fear that will change. The Palau de la Musica Catalana requires a tour. English tours are very frequent, but you might have to wait through a tour cycle or two if you do not pre-book. The task is probably greater if there are more than two of you.

Rides on the Metro and buses in Barcelona cost only about €1 each if you buy a T10 ticket that's good for ten rides. Multiple people can share the ticket; you just validate one time for each person in your group. Therefore, I don't think the transportation benefits of the Barcelona Card are advantageous enough to tip the balance for most people. Barcelona is a great city for walking, though Parc Guell will require some form of transportation.

In terms of the sightseeing benefits, you have to figure out not just what you want to see but what you realistically can see. The sights are fairly scattered, most of them take at least 90 minutes plus travel time, and even if there's a way to pre-reserve a time-slot with the card (sorry that no one has been able to answer that question so far), you may not necessarily get in the building at that time.

I emailed Casa Batlló about getting tickets online with Barcelona Card discount, their answer was, "With the Barcelona Card, you need to buy your tickets in our ticket office, they cannot be sold online." So that's one data point. Haven't checked with the other sites yet but probably get the same answer.

I'm interested in watching a performance at Palau de la Música Catalana. VIP tickets are 50e and Barcelona Card supposedly offer a 20% discount.

BTW, I've emailed to several major Barcelona sites and was pleasantly surprised on how responsive they are to my inquires.

I think better value is to be found with Articket BCN for museums and using a T10 ticket for metro.
http://articketbcn.org