Barcelona

You want to visit the Sagrada Familia meaning you must buy tickets before leaving home to get inside due to the long line. You also want to visit the Picasso Museum. Buy Rick Steves Barcelona guidebook with an updated version available in June (7th edition): https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/barcelona-guidebook.
Barcelona is a city you want to take walking tours Rick Steves designed so you don’t miss anything. Stay in the Bari Gotic neighborhood so you’re fully emerged in Catalunia’s history and rich culture.

Rick has his top sightseeing suggestions for many major cities, including Barcelona, on this website.

Barcelona sightseeing < Click on "At a Glance"

If you want to visit any of these sights, you need to buy tickets ahead of time. If you just walk up, empty-handed, you'll almost certainly be in a very, very long ticket line.

La Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
Casa Mila/La Pedrera
Casa Batllo
Picasso Museum

In addition, the English tours at the Palas de la Musica Catalana can sell out, so that's another ticket to be arranged in advance.

All those tickets will be timed, so you need to give some thought to how much time you might spend at each place, as well as how long it will take you to get there from your previous stop. Barcelona sightseeing tickets are rather expensive. It's a shame to have to rush through something you're enjoying because you're due to be somewhere else soon.

It's smart to take advantage of ever morning you wake up in Barcelona by scheduling one of the tough, reserved-ahead sights first thing in the morning. That will mean less stress from having things scheduled back-to-back.

I stayed at this hotel, on a pedestrian street about a block from Plaza Catalunya, a few years ago. It was quiet, clean, and comfortable, with a good breakfast, and very well located for sightseeing. There are many other choices, see what you find in booking.com.

Yes--take a look at RS recommendations for what to see in Barcelona. We particularly enjoyed Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Cathedral, Cuitadella Park, Montjuic Hill, and a walk through the Barceloneta Beach area.

Definitely recommend the Gaudi sights- Sagrada Familia. Casa Battlo, Casa Milla and Parc Guell. I booked my tickets/tours on their specific websites. Palau Musica Catalunya is a beautiful music hall and I booked my ticket on their website as well. Also highly recommend a food tour. I did the Devour Tapas tour- 3 hour walking tour of the Gothic Quarter that includes stopping at 3 different tapas bars and sampling 3-4 dishes in each. It was a fun and satisfying way to spend an evening.

Highly recommend Hotel Praktik Rambla — excellent location, lovely room, and gracious, helpful staff. Also, loved Recinte Modernista de San Pau — a short walk from Sagrada Familia, gorgeous, uncrowded.