Barcelona in 5 days

There's extensive answers from Enric in Barcelona recently if you search Barcelona on the website here. He's amazingly helpful. There's a couple of threads from the past two weeks.

We have not yet taken these tours, but we plan to use this company for a walking tour in April: www.runnerbeantours.com.
They come highly recommended on this website and others.

DAY 1 Ramblas & Bari Gotico
Metro to Placa de Catalunya, Barcelona’s main square
Explore the Ramblas from top to bottom taking side diversions
On the right C. d’Elisabets to the museums MACBA and CCCB (check for current exhibits)
Further down to La Boqueria markets
Left side thru the Gothic Quarter via Placa del Pi & Placa de Sant Felip Neri to the Cathedral
Placa del Rei and the wide Placa Sant Jaume flanked by official buildings of the city and state
Head down the shopping street C. De Ferran returning to the Ramblas at the Liceu opera house
Further along and left to Placa Reial, harmonious enclosed square with palm trees & Gaudi lanterns
And then Palau Guell (Gaudi) off on the right
Finally the port and the column with Christopher Columbus gesturing towards the new world
Metro Drassanes is close by

DAY 2 Gaudi & Modernism
Metro to Sagrada Familia for Gaudi’s masterpiece, still under construction – PREBOOK TICKETS !!
Walk down the Av de Gaudi to Europe’s largest Art Nouveau site, the hospital complex of Sant Pau
Metro across town to Diagonal and on to the Passeig de Gracia for Casa Mila (Gaudi)
Walk down Barcelona’s majestic boulevard to crazy colourful Casa Batllo (Gaudi)
Casa Amatller is next door and the Loewe store on the corner is in Casa Lleo i Morera
Finish at Gran Via – Metro Passeig de Gracia is closeby

DAY 3 El Born & Barceloneta
Metro to Arc de Triomf
10 min walk to Palau de la Musica Catalana – PREBOOK TICKETS !!
Through the revitalised area of El Born to the Picasso Museum – PREBOOK TICKETS !!
On to Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar and then into the Parc de la Ciutedella for a relaxing circuit
Past the historic railway station, Estacio de Franca to the old fisherman’s village, Barceloneta
The ‘D’ shaped W Hotel stands at the port entrance
Walk the other way along the beachfront towards Frank Gehry’s glimmering ‘Fish’ sculpture
Finish at the Hotel Arts and Port Olimpic – Metro Ciutedella / Vila Olimpica is close by

DAY 4 Park Guell & Montjuic
Start your day at Gaudi’s fantasy like Park Guell – PREBOOK TICKETS !!
Metro to Placa d’Espanya
Les Arenes, once the bullring, now housing shops & restaurants (fighting is banned in BCN)
2 large towers opposite and the Av de la Reina Marina Cristina towards the Palau Nacional
This area of exhibition space was the site of a Universal Expo in 1929
(Barcelona had Olympic visions way back then but the Spanish Civil War put them on hold)
Caixa Forum and Mies van der Rohe Pavilion are both worth a look
Escalators to the Palau and the MNAC museum, well worthy of a visit
The Anella Olimpica (Stadium, Palau St Jordi, Communications Tower) is laid out behind
Now back down the hill to the excellent Miro Museum (Fundacio Miro)
Piscina Municipal, the spectacular venue for Olympic diving is close by
Along Av. Miramar to the teleferic up to Montjuic Castle, or the funicular down to Metro at Parallel

DAY 5 Day Trip
Excursions out of the city are easy to places such as Montserrat, Girona, Figueres, Sitges, Tarragona

Hit the TI at the top of Los Rambles. We have taken several excellent walking tours from local guides through the TI. The TI can recommend tours outside of the city. We have taken the same walking tour with a different guide and had a completely different tour.