Barcelona in a Day - Looking for Advice and Help with Touring

Have you booked your tickets to venues you want to see yet, or were you thinking of a tour that would get them for you?

Hoping to get a tour that'll include it. If I can't, I'm hoping someone could suggest a great itinerary.
Thanks!

Hi Melanie,

With such a short time, you won't be able to see much. In fact, you’ll hardly scratch the surface. Most visitors agree that it takes between 4 and 5 full days to get a first feel for Barcelona. Keep that in mind.

That said, everyone has the time they have, so let’s see how to optimize yours:

First, it's not a good idea to try and fit everything into an "organised tour." Not only will it cost you much more—something you can easily organize yourself—but you’ll also have a hard time finding one that offers exactly what you need. In highly visited cities, tour operators typically don’t offer many "tour packages" because the local tourism infrastructure is so sophisticated that they become economically unviable.

So, my advice is to plan your visits on your own—meaning you should book the tickets yourself on the official websites of each place you want to visit.

Regarding "fast tickets": this is usually more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. The main attractions (or the more popular ones) have two lines: one to buy the ticket and another to enter. I explained how this works in another post just yesterday: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/barcelona-trip-b1f9ef38-e4f2-49ee-92c3-1f594cf309b0

Personally, for various subtle reasons, I would follow this plan:

DAY 1:

• Whenever you're ready, head towards Barri Gòtic, part of Ciutat Vella (the Old Town), and wander around. You can spend hours there. If you feel like it, take a walking tour (free or not, e.g., runnerbeantours.com). This way, you optimize your time since the guides will take you through the most emblematic things to see in this part of the city.
• 8pm: CASA BATLLÓ

DAY 2:

• 10am: PARK GÜELL
• 12pm: Head on foot towards Gràcia, have lunch somewhere in that bohemian neighborhood, and continue towards Sagrada Família. See: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/infox-in-bcn-visiting-the-sagrada-familia-and-then-park-guell-or-the-other-way-around
• 4pm: SAGRADA FAMÍLIA
  

Enjoy!

I know my timing is very tight. That's why I'm trying to pack in so much in little time.
THANK YOU very much for this itinerary. I have proposed it to my group and I'm pretty sure they will be on board. I truly appreciate your time and your expertise.

Always nice to have a local's perspective!

My pleasure Mel.

Ah yes, I missed the detail about the person with hip problems... sorry about that.

Although my recommendation remains the same, here's some additional information:

• Park Güell is located on one of the seven hills of Barcelona... while it has "gentle" inclines and declines, the park is NOT flat.
• There are several ways to get to Park Güell, but in your case, don't overthink it. Since there are four of you, take a taxi and have it drop you off at the upper part of the park, for example, at the entrance on Avinguda de Coll del Portell... this way, your visit inside the park will be "downhill" until you reach the main entrance. Tell the taxi driver that you want this entrance; otherwise, by default, he will take you to the main entrance.
• From Park Güell to Gràcia, and then to Sagrada Família, everything is downhill with gentle inclines when you reach Gràcia. From Gràcia to Sagrada Família, you will be walking on flat streets.

And buy those tickets ASAP. People have posted on the forum about struggling with the official La Sagrada Familia website. They seem to want 2-factor authorization for US credit cards. You can use the forum’s search feature for solutions if you run into problems.

Definitely will buy ASAP -- as soon as my group decides which option they want.
Thank you for the head's up, though :)