Barcelona Itinerary

Roger, you're right that there is much to do in Barcelona. I had ten days there plus extra days for Girona/Cadaques and I never got around to Montserrat, nor did I have an interest in Camp Nou. I spent an unholy amount of time tracking down modernista sights. I can only offer a few general tips:

• Get a map of Barcelona (you can print something out from an online source if necessary) and mark the locations of the sights you're potentially interested in. Use that as a guide for grouping attractions so you don't waste a lot of time zigzagging around. Barcelona's streets are full of interesting buildings, but even an efficient itinerary will give you lots of opportunities for walking!

• Be honest with yourself about what you're not much interested in and skip it!

• Pay attention to online/guidebook info about places with long ticket lines, and take action to avoid them. You have a long trip and do not need to prebook a lot of stuff before leaving for Barcelona. Maybe just book one or two sights for your first full day or two (not your jetlag day if Barcelona is your arrival city). You can book most places online via your smartphone. If you run into a problem, the tourist office under Pl. Catalunya sells a lot of the tickets for a 1-euro service fee per ticket. I believe Enric mentioned another place that sells tickets, but I don't remember where it is.

I know other people do it, but I cannot imagine arriving in a city like Barcelona with a mostly-pre-booked hour-by-hour itinerary to adhere to. What if I get a bit tired of art museums, or modernista architecture? What if it is pouring rain on my Montserrat day?

Get tickets in advance for: La Sagrada Familia (second booking needed for tower ascent), Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila/La Pedrera, Palau de la Musica Catalana (tour required), Camp Nou (this may need a lot of lead time--I don't know anything about it), Picasso Museum. The more of them you can schedule (if you want to see them, that is) when they first open in the morning, the more pleasant they will be, crowd-wise.

• It's difficult to predict time per sight (except for the tour of PdlMC and perhaps Camp Nou??), so try to avoid booking back-to-back scheduled sights. Figure that you can spend some time walking around the nearest interesting neighborhood or getting lunch or a snack between Sight A and Sight B. If you find that you love the modernista stuff, there's a small museum about 3 blocks from Casa Batllo. (The website isn't in English but the explanatory material at the museum is.) That could be a fill-in if you have extra time in that area.

La Sagrada Familia: at least 90 minutes without climbing a tower, allowing for a bit of time in the museum and shop. If interested in the design/construction of the church, the museum could take more time. Suggest getting first possible entry time for the church itself so you have some time before it gets too crowded. Booking 48 hours ahead worked for me.

Parc Guell: Depends a lot on whether you want to see only the ticketed part of the park. If you want to see the gatekeeper's cottage, get Parc ticket for first time slot and line up immediately for the cottage. Suggest doing Parc Guell first thing in the AM and not booking anything else for the morning. It takes a while to get to this location. Bus or taxi is best; it's a 1-mile uphill walk from the Metro.

Casa Batllo: at least 90 minutes. Crowds will slow you down here.

Casa Mila: at least 90 minutes excluding time spent on the top-floor exhibit related to other Gaudi buildings, which could easily be another 90 minutes or longer.

Palau de la Musica Catalana: about 1 hour.

Picasso Museum: an unbelievable zoo. At least two hours, but you may need more time because of the crowding. Folks not really interested in Picasso should skip this.

If you have 9 full days to play with then schedule your odd days in the city and make day trips out of town on your even days.

Day 1
-Sagrada Familia
-Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila & Casa Batllo

Day 2
-Ramblas - Boqueria markets & Placa Real
-Bari Gotico - Cathedral

Day 3
-Montjuic - MNAC & Miro
-Barceloneta

Day 4
-Palau de la Musica Catalana
-El Born - Picasso Museum, Basilica Santa Maria del Mar & Parc de la Ciutadella

Day 5
-Park Guell
-Nou Camp

Day 6
-Montserrat

Day 7
-Girona (& Figueres)

Day 8
-Tarragona

Day 9
-Sitges (or cava cellars of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia)

Continuing...

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) has a wide-ranging collection. I spent 5 hours there over two visits. There are wonderful early frescoes rescued from Pyrenees churches, other architectural elements, and a nice modernism collection in addition to the expected paintings. It's busy but I didn't experience significant crowds in early August. Even with the escalators it takes some time to walk up to MNAC from Pl. Espanya.

Fundacio Joan Miro, also on Montjuic is a well-laid-out museum with plenty of space. The permanent collection is all Miro. Skip it if you're not a Miro fan. I think I spent about 2 hours here, but walking from place to place on Montjuic takes time.

Museu Frederic Mares: I really enjoyed this place, a one-man's-collection museum. It probably wouldn't be high on most people's lists. Two hours wasn't long enough for me.

There are, of course, many other worthwhile museums in Barcelona. Many have special exhibitions, so a lot depends on what's going on at the time of your visit and how much it interests you.

This is Enric's very helpful and detailed November 2016 thread about visiting Montserrat.

Since you mentioned Girona:

The Museu Nacional de Bellas Artes is of modest size but very enjoyable. I especially recommend it if you do not have time for MNAC in Barcelona (though you'll miss out on the church frescoes). I think 2 hours might be enough here. I had less time and was really frustrated at having to leave so soon.

Both of the cathedrals have English-language audio guides. I've found that they mean at least a one-hour visit to just about any church, sometimes longer. You could spend more than a full day just walking the streets in the historic district.

Was in Barcelona in October for 7 days. One of the best things we did was see a flamenco guitar concert in the Palau de Musica. The tickets were reasonably priced. They had excellent flameco dancers as well as a guitar master performing. We roamed around before the show and checked out the awesome architecture inside. The concerts are usually late like 8:30 PM so it is a great evening activity.

acraven's advice and comments are solid.

You can visit Figueres (Dali Museum) early and then spend most of the afternoon and early evening in Girona. That's another day. That leaves you 7 days (maybe 6, depending on your arrival/departure times).

Palau de la Musica is a guided tour that takes 1.5 hours. Allow another 15 minutes or so to see the cafeteria (reasonable prices if you want to have a drink/snack) and lobby. This was one of my very favorite places in Barcelona.

If you want opinions on what to see, you'll have to post your wish list. There are several museums on Montjuic, plus a couple other sights. To see them all, you'll need more than one full day. But most people don't want to see them all.

La Boqueria Market is a covered market, similar to markets in many Spanish cities. It's in the middle of the Rambla, chances are you'll walk past it more than once. It's a little more touristy than most - locals who shop in the center of Barcelona go to the nearby Santa Caterina Market, where prices are lower.

"Museu Frederic Mares: I really enjoyed this place, a one-man's-collection museum. It probably wouldn't be high on most people's lists. Two hours wasn't long enough for me."

It was high on MY list - I really enjoyed it. There's some gorgeous sculptures, as well as his intriguing collections of pipes, snuff boxes, fans, and other things.

The MNAC, on the other hand, is enormous. The fact that your entry ticket is good for two days is the first clue to its size. I only had one day, so I only saw the upper floor (I would have had to return to see the lower one, and as you say, there wasn't enough time).

In Girona, there's a very interesting cinema museum. It's quite different from most others, in that it has extensive exhibits on the pre-history of cinema, and very little on movies themselves. There are huge collections of persistence of vision toys, projectors, and photography - three things that were combined to make movies.

With 9 days, you don't need a minute-by-minute preplanned itinerary. You can pick one major sight for the morning and another one for the afternoon, then fill in as you go. And with 9 days, you can have only one sight per day that requires reservations, so you won't feel time pressure to get from one reserved entry time to another. And finally, with 9 days you can space out the Gaudi sights, to avoid overload. So, don't worry - you'll have a great time!

Barcelona is truly incredible and I agree there are too many places to see but I think you can definitely enjoy your visit.
I think the best thing to do is have a plan for half the day and definitely book early for major attractions (sagrada familia, park guell, palau de musica, casa batilo, pedrera..) basically anywhere you can. I enjoy walking around this beautiful city, so I would try to explore the part of the city that each attraction is in, because different neighborhoods in Barcelona have very different vibes. For example, going to Casa Batillo which is on Passeig de Gracia you can walk around Placa Catalunya and down the Ramblas to the Boqueria. Just getting lost in the gothic quarter is an incredible experience and you can stumble into a cute cafe. I would also look into some less known places such as Bellesguard, which is incredible and off the beaten path Gaudi castle. Also definitely visit parc de la ciutadella and the arc de triomf. I would definitely look at a map and try to explore different areas of the city, and make sure to have some time to relax on the beach or just sit outside in a cafe with a coffee or sangria. Depending on how much you want to see and how intense you want your trip to be I wouldn't schedule out everyday, Barcelona needs to be enjoyed.
As for day trips i absolutely loved Montserrat and Girona, but I would consider staggering them with days you stay in the city. Even though they are short train trips away I feel like I get a little more tired after a longer trip. I would consider adding Tarragona and Sitges, but I don't think you have to plan those in advance.

It won't make scheduling easier, but I highly encourage you to consider adding Fundació Joan Miró if you're a fan of modern art.

Thank you for all the replies and great advice.

Take a look at this official site for Barcelona tourism. They have their own walking tours and also sell tours run by others. It will give you more ideas. I've taken the TI's Gothic Quarter and Moderisme tours and the Santa Maria del Mar Rooftop tour - recommend them all.

Consider the Runner Bean free (they just ask for a tip) tours. We have done both the Gaudi and Barri Gotic tours and found them worthwhile, very professional. I believe Rick has recommended them in his books.