Barcelona itinerary help?

My thoughts, which you can take or leave:

Day 1 - Hope you won't be disappointed if you don't remember a thing about the Barri Gotic and Ramblas walks. I am always brain dead on the first day after flying across the Atlantic.

Day 3 - After the Sagrada Familia, consider taking the 10 minute walk to the Saint Pau Modernista site. This was designed by Montaner, the same person who designed the Palace of Catalan Music. No reservation is necessary - and it is amazing. Also, if you want to see the Monumental Zone, I would re-consider doing Park Guell and Sagrada Familia on the same day. My reasons for this are (1) I personally don't like to have two reservations for activities on the same day and (2) The Sagrada Familia and Park Guell Monumental Zone are two of the most crowded attractions in Barcelona - crowds really get to me so I like to space them out with less crowded attractions - like Saint Pau.

Day 5 - Instead of taking a tour of the Palace of Catalan Music, consider getting getting tickets to an evening concert there. This was a highlight of our 10/2017 trip to Spain.

Day 6 - If you're in the Barceloneta, consider the nearby Maritime Museum. I don't know if it's open on Monday.

Have a great trip. What a great way to celebrate an anniversary!

Traylaparks has given you some good thoughts.

Day 3: You really cannot have a 3:30 ticket for La Pedrera and be at Parc Guell at 5 PM unless you have very little interest in La Pedrera (in which case I would skip it, because the ticket is going to cost you about $30). I think the audio guides at such places are helpful, and using one does tend to slow me down a bit. Also, you should expect crowded conditions, which means you'll probably need a bit more time to see the place. I'd allow a minimum of 90 minutes once you get in the door, which may not be until a bit later than the time on your ticket. Then you have to get to Parc Guell; that's best by taxi or bus, because the Metro station is about a mile from the park, and the walk to the park is distinctly uphill. Flipping the two sites is not a bad idea. You don't need to worry about excessive heat at outdoor sites like Parc Guell in April.

I have no idea whether you're allowed to eat at Parc Guell, but I'd do a bit of Googling to see. It is usually rather crowded, so the conditions may not be quite what you are picturing.

Day 4 / Option 1: The fountain light show is quite late, so I suspect that will be after your sunset viewing.

Day 4 / Option 2: I wouldn't count on moving MNAC to Day 1 if that's the day you fly in on an overnight flight. Museums are just not the thing to do on Day 1, and it would be a shame to sleepwalk through the MNAC. I agree with your decision to do Figueres/Girona rather than attempting Figueres/Cadaques. The latter is possible, but more of a stretch. And there's more to see in Girona (start your day early!).

Day 6: Barcelona actually has a lot of very popular places open on Mondays. I believe all of these are open (but do check their official sites to be sure): La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Palau de la Musica Catalana, and Sant Pau modernista site. I'll bet there are a few museums open on Monday, too (not MNAC or Picasso), but I don't know which ones.

Such great replies so far, thank you!

I remember reading about the Saint Pau site while doing research, but it was kind of on the backburner. But, now I think we will do it! It sounds like a great way to get off the beaten path -- thank you, Traylaparks!

I suppose we could split up our Gaudi day, but our motivation for doing those sites earlier in the week (even though they are open on our last day -- Monday -- as you say, acraven) is that they are at the top of our to-see list. If it's pouring rain, we'd like the option to try to do them again on our last day, but I'm nervous about saving our top sites to see until the last day of our trip. But, it's worth checking out!

Thank you for the tip about taking longer at La Pedrera, acraven! I will definitely add more of a buffer. From what I'm hearing here, it might make the most sense to flip La Pedrera with Park Guell. You can't eat in the monumental zone (so I'd have to get timed entry tickets for just after lunch if available), but we could picnic in the rest of the park, I believe. But, if it's going to be busy there, too, we may re-think that. Since La Pedrera is open late that night, we should be ok if we do it closer to 5:30pm, as we will still have a couple of hours left to linger. You are right -- I don't want to cut that short!

We would love to do the concert at the Palace of Catalan Music, but I'm worried our budget won't take it! I'll have to do some research to see if the tickets are very expensive. Did you buy tickets at the TI, Traylaparks? What kind of concert was it?

We were hoping to catch the earliest Magic Fountains show, at 7pm, then be at Las Arena by 8ish for the 8:30pm sunset (at least according to Google that's when it'll be that night in Barcelona... hopefully that is correct!).

I think you're both right -- we won't try for a museum on our first day! The Barcelona History Museum is the other one on the top of my list, so I hope to make it there!

What do you think about adding the second day trip to Figueres/Girona? Should we instead focus our time in Barcelona? I have reworked our itinerary so many times my head is spinning! I would love to just go with the flow and decide when we're there whether or not we want to do that day trip, but I am not sure how far in advance the Dali Museum reserved tickets sell out. When I checked that date, there were definitely still tickets, but some blocks of time were unavailable. Girona/Figueres/Cadaques/the coast is on our list for someday, even if we don't get to it on this trip.

Thank you for all the great advice!!

Here is a link to the Palace of Catalan Music website:

http://www.palaumusica.cat/en

You can check the calendar to see what will be playing when you will be in Barcelona. The performance that we saw, "Opera y Flamenco", is still in their rotation. We splurged for 50 Euro "VIP" tickets. I am so glad we bit the bullet for this. For one thing, the venue is like nothing I have ever seen in my entire concert-going life. Every single person was taking pictures like crazy. Luckily, once the lights dimmed, everyone put away their phones and cameras.

I have regretted that we didn't splurge for better seats at the Vienna Opera.

Thank you, traylaparks! It's good to hear about what people regret/don't regret, as sometimes that's really what to think about ultimately. Perhaps it will be worth doing a few more picnics in order to see a concert there!

We have decided that we are definitely going to do Sagrada Familia first (just booked 9:30a tickets, as they were the first available that day, but we will plan to get there by 9 anyway to look around), then walk to Saint Pau, then find some picnic fixings and hop the bus to Park Guell. I think I'll go for a 2pm entrance -- that way, we should have time to eat our picnic and maybe even stroll around the non-ticketed part a little before we enter (or not if we take longer at SF). We will still plan to do La Pedrera, but closer to 5:30/6pm. I think that is doable!

Just to clarify -- the T10 pack works on the buses as RS says in the guide, right? So the bus we hop to Park Guell should be covered by the T10?

Hold on! If you have a 9:30 entry at La Sagrada Familia, you may be there till around 11 AM (longer if you ascend a tower). Then you need to walk to and see Sant Pau. That's not going to be quick; there are multiple buildings with explanatory material posted in English, and the grounds are quite pretty. Just when you think you've covered everything in the open buildings, you end up back in the main building and discover there's stuff to see there on two floors. I believe I spent 2 hours there; I know I had to rush the last bit of the main building because the site was about to close. So by the time you finish at Sant Pau it's likely to be at least 1:15 or 1:30, and it could easily be almost 3 PM if they've opened another building for public visits--which I kind of think they have. I acknowledge spending considerably more time than average in the sites I visit, so it's possible you will be fine, but I'd hate for you to schedule yourself so tightly that you have to leave places before you've seen all that you want to see. Those tickets are expensive.

Since Sant Pau so far doesn't seem to require pre-booking, why don't you leave that open and see how the day pans out. If the weather happens not to be good, you'll be glad you're not already committed to another site that's partly outdoors.

Before your trip, spend some time reading about the major museums in Barcelona so you'll have a couple of bad-weather options. There might be a special exhibition somewhere that is right down your alley.

Don't push La Pedrera beyond the point at which it begins to get dark. You want to be able to enjoy the roof.

I believe you are right about the T-10, but I only took a few Metro rides so can't speak from personal experience. If you Google "Barcelona T10 bus", I think you'll find your answer.

Sorry I was wrong about the fountain show at the base of Montjuic. Perhaps I was thinking about the summer schedule.

I don't know what to tell you about Girona and Figueres. I spent nine days in Barcelona and didn't see everything I wanted to see. I loved Girona (stayed there 3 nights before Barcelona) and didn't have time for FIgueres, though I did go to Cadaques.

Perhaps that out-of-town trip is something else to postpone the decision on. There are AVANT trains on the Barcelona-Girona-Figueres run that are as fast as the AVEs, but their ticket prices don't increase as you get closer to the travel date. For reasons that I cannot explain, it looks as if roundtrip tickets are substantially cheaper than one-way tickets, so it might work out better to buy two roundtrip tickets Barc-Girona-Barc and Girona-Figueres Vilafant-Girona instead of one ticket of there separate tickets (Barc-Figueres V, Figueres V-Girona and Girona-Barc).

Hi Eurodreams - I was checking out the various performances at the Palace of Catalan Music (I am a bit obsessed with the place), and realized that different performances have different prices - the best seats aren't always 50 Euros - some of them are less and of course you don't have to buy the most expensive seats - there's a lot to look at!

Wow, I had no idea the Sant Pau site was so big! I thought it would be just the lobby, hence why it was on my back burner originally. Thank you for the heads up, acraven!! I think we should be ok with La Pedrera based on the sunset times, but you're right -- it won't be as nice to see the roof in the semi-dark! Is it a structured visit, or could we do the rooftop first before the rest of it?

I had read the AVANT tickets worked that way, but I didn't try pricing out the round-trip options -- I will do that! If we decide to do the day trip (I think we will wait and see on that one), perhaps I'll get Barcelona-Figueres round trip tickets, hop off on the way back at Girona, then buy separate tickets back from there. Good things to think about!

Bill -- thank you for the link for more info on the T10! And I appreciate the detailed instructions for the bus to Park Guell -- that saves me a little research!

Traylaparks -- I checked out the link you sent me and looked at the different shows available each night. I hadn't gotten so far as checking the price (just tried to see which ones might fit into the itinerary), so that's a good heads up! It looks like our options are to see Carmen, La Traviata, possibly the Barcelona Guitar Trio (depending on whether or not we do the Magic Fountains/sunset itinerary or the day trip to Girona/Figueres itinerary), or the Opera y Flamenco show that you saw. It's tough to choose, as the shows are so different from one another! We would like to hear some Spanish guitar music while we're there, even though we know that isn't strictly Catalonian. It might be a good opportunity to experience that, though it's hard to choose. It's also hard to wrap my head around how they manage to do 2 different operas in 1 hall on different days of the same week! Amazing. But, perhaps ticket availability and price will help me whittle my selection down further... good things to think about! How far in advance did you need to book? Am I safe to wait and see?

I'm not sure how easy it would be to get down from the roof and go to the normal starting point of a visit to La Pedrera. I can't swear that you don't exit straight into the shop or something like that. If no one on the forum knows, you can certainly ask when you arrive. It will be crowded, which will not help.

I bought our tickets about 2 months in advance. If you're going in April, I would get tickets pretty soon.

I liked Flamenco y Opera because there was no plot to follow - just singing and dancing. Our choices were an American opera about Matthew Shepard (the hate crime victim from Wyoming) and a choral music concert. Since we were on vacation, I chose the one that would be the least taxing intellectually.

I’m not sure what bookings you have already made, but it’s always the best use of time to plan a reserved sight first up in your day. This allows more flexibility for the remainder of the day to unfold without the stress of a timetable.

I also wouldn’t plan any visits, or absorption of historical information, on your arrival day. Just walk til you drop.

Possibilities like this ...

Wednesday (arrival)
•Las Ramblas - La Boqueria, Placa Real
•Eixample - Passeig de Gracia
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta

Thursday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Sagrada Familia
Then head to ...
•Hospital Sant Pau
BOOK a late visit to ...
•Park Guell

Friday
•Figueres & Girona

Saturday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Palau de la Musica Catalana
Then head to ...
•Montjuic - Olympic Ring, Castello, Miro Museum, MNAC
•Magic Fountains (check times)

Sunday
BOOK a first up visit to ...
•Picasso Museum
Then head to ...
•Bari Gotico - La Sardana dancing by Cathedral at 12noon
•La Ribera - Basilica Santa Maria del Mar

Monday
•Montserrat
•Casa Mila or Casa Batllo (my advice would be not to bother prebooking for a late visit after 6pm)

Thank you, traylaparks -- we will decide on/book a concert this week!

David -- thank you for the itinerary help! You propose a very doable schedule. I know it would make our lives easier if we did Montserrat on our last day, but the romantic in me hates to be away from the city on our last day. But, I will consider it, as it would make our museum-going schedule a little easier!

So far, we have our "Gaudi Day" planned and (mostly) reserved. I'm tempted to try the ARTicket just to have flexibility for the Picasso Museum visit -- it looks like you get to skip the line and you don't need a reservation, so we could still decide on the fly if we wanted to do the Figueres/Girona trip or stay in Barcelona and spread out our museum visits a little more!

Does anyone have experience with the ARTicket? I'm guessing the "Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya" is the Catalan Art Museum, so that takes care of at least 2 of the places already on our itinerary. I will crunch some numbers!

I didn't buy the Articket myself, but the price seems fair. More than fair if you are allowed multiple entries (which I cannot determine from the website). MNAC is quite large, and I went there twice, taking advantage of a free-entry period on one of those occasions. With the ticket in hand, you could also pop into the Miro for a little while if you wanted to. It's very modern and a joy to visit, compared to the Picasso.

Truly, the entry line is only one of two issues at the Picasso Museum. The other is the crowding in the galleries. It was really dreadful the last time I was there (about 4 PM in early August), though others report enjoying better viewing conditions.

Acraven, I checked into the ARTicket, and it's 30 euros for 1 entry each into the 6 museums covered. I did discover, however, that the Picasso Museum does have another ticket option, which is akin to a yearly pass. It's only 15 euros (the regular admission is 12 euros), and it looks like you can come and go when you like and for however many visits you want to do for a whole year! We may end up doing that if we decide not to take advantage of the full ARTicket. But either way, both options sound pretty good. Thank you for the heads up about how busy it is -- that makes me lean slightly toward the Museu Picasso Card option in case we happen to come when it's extremely busy. At least we'd have the option to duck out and try again another day! But, the ARTicket does have some good sites on it.... choices, choices! :)

I should mention, if anyone is searching the forums and comes across this info about the Picasso Card, that it looks like you have to buy it in person at the museum and have your picture taken there for the pass. I am not sure how much time this will eat up, but hopefully it isn't the same line as buying a general admission ticket! (Though maybe it's a good activity for the just-got-off-a-trans-Atlantic-flight day.)

My thoughts on Articket BCN ...
•All of the museums included are wonderful and worth visiting. There are no duds, so it offers great value if art is your thing and your plans include 3 or more of these venues.
•Miró is delightful and doesn’t take long if you are on Montjuic.
•MNAC is large but a short visit is worthwhile for the outstanding Romanesque and Modernist pieces.
•CCCB & MACBA (next to each other and close to the Ramblas) can surprise with some wonderful temporary shows. Once again quick visits can be rewarding.

Further expanding on a possible Saturday plan.

•BOOK a first up visit to Palau de la Musica Catalana
•Take Bus 55 from Urquinaona to Montjuic
•Visit Miro Museum
•Walk Montjuic, passing Olympic Stadium
•Visit MNAC (open til 8pm)
•Enjoy Magic Fountains (shows at 21:00, 21:30, 22:00)

Thanks, David! The ARTicket does seem like a good deal, and it's good advice that quick visits can be rewarding, too. Is the CCCB the El Born Cultural Center? That was something we were thinking of checking out, which would put us up to 3 (of the 6) on the ARTicket.

Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona is in Raval. http://www.cccb.org/en/

I didn’t see a stop at Camp Nou either for a tour or to see a game. Not sure if there are any games when you are in BCN. Even if one is not a soccer fan, going to a La Liga soccer game is unlike anything I have experienced (over 200 NFL games plus an equal amount of MLB games and a few NBA games). And BCN has the worlds greatest current player plus many others that are world class.

Regardless, it is a fun city with many excellent restaurants. I find the vitality of Barcelona exceptional.

I’ll add my 2 cents. We did the tour of the Palau Musicamand completely enjoyed it. There were views and areas not seen by the public during a concert. Also, of the Gaudi sites, if yiunahve a choice of Battlo or La Pedrera, I would pick the former—a remarkable site. The site we tour then went thru again.

Thank you for the thoughts on the soccer game! I didn't put it into the itinerary, as we are not big into sports, but I know that doesn't really matter as it's a cultural event, too. However, I just couldn't fit it all into the itinerary! I might see if there will be something going on at the stadium the day we are at Montjuic, just in case.

Thank you, samnjean, for the advice about the tour vs. a concert at the Palace of Catalan Music. It's good to know that the tour covers more than what you see when you go for a concert.

I have really appreciated all the great advice on this thread! Thank you all!!