Barcelona Itinerary Help

No Picasso Museum?
Que pasa con eso?
The Las Meninas studies alone are worth the admission!

Your itinerary looks good to me, nothing really negative stands out :)

A few suggestions:

1. When you visit the Barcelona Cathedral, don't forget to buy tickets to visit the roof of the Cathedral too, for some commanding views of the Barri Gotic down below.

2. When exploring the Barri Gotic, there is a pretty good (and overlooked) history museum called Museu d'Historia de Barcelona - MUHBA. It houses the subterranean ruins of Roman Barcelona (Barcino) along with the medieval royal palace, Plaça del Rei, which is built above the ruins. For me, the really cool part is the 4,000 square meter Roman subterranean archaeological site, directly below the Gothic Quarter (you actually have to take an elevator down to get there!) You then ascend to the medieval Plaça del Rei, which notably hosted Christopher Columbus on his return from his first voyage in 1492.

3. If you get hungry while exploring the old center, there is a pretty good tapas bar called Bar Celta Pulperia, that specializes in Galician Octopus (Pulpo a la Gallega). Another favorite is called Pimientos de Padron, which are fried green peppers that are occasionally spicy (like a tapas Russian roulette). Bar Celta has two locations, in the Barri Gotic and one in El Born.

4. When you take the funicular up to Montjuïc, make sure to walk up to the top of the Montjuic Fortress too. This 17th century fortress has some of the best views of the Barcelona cityscape down below.

It looks like a good plan to me, but I think 2 hours may be short for Sant Pau. That wasn't long enough for me in 2016, and I think they've opened another building since then. The grounds are very attractive, so it's a shame to cut that site short. On the other hand, it may not take you the full 30 minutes to get there from La Sagrada Familia, and you can grab a quick lunch if you need to.

I agree with skipping the Picasso Museum unless you are a huge fan. It is all too often packed to the gills, to the point that you have to fight your way through the mob to get close enough to the wall to read the descriptions of the paintings. It is not a good environment for appreciating art. The fact that the entry tickets are timed should be a warning to everyone. The Miro Museum is much easier to enjoy.

I enjoyed MNAC very much. I think you will appreciate the modernism collection, which has both furniture and decorative arts. The frescoes rescued from churches in the Pyrenees are also quite something. To walk through the entire museum (on two trips) took me about five hours as I recall, so I suggest a visit to the museum website to figure out what you most want to see in the limited time you may have.

I haven't been to Tarragona and, in truth, am not much interested in Roman ruins, so I'm not in the best position to comment, but: Quite a number of people on this forum have expressed a degree of disappointment in Tarragona. If I had only four full days in Barcelona, I'd try to keep the Tarragona jaunt to not much more than half a day. (I'd suggest not going, but I see that you are meeting colleagues there.) If you can tighten up Tarragona, you might be able to squeeze in a trip to the newly-opened Casa Vicens (a Gaudi site), which I haven't yet seen myself.

May 25 - it's a 15 minute walk to Sant Pau - unless you stop at one of the cafes along the way for a rest and a drink.

May 26 - Santa Maria del Mar has a very good roof-top tour.

May 27 - I was one of those who were greatly disappointed by the unimpressive Roman ruins. The medieval town center was nice, especially the cathedral cloisters.

May 28 - The Palau de la Musica is very close to the Barri Goti and not far from Santa Maria del Mar. This day seems poorly planned. Also Montjuic is much of an all-day affair. I believe the funicular stop is near Miro (it was down the day I went and that's where the shuttle bus stopped). From there it's a pleasant downhill walk (through the gardens, not the main road) to MNAC with some good views of the city. You can go up from the funicular to the Castle but you have to enter and go up the walls for the views from there. MNAC is an excellent art museum, 2 hours is not enough. The Magic Fountain is just below it. You could go to Pl. Espanya for tapas before the show.

acraven and Chani, The only other day with available tickets to the Palace of Catalan Music during our visit is Saturday (for some reason there are no tours that Sunday and Monday). We could possibly fit in the last tour at 3 pm, but that would make Saturday intense when we are most likely to be tired. What do you think? I was thinking that on our last day, we would fit in what we can on Mont Juic, knowing we would not come close to seeing it all.

The Magic Fountains shows don't take place on May 28 (a Tuesday).

I assume it would be too tight to visit the Palace of Catalan Music at 11 on May 28, leaving another hour for Montjuic. Some have suggested skipping Park Guell, but it looks like fun to me, so I hesitate to do that.

You can't do everything in a city like Barcelona. It would take a bit of time to get from the Palau de la Musica Catalana to your first stop on Montjuic, so I think there would be a trade-off if you added the Palau that morning.

Barbara, your itinerary looks great, and well thought out. With timed entries mostly first thing in the day, it leaves you some flexibility to adapt to unforeseen opportunities, weather, your own energy levels, etc.
I am another to encourage you make the time for the MNAC. It is divided into 4 sections, the first being the ancient frescoes, which are magnificent and unique, you won’t likely find such an exhibit in other museums around the world. You certainly do not need to visit all 4 sections.

Larry, Chani, and acraven: Would you prioritize the Catalan Art Museum over the Fondacio Joan Miro?

I like art and visit a lot of art museums. In general my preference is for museums that are not single-artist, though there are some exceptions. I would choose MNAC, but not so much because of the variety of artists (in truth, I am not a huge fan of classical Spanish art), but rather because of the church frescoes and the modernism collection.

In case you are not aware of it, the entire permanent collection at the Miro Museum is works by Miro, so there's not a great deal of variety to be had there. There is also an area for temporary exhibitions, so you might take a look at the museum website to see what will be going on there during the time of your visit. Perhaps that will help you weigh the two possibilities.

I know this is hard. Despite my diligence in 2016, I have two modernista sites on my mental list for the next visit to Barcelona as well as some art museums I didn't have time for, plus I now know there are lots of modernista buildings in the town of Reus as well. I'm definitely going to spend some time in Reus this year, on my way from Andalucía/Valencia up to France.

Enric, if you see this, I would love to hear your thoughts on the plan. Regarding the plan for the last day, I'm leaning now towards the Art Museum instead of the Fondacio Joan Miro. I know we will only get a taste of Montjuic. I also know Tarragona isn't as compelling as Barcelona, but I know very few people in Europe and look forward to the chance to spend a little time with my Catalonian colleagues in Tarragona.