Fellow Travelers, I need your recommendations for a long layover in Barcelona. I am flying into Madrid where I will spend a few days before taking the train to Sarria to walk the final portion of the Camino de Santiago. I had booked a direct flight from Santiago de Compostela to London; however, I found out this morning that flight has been cancelled and I now have to fly through Barcelona with a 7.5 hour layover. While I was annoyed at first, I soon remembered a recent podcast episode where Rick and Samantha Brown (I think) talked about taking advantage of long layovers to experience things you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I immediately thought about visiting Sagrada Familia since that is on my bucket list. There are sadly no tickets available that day. I might still go and experience the glorious exterior of the basilica but was wondering if anyone has recommendations for museums or other things to do near Sagrada Familia before I head back to the airport to continue my trip. Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
4100 posts
I'm sure you realize that you won't have a full 7.5 hours to sightsee as you need to go to/from airport (30 minutes each way by taxi with zero traffic, 45-60 minutes on public transit) and allow time to get back through security for your flight to London (2 hours minimum). So you have about 4.5 hours best case scenario, probably more like 4. And you'll need to find a place to store your bag somewhere as I you probably won't want to haul it around, and if you get lucky to get in to the basilica, they don't have a storage area except for people riding the elevator to the tower.
Is this occurring very soon? Some of our local experts may have insights on ticket availability last minute. If you are able to get in, you won't have much time to do anything but the basilica. If you only see the outside, you could walk to Recinte Modernista Sant Pau (see this post about it https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/sant-pau-barcelona)
Posted by
new york
1623 posts
Would you consider using the time to have a wonderful meal? If so, I could recommend some (unusual) places I discovered during my week there recently...one of those was a highlight of my week--I had two lunches there...
Posted by
1016 posts
I don't check bags, but maybe in a situation like this if your bags get transferred for you, you opt for that.
Taxi from the airport to someplace in the central core is maybe 15-25 minutes depending on traffic. I'd try to snag some tour ticket like Viator or similar for your arrival day. I've used that strategy for other sold out venues, so it's worth a try here. You could easily skip the tower option if you want to try to squeeze in a quick walk down la Rambla and take your taxi back from that area.
If you can't get in to the Sagrada Familia, but you want to see exterior, you could go there and then a short walk to Sant Pau to see a bunch of other modernism buildings in a pretty uncrowded campus.
A third option is to scrap Sagrada Familia and just do parts of the Rick Steves (or various google maps) walking tours of the central core.
I think it's very doable.
Posted by
OP
Florida
2 posts
Thanks so much for the Viator tip! I was able to get a ticket for a guided tour at a time that gives me sufficient time to travel from the airport, eat lunch, take the tour, and get back to the airport in plenty of time for only about $20 more than the price on the Sagrada Família website.
Posted by
1016 posts
Score! Have fun.