Barcelona...Top 5?

1. Walk ten minutes from Sagrada Familia to the Saint Pau Modernista site.

2. Park Guell if it's not on the tour

3. A concert at the Palace of Catalan Music

4. Maritime Museum

5. Day trip to someplace that appeals to you - Montserrat, Tarragona, Girona, wine tour

I’m thinking you will have spent time on the Ramblas visiting Boqueria markets & seeing Placa Real. So then ...

1. Hospital Sant Pau
2. Passeig de Gracia - Casa Mila & Casa Batllo
3. Palau de la Musica Catalana (BOOK)
4. Park Guell (BOOK)
5. Montjuic - MNAC, Olympic Ring, Castello & Miro Museum

I'm glad you have that much time, because you will need it.

Visiting Barcelona is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, because so many of the sights require advance purchase of tickets (often timed) to avoid long lines or--occasionally--to avoid completely missing out. It's quite difficult to figure out how much time to allow between sights: Will you have to wait a bit before gaining entry to the first one, despite having a ticket? (There are safety issues that seem to cause minor entry delays sometimes at Casa Mila and Casa Batllo.) How much time will you need to see the first sight? How long will it take to get to the next one? If there's a meal time in there, how long will it take you to find food, eat it, and manage to pay the bill? (Tip: walk up to the cash register.) If you leave super-safe gaps in the schedule, that can turn into frustrating dead time. If you schedule very tightly, you may have to leave Sight 1 early to get to Sight 2 on time. Most of those places will cost you $20-25 or a bit more. Ouch.

So spend time with a map, figuring out what fits together logically, and ask yourself which of the high-traffic/book-in-advance sights you might be willing to skip. Take advantage of the fact that there's no scheduling issue with the first sight of the day. Use those time periods wisely by spending them at places requiring you to buy tickets ahead of time.

The Sant Pau Modernista site is wonderful, and so far no one has reported having to wait before gaining entry there. I'd love it anyway, but it's a fabulous inclusion in an itinerary because it allows you to be flexible. The same is true (at least in my experience) for all the museums except the Picasso. There might be a line at the MNAC or the Miro, but it will probably be a 5-minute line rather than a 90-minute line. However, all bets are off if you try to visit a major museum during a free period.

In no particular order:

• Picasso Museum (covered by Articket - http://articketbcn.org/) - go late
• Miro Musem (ditto Articket) - great views
• Casa Mila/La Pedrera (not on Articket but you can purchase entry ahead of time)
• Parc Guell
• Barcelona cathedral in the early morning (before tour groups)
• (I know this is #6) - Mercat de la Boquirea (in the early morning also)

My top 5;
1) Park Guell
2) Las Ramblas. If you have an hour or so, take a walk down this street, and stop at the markets in the area. The walk is free, the markets may not be :), but I got my money's worth in the fruit drinks on a warm evening.
3) Mirador Colon near the waterfront is a bit touristy, but still worth a quick stop.
4) I enjoyed the Maritime Museum and the old charts. I had recently taken an Ireland trip, and was amused to find a map showing Ireland as the next best thing to heaven. Something about no illness or untimely death there.
5) I lucked into a Salvador Dali museum (I am trying to recall where it is, I think at the edge of the Gothic Quarter). I enjoyed the art there. My favorite was a series of etchings of great inventions. You know the sort, the mechanical reaper, the telephone, the catalytic cracker. I am probably one of only a few visitors there who knew what the catalytic cracker is without looking it up. Short version, it is part of an oil refinery. OK, maybe you can guess that I have a degree in Chemical Engineering. :)

Concert at Casa Battlo
Street art tour
Sagrada familia
The beaches
Wandering around

Parc Guell, City Museum, Casa Mila and/or Casa Battlo, plus the cathedral. Montserrat is a really good day trip.

This is an interesting post to have a pulse on what tickles you guys when visiting Barcelona. Keep'em coming please, it makes amusing reading :)

OP / Thanks for the ideas. Some of them I knew about.....others....not so much. Everyone has their own tastes....that's what is great to hear. Now comes the priority list. If you are cruising though the forum, please feel free to give your input. I do have a few months before I have to board the plane.

I have come to the realization that 4 extra days beyond the 2 tour days is not going to be sufficient to see it all, but I can make a nice size dent in the area ........ get a little sleep while there .............and still not have to declare bankruptcy on my return home.

Ten days wasn't long enough for me, but I spent an inordinate amount of time tracking down modernista buildings.

Although I'm not a fan of Trip Advisor ratings in general, I find it useful to skim through the "Things To Do" lists, looking for stuff that's not of enough general interest to make it into most guidebooks. You never know when you'll come across something that really tickles your fancy. I've discovered some really worthwhile sights and activities that way.

The other thing I do is stop by the local tourist office. (Barcelona has an excellent one; I used the branch underneath Placa Catalunya.) That's usually a good place to find out about walking tours, cooking classes, special events and the like. The Barcelona T.O. has a handy-dandy summary of the free-entry periods for local attractions. No, not Casa Mila or Casa Batllo, but Palau Guell was on there--perhaps just one day a month.

We loved:

--Seeing the city by Fat Bicycle Tour

--Eating at neighborhood cafe where no on spoke Spanish or Catalan

--Visiting Plaça de Catalunya, the main public square in Barcelona - you never know what you'll see there! (Bonus - there's a good department store - El Corte Inglés -- there if you need anything) Nice map of the plaça here with other info about the area

--Walking down the harbor front early evening

--We also ate here for lively tapas and beer-- El Vaso de Oro Cerveceria