Can I fit Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell in one long day?

I did 3 in one day (all but Casa Mila). You should really try to get to Sagrada Familia first thing in the morning, it just gets busier as the day goes on and will take up the largest amount of your day. Casa Batlo is usually open until late at night, so that might be best to save for last. Casa Batlo is outstanding and I think we were there about 2 hours so I'm not sure if you could be at your next stop within 2 hours..Rent the audio guide in both, Its alot to see in one day and even with advanced tickets you will still have some waiting. We also did a tour of Hospital de Santa Creu and Sant Pau, which was also very interesting and time well spent but admittance was only by tour a couple of days a week. If you have time, the tram to Montjuic/fort offers great views of Barcelona.

All right - thanks. I'll switch the order so Sagrada Familia is first. I've seen a lot of feedback to start our day there, but, walking route-wise, it made sense to do Sagrada Familia to Parc Guell.

Casas Mila and Batllo are very similar. They are relatively expensive, too, so you might find it better to choose just one (my vote would be for Casa Batllo).

For the Sagrada Familia, line up 15-30 minutes before opening, so you'll be among the first to enter - when it's quiet, good time to enjoy the peace (it gets really noisy fairly quickly) and take some photos without lots of people in them.

I went to Hospital de Santa Creu and Sant Pau about a year ago, unguided visit. It's about a 15 minute from the Sagrada Familia, and an interesting contrast to the later works of Gaudi.

Only a very fit (crazy) person would walk from Sagrada Familia to Park Guell. And I too would only choose one of Casas Batllo or Mila, heading here next but not bothering to prebook, keeping my options open. I would finish at Park Guell - around 3pm in winter, 6pm in summer, 4:30pm in spring/autumn. Get the metro to Lesseps for Park Guell.

We did Park Guell in the morning (before it got to be extremely hot!), then pre booked Sagrada Familia around 11.30h (if I am not mistaken) w/out going up to the towers though, and finished after lunch at Casa Batllo. I agree that one "casa" is enough ;) And Casa Batllo was beautiful! If you feel like a splurge, maybe add a nice lunch at the Casa Calvet (a restaurant designed by Gaudi if I'm not mistaken). It was absolutely wonderful--both the meal and the ambiance....sort of like stepping back in time. It was one of the best meals we had in Barcelona. And it added to the full Gaudi day experience.

Wow! Great information. I'll nix one of the casas. Mileage wise, we're ok....we really really like to walk. We usually cover 15-20 miles per day:)

From Sagrada to Parc is all uphill. Since admission is now charged for the Parc it has changed in terms of feeling too congested with folks desiring to get the most for their money, especially with staying on the upper level patio.
I suggest investing more time in touring Sagrada and take in at least one tower and then walking up to the hospital and catching lunch. From there it is a nice walk to either Casa Mila or Batllo to spend the afternoon. If you must see the Parc I suggest very late afternoon/evening and taking a cab.
What time of year will you be visiting (thinking about heat and crowds).
Safe Travels

It's indeed a "full" day but doable. Yet, I have a different view: Park Güell > Gràcia > Casa Milà > Sagrada Família > Casa Batlló and the reasons being as follows...

Barcelona is a coastal city with a ridge on the north side called Collserola (well, technically it's the west but most maps of the city do normally place it facing north -don't be fooled by this picture, it looks much smaller than really is!) which is 1500ft high, then the sea on the opposite side and several hills within the city one being El Carmel where Park Güell is located thus, it's best to take a bus/taxi to go to there or else walk uphill the last stretch of your excursion. Furthermore within the park, visiting the Turó de les Tres Creus (Hill of Three Crosses) where you have a magnificent view of the city would still require a further 15' walk uphill. In all, it involves a lot of "going up" ;)))

Once one has finished visiting the park, one can easily walk downhill towards other places (ie Casa Milà) visiting the quaint and bohemian neighbourhood of Gràcia (Grace in English) which was founded in 1626 and it's full of small streets and tree lines squares with plenty of bars and restaurant terraces -where to have lunch for example. After that pleasant downhill walk towards Casa Milà crossing Gràcia -with a pit stop to fill up your hunger- one continues the walk admiring some of the Modernists façades in Diagonal Avenue in his way to Sagrada Família. When finished visiting it, there's a metro stop right in front (L2 purple line) which will take you on a 3 stop journey to Passeig de Gracia metro station which is, yes, just in front of Casa Batlló.

My planning for the itinerary would be as follows:

8:30 Park Güell (a)(b) | 10:30 Walk towards Gràcia (c) | 11:30 Casa Milà | 13:00 Lunch | 15:00 Sagrada Família (d) | 17:30 Metro to Passeig de Gràcia | 18:00 Casa Batlló

For me this is the most efficient way of visiting all of the above and this is to be achieved at a relatively relaxed pace.

NOTES for the above post:

(a) Depending where you are initially located there are several ways to get to the park the easiest one being a taxi -which should cost you not more than 15€. Or else, if from Passeig de Gràcia, I strongly advise taking bus #24 instead of the metro as advised in many commercial guides. That's so because bus #24 has a stop just in front of the gates of the east entrance of the park while going by metro involves walking the above mentioned last stretch uphill. In any case my proposal is to be AT the park at 8:30 so the rest of the schedule doesn't fall apart. Also, if visiting in summer, the morning hours are the most bearable for a visit to the park, after that it becomes too hot and too full of people.

(b) If considering visiting only the monumental area the visit could be done in say 1h or so, but if including (and it's worthwhile!) visiting the Viaduct located to the right when entering thru the east gate or the Turó de les Tres Creus above mentioned at the top of the park and with an impressive view of the city you might want to add at least 45'. Both are located elsewhere in the park outside the so-called monumental area and many visitors miss it because they are only focused in that.

(c) The map includes some suggestions for lunch. All are casual and inexpensive restaurants. One of my preferred -which is a stone throw away of Casa Milà by the way- is Kibuka, a fusion of Brazilian and Japanese cuisines in a tavern-like environment and which is located in Carrer Goya, 9. It might get quite busy sometimes so I advise to have lunch much before 2pm -which is when locals start pouring in mass to the restaurants of the city for lunch break.

(d) The walk to Sagrada Familia as shown in the map involves passing by several excellent examples of Modernist buildings such as Palau Baró de Quadras with an explendid interior (Diagonal, 373), Casa Terrades (also known as Casa de les Punxes, literally House of the Spikes)(Carrer del Rosselló, 260) or Casa Comalat (Diagonal, 442) among other. All of these are located on or next to Diagonal Avenue and you'll easily spot them. Also, if you have spare time, you might want to pop into the famous Casa Fuster hotel with an explendid marble façade which is also 'on the way' (Passeig de Gràcia. 132), the bar located in the ground floor is indeed a work of art.You might want to plot these addresses on a map so you don't miss them on your excursion.

Oh my gosh, Enric, you are too awesome!!! So after blithely responding earlier today that I was going to remove one of the casas, I went to each website and decided I couldn't remove either one. I'm an architecture/building nut and I'm just too excited to see them. We're traveling in early April so I'm thinking the heat should be tolerable.

I'm just going to plop your plans right into my itinerary for the day and use them! Thank you thank you thank you!

My pleasure, as said, it's just my opinion.

If you're so nuts about architecture, you might be interested in the Ruta del Modernisme which you can do on your own, noting of course that Modernisme is just one of the many architectural styles in the city, after all it's been around since 215 BC! Also the free walking tour offered by Runner Bean is also recommended, while you won't be given a masterclass on Modernism, you'll be given a nice perspective of this art movement in the city. Their Old City tour is also advisable for a peek to medieval architecture.

Also, I'd suggest a look to a few of the other visitable gems... if anything the most famous, just in case you decide to juggle your itinerary: MUSEU DEL MODERNISME CATALÀ -- CASA BATLLÓ -- CASA MILÀ -- TORRE BELLESGUARD -- SAGRADA FAMÍLIA -- SANT PAU CENTRE MODERNISTA -- PALAU GÜELL -- PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA -- CASA AMATLLER -- CASA LLEÓ I MORERA -- CASA VICENS (to open to the public in Spring)... and on Sunday mornings don't forget a free visit to the City Hall (pic1, pic2, pic3 only a part is visitable but worth doing so nonetheless) and if you're lucky enough you can join one of the rare tours to singular houses of the city. The Parlament de Catalunya located in Parc de la Ciutadella is also visitable (pic1, pic2, pic3) but you need to pre-book at least two weeks in advance (and pre-register, for security reasons). They've changed and tightened up the procedure, if interested let me know and I'll try to find out for you how-to. Visits are guided and can be in English and other languages.

I've included also the videos of the ones you've already arranged for the pleasure of other members visiting the city in the future.

Enjoy!

Enric, I'm hoping you can help me out. We have a similar day planned as Valerie but there are differences. We're also travelling with three kids ages 8-13. They're awesome with museums and love them so I'm not worried about that.

Our plan was Casa Mila, Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia. I was hoping to visit them before 3pm and then explore the Gothic area. We did plan to hire a guide for our day as we thought it would be easier and we'd learn more but we're trying to cut expenses. I'm wondering how doable it is on our own, how far in advance I'd need to buy tickets, which order you'd visit, and if we're missing out by not having a guide for Casa Mila and Sagrada Familia. Normally I would read up on all the places we plan to visit and be a guide for the family but I have a concussion from a car accident and just can't do that anymore. It sucks because it used to be one of my favourite things to do on vacation... teach the kids in a fun way what we're seeing. We could use the audio guides. My youngest isn't a huge fan of them. What are your thoughts? Maybe there are guides at the location we could hire rather than a guide for the full day. He seems wonderful but is charging over 400euros for the day (incl tickets). Maybe we could get a pass that covers those locations?? That might make it easier to skip the lines?? I'm just confused I guess. Hesitant to try it on my own knowing my new limitations. But I'm also thinking that maybe it will be more relaxed on our own...

Hi Joanne,

I personally wouldn't consider your initial idea of doing all that "before 3 pm" viable because, to me, it's far too rushed. Not only because they're all in different locations -hence the need for allowing some travel time-, but also for each one requires a certain amount of time to visit and not to mention to discover/admire. Yet we arrive to the heart of the matter that so often creates passionate discussions in the forum: quality vs quantity. I lived in Paris for a while and had a good friend working at the Paris Board of Tourism that always use to tell me she had never ceased to be amazed of some of the "flash visits" some visitors made to the Eiffel Tower: "riding up, going around the platform and riding down. Done!" Is really that what traveling from far corners of the world to see Paris and it's famous tower was all about? We all have different travel styles and mine has never been "ticking lists", on the contrary, I always like to plan for unexpected margins which is what I call those little pleasant surprises that unassuming (or not) places give you when you truly discover them: you never thought you'd find "that" there or that I'd be so allured by that "other" thing next to the attraction I was initially going to... so while mathematically yes you could visit all those three things in that time frame -assuming perfect planning, no 'incidents' along the way, absolutely no lunch, and very few toilet stops, lol!- I wouldn't do it myself if I were in your shoes.

Guides vs DIY is another typical discussion all the time. Again, that's very personal and linked to one's own interests and travel style. Yet in cities en vogue like Barcelona -for which you can find numerous excellent guidebooks and other reference materials everywhere (I suppose I should mention RS's if I want to win some brownie points here, LOL!)- and considering the sheer number of attractions, sights and things worthwhile visiting at your tips across the whole city, I would be inclined to recommend DIY visits. Besides, in Barcelona many of the most popular attractions have audio guides available (in a range of languages) and/or informative panels (English is always included as third language in most of them) so hiring a guide person is not essential. I do appreciate of course that a good guide person might bring much more than mere basic guidance.

As per moving about, as said English is nearly always present as third language (transportation, restaurants...) so one shouldn't have to have a problem finding one's way. Furthermore, and taking into account the number of visitors from all over the world we receive every year, for the past 30 years our City Hall has gradually been creating a very iconographic communication policy -much like other cities like NY or Paris- so many of those visitors that don't speak neither Catalan nor Spanish and might not have a good command of English either, can equally navigate the city, take the metro or find out where things are located in an easy manner.

My advise for Barcelona is simple: define your goals and interests, do a bit of research on the city and the culture, focus on those things that might suit those interests, make a list of must-see, would-like-to-see and sounds-interesting so you can prioritize according to each circumstance, check maps for distances and websites for schedules (and costs!), draft an itinerary and head to a travel forum for validation and advise.

So... before giving you specific practical advise on your questions, may I ask your rough itinerary for the days you're going to be in Barcelona?, knowing what you want to see it's much easier to shuffle stuff when necessary and see what can be best fitted where (time-wise) so you can better optimize your time. It'd be also useful to know if you have already time constrictions (maybe you have already a ticket for a given time, or you have to be somewhere at a specific date/time...)

Thanks so much Enric. You're such a wealth of knowledge.

We'll be in Spain for 16 nights. Its a short trip for us as usually we visit Europe for 3 to 5 wks but its all my husband can spare from work this year. So 16 nights it is. We arrive in Barcelona and depart from Madrid. We spend 3 nights in Barcelona, 4 in Seville, 2 in Granada, 3 in the La Carihuela area of Torremolinos and 4 in Mardrid (visiting the Ronda en route from Seville to Granada and visiting Cordoba en route from Torremolinos to Madrid) So, here's the plan.

July 16 arrive in Barcelona at 8:30am. We're staying in Placa Catalunya. Its a Saturday. Plan to stay outside and explore. Visit la Ramblas and the market and the side streets. Visit the cathedral in Barri Gotic. See the sardana in early evening. We travel transatlantic with the kids each summer and they handle jet lag pretty well.

July 17 - this was the day planned for the tour guide. Stops include Sagrada Familia (including towers), Parc Guell, Casa Mila, he'll take us to a place to introduce us to tapas for lunch and a walk thru the Barri Gotic (not in this order). We have an option to have a car for this or to use public transport.

July 18 - I would like to visit Picasso museum but its closed today. Probably for the best as the kids will explore a few musueums in Madrid. Plan to visit the Parc Ciutad (sp?), see the Arc (we've visited similar arcs in Paris and Rome with the kids), do a walk thru El Born, visit the beach and maybe go for a swim.

July 19 - fly to Seville.

I'd love your thoughts!

Hi Joanne

Firstly, as I always mentioned, it's best if you don't shorten names of places because sometimes the end result makes no sense whatsoerver (or worst, can be mistaken for a different place all together): I guess when you say "Arc" (as in 'arch' in English) you mean "Arc de Triomf", right? I can see the face of any local now: "arch, which arch?" ;))

July in these shores is almost at its peak regarding visitors, so pre-book online everything you can and be patient in certain areas of the city because there are a lot of people. To top it up you're visiting on a week-end so not only you have all the regular visitors spending their holidays here, but also our neighbours, European week-enders, and obviously us locals, both on vacation or just enjoying the week-end. Also, is hot and humid so don't expect to keep up your pace, plan for a more relaxed itinerary than if you were visiting any other time of the year. Because of these both, I strongly advise to split those activities which involve pre-booking into two days so if heat get the best of you Canucks (lol!) at least you don't loose your tickets.

Option to have a car?... no thanks! Parking in this city is a nightmare and noting that parking both in the street or underground is expensive it says a lot about traffic here, doesn't it? Stick to walking -which is the way to really embrace the city, trust me!- or when necessary a take taxi or public transportation: it's cheap, clean, convenient, safe and has A/C!

I assume you 'land' at 8:30am so I advise to take a taxi to the hotel as it's faster and more convenient and it's going to cost just 35€ or so to your destination. If you do that, I'd say you can be ready to explore the city by say 10:30 (?) which is rather timely to join one of the free walking tours at 11am at Plaça Reial (15' or so down Les Rambles from your hotel). It's a great and inexpensive option to delve into the Modernism world while admiring a classy area of the city.

Here it goes, please take it only as a blueprint:

SAT16JUL

11am >> Free walking tour with Runner Bean which will end up in front of Sagrada Família 2.5h later.
Have lunch somewhere in the area. If you like fresh seafood and fish you might want to drop by La Paradeta. It's a sort of a very casual "fast food way" to inexpensively eat real food and keep kids (and adults!) away from c****y McDonald's-style eateries. Gosh, they should be banned!

2:30pm >> Sagrada Família

5pm >> Sant Pau Recinte Modernista -which is at just 10' walk from Sagrada Família. Closes at 6:30.
Walk back to the Sagrada Família, have a pint at the Michael Collins (a) which is just there in the square, and head back to the hotel to relax a bit :))
...
9pm Take metro (L1 red line in Plaça Catalunya) and stop in Espanya (15' or 4 stops) and walk 5' to the Font Màgica. It's an open air free show which lasts 30' or so

(a) Yeah I know, I'm not recomending a 'Catalan' stop over... but the Irish have a je-ne-sais-quoi when it comes to relaxing around a drink that has no parallel, hahaha!

SUN17JUL

Immerse yourself into 2000 years of the history of the city by visiting the Ciutat Vella, which englobes four of the neighbourhoods (inc. Barri Gòtic, more info here under "Old Town") AND live some Catalan traditions by attending sardanes and a performance of castellers

11:15am >> sardanes at Pla de la Seu (in front of the Cathedral). Details here. No cost.

12am - castellers at Carrer del Blai (XVII Aniversari dels Castellers del Poble Sec a Barcelona). Details here. No cost either for this. From the Cathedral to the Carrer del Blai it's going to take you a good 20' walk yet don't worry too much about timing as the performance of the castellers will last a good 2-3 hours are there are several teams so you'll get to see a good glimpse of it anyhow.

Have a late lunch somewhere in the area. If (if!) you don't mind to line up you could try the famous Quimet&Quimet, a hole-in-the-wall tapes bar located in the area but it's always packed to the rim.

After lunch, you could head towards El Born and Parc de la Ciutadella and since you are going to be passing near Plaça Catalunya, detour to your hotel to pick up your swimming gear and continue to the area of El Born and visit the El Born Centre Cultural (worthwhile! and you can partially visit it at no cost), just behind it there is the Parc de la Ciutadella which is an open park (no cost). And from there walk to La Barceloneta beach in a further 30' stroll.The beach in July is a popular activity until late in the evening as there's daylight until way past 9pm.

MON18JUL

I recommend to have an early rise and have breakfast in La Boqueria Market (a must!) which is at a 10' walk south of Plaça Catalunya and then take a taxi (important, in the opposite side of La Boqueria, you need to go 'up' towards the mountain not towards the sea!) and head to Park Güell -ask to be dropped at the "entrada de la Carretera del Carmel" which is the east gate. It's much better than going thru the main entrance!

9:30am take the taxi which will drop you in Park Güell around 30' later or so.

10:30am should be the frame time you should have pre-booked the ticket for.

1pm walk downhill from the park towards l'Eixample district by crossing the neighbourhood of Gràcia. See suggestion above in my response to Valerie.

3:30pm Casa Milà

PS: in bold = pre-book!

As per how long in advance to pre-book, just for peace of mind I'd pre-book 10 days or so -although less is also possible, but you want to make sure your time frames are not fill up, that would throw your itinerary in disarray.

I think this covers it, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

Ah yes, on Sunday... the Arc de Triomf is located north of Parc de la Ciutadella, just head to the northern gate and you can't miss it: http://bit.ly/1nUGMMk

I'm jumping in to also say to Enric - Wow! Such great and detailed advice! We (husband and I) will be taking our 17yo daughter to Barcelona in late May for her first visit, our second. I wasn't planning on fitting Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell all in one day, but you've given plenty of great advice that I am adding to my trip notes, like the bus to take to Parc Guell, that's very helpful.

I will say, Sagrada Familia was one of the most amazing places that I have ever visited. We were there in 2007, and the interior still looked like a construction site. I am very much looking forward to seeing what it looks like now.

Here's another question. Someone said it's good to visit Sagrada Familia in the afternoon, when the afternoon light is shining through the stained-glass windows. Is that the case, and should we try to plan our visit there around that? Our prior visit was in the morning.

WOW, WOW, WOW, boys and girls don't get carried away.... I only said it's technically possible but I rather not recommend it as it's very rushed, moreover taking into account three factors: traveling time from one to the other, heat AND humidity from Jun/Set (yeah it sloooows you down) and the sheer number of visitors during certain times of the year. But again, that's me, maybe others will think differently. In any case, if you attempt such a densely packed visit do plan for a FUUUULL day, meaning early rising and keep your pace to stick to the schedule, lol!
PS: Your teenager daughter will hate you the rest of the year for this :))

If you liked SF in 2007 prepare to be amazed now, it's really breathtaking. If you're coming in May note that sunset is between 8:47pm (1st) and 9:17pm (31st), if you want pictures like those in the link, I'd visit an hour or two before closing time (8pm in May) so you can catch the different levels of natural light being gradually faded away. For picture taking it's also worth dropping by at night with the illuminated façade.

I'd like to point out something about the Sagrada Familia for those not familiar with its history and that can be key to understand why it's still being built after so long:

This magnificent church was first thought of by Josep Maria Bocabella, a librarian and philanthropist and devoted Catholic who in 1866 founded an association to honour St Joseph. From 1874 the association promoted the construction of a church and started to gather donations from its members and parishioners -hey, crowdfunding in the 18th century, take that millennials, ha!- as well as from other wealthy philanthropists of the city. The Archdiocese of the city has had little involvement with this work, but that's no surprise as the 'establishment' at the time -strongly controlled by the Spanish crown and the Church firmly established in Madrid- had little sympathy for Catalan affairs (much like today) and thus for example another great work, the grand opera house of El Liceu in La Rambla built in 1847 was also financed by local philanthropists while most other opera houses in Europe at the time were being commissioned (and paid for!) the royal crowns -hence the proliferation of the word 'Royal' in many grand works elsewhere, royal this, royal that... There are a few other examples of this in Barcelona, such as Palau de la Música Catalana built in 1908.

So, the board of the St Josep association bought a large parcel in what was then the outskirts of Barcelona and the first stone was laid in 1882, this is taken around the turn of the century. The architect was Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano which in 1883, after discrepances with the promoters, abandoned the project. Here enters now this 'mediocre' architecture student named Antoni Gaudí (yes, he flunked quite often and just barely graduated, so would-be graduates everything's not lost as you can see) who's got 'connections' among wealthy patrons and befriends Eusebi Güell, an stinky-wealthy local entrepreneur who profited from the industrial revolution in Catalonia, especially in the textile industry and the import/export business with 'the Americas'. They had met in an architectural fair in Paris in 1878 and they rapidly found mutual interests, including religion (both were devout Catholics) and a fresh vision to architecture. Güell became Gaudí's patron and established a long term relationship that produced many works and architectural wonders. Gaudí is offered to continue the project and he totally revolutioned it with new un-heard of ideas at that time anywhere in the world. He worked in this masterpiece to his sudden death in 1926. And although he created many other famous works --Casa Batlló, Casa Milà... even in 1908 projected the Hotel Attraction in New York (more info at the end of this article here), doesn't look a bit like a Saturn-5 rocket?...-- the Sagrada Família is his most important achievement and that's the reason today his name is linked to this building.

But the temple has continued being in the hands of the association (nowadays a foundation) and the financing of its works has always been by donations and support from patrons, and more recently (only since the last few decades) with tickets for visiting the site. As any one that has visited it can quickly grasp, a ton of money is needed for this work so that's why it's taken nearly a 150 years to be completely finished -it's expected to be so in 2026. This is now and how will it look like in 2026

And for history nerds, Sagrada Família in...
1892 -- 1892 close up -- 1898 -- 1905 -- 1914 -- 1931 -- 1953 -- 1974 -- 1990 -- 2015

The last decades have seen many detail work rather than major structures, the most "impressive" changes occurred in the first decades as one can easily see the radical changes of the whole complex.

Thanks Enric! We've been on holidays and unable to post but I'm going to get back on track planning our visit to Spain during the next week and I'll have a detailed look at your helpful response.