Easter weekend in Barcelona

If you knowingly scheduled your trip for Easter, your reasons for doing that might give clues about what you'd like to do (that is open) on Easter.

Kent, thanks for your reply. No I didn't book a trip because it's Easter it coincides with spring break for my kids school in US. So my question is, are major attractions/restaurants etc closed on Easter like major holidays in US like Christmas Eve and thanksgiving Eve as this will be inconvenient. I planned to stay local on Easter day in Barcelona for any Easter specific activities but otherwise plan is to head to sitges on sat and Girona on Monday.

I have in the past looked at the websites of some of the most popular attractions in Barcelona (primarily modernista sites) and found that they close very, very rarely. They're just plain taking in too much money every day to close (at least that's my theory). So I think you'll find plenty of things open on Easter Monday in Barcelona. The government-run museums may be more likely to close. Monday is a fairly common day for closings when there's no holiday involved, but occasionally sites are open on the regular closing day when it's a holiday.

Girona I'm less sure about. But congratulations on choosing to go there; it's a wonderful place.

The only way to know for sure is to go to the official websites of the places you plan to visit and check. You might possibly find a few places that are open but for more limited hours than usual.

Acraven, thanks for your response, always very helpful and insightful replies. I haven't planned that level of detail yet on my day trips out of Barcelona what to see on these day trips. I have at least narrowed them down to Montserrat, sitges and Girona on three different days. As I just booked tickets for park guell and la sagridia attractions trying to narrow down details on which day I am going to do what. I want to purchase renfe tickets to Girona first hence the question if Easter Monday is good to visit.
Any recommendations on must sees on Girona day trip, we are not GOT fans.

My time in Girona was truncated because a bus failed to show up and left me marooned in Ripoll. The places I paid to go inside (all worthwhile) were the Cathedral, the Basilica of San Felix and the art museum. There are English-language audio guides for the churches. The museum is not overwhelmingly large and quite good; I enjoyed getting an up-close look at some architectural bits and pieces as well as the paintings and found the 2 hours I had allowed to be a bit short. If you plan to hit MNAC in Barcelona, you might want to skip the museum in Girona unless you're a bit art fan.

There's also the Museum of Jewish History; that's one of the things I missed when my last planned day evaporated.

I don't remember any entrance procedure for the walls. I think you can walk on top of them at any time. Ditto for just wandering through the large medieval area, of course.

Unfortunately there is nothing really spectacular going on in Barcelona in relation to Holy Week. We just do not have the same intensity of Holy Week traditions as one would find in other parts of Spain. If you want to see one of those typical Semana Santa processions, your closest options would probably be in Cuenca or Zaragoza.

Around the Catalonia region itself, one can find some holy week traditions, albeit not on such a grand scale. The towns of Tarragona and Girona both have celebrations recreating the Passion. Verges in northern Catalonia (close to Girona) puts on a traditional medieval Dance of Death.

I should note that trains will be quite busy during holy week, as most people will have the later part of the week off, so please get any train tickets beforehand if possible. Also April 22 (Easter Monday) is a national holiday in Spain so the majority of shops and restaurants will be closed. Hope this helps :)

Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant that in Barcelona the government-run sights seemed more likely to have a weekly closing day, period--whereas a lot of the others seemed to be 7-days-a-week deals. But I have seen a fair number of places (didn't note whether they were government institutions or not) that remained open on the normal weekly closing day if it happened to be a holiday. I think that was more French sights, though. I didn't encounter any challenges in Barcelona due to weekly closures, and I didn't hit a holiday.

Some Easter parades in Catalonia: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k9328259-Easter_Sunday_Parades_2016-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#73269734