Hello all,
My BF and I will be cruising from Venice to Barcelona in a few weeks. We will be in Barcelona on the 8th and 9th. Since this is off season do I really need to prebook tickets to La Sagrada Familia? I love to have my day scheduled but he likes to roll with the punches. I'm thinking the hop-on hop-off bus would be a good idea because the city is so large. We will be staying by Ciutadella Park which should be a stop for these buses. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
If you show up at any of the following sights without a pre-purchased ticket, you are likely to be standing in a ticket line for a very long time, and you may not be able to get a ticket for that date:
La Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
Picasso Museum
Casa Mila (La Pedrera)
Casa Batllo
Palau de la Musica Catalana (requires tour)
That's just the way it is.
Barcelona has an excellent public-transportation system, and I would choose it over the HO/HO buses for moving around the city. When I was in Barcelona in August 2016 I saw an unbelievably long line of people waiting to board the HO/HO bus at Placa Catalunya. It looked like enough to fill at least two buses. I have no idea how typical that is, but you don't have enough time in Barcelona as it is; you can't afford to be cooling your heels waiting on a HO/HO bus.
You need to the day before
I am in Barcelona now, staying very near the Sagrada Familia. It is a madhouse. If you want to see it, book it. The HO/HO bus was not crowded and is a good way to see a lot of the city. It is NOT good transportation, though, at about 10x the cost of the very convenient Metro, which stops at Sagrada Familia.
There's no off season in Barcelona... the city gets visitors (tourists, events, congresses, concerts, etc) all year long. There are several major events each month of the year. Do as Ann above mentions!
Just returned from Barcelona (etc). Can confirm that all the mentioned places were jam packed. I booked the earliest visits to La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and La Pedrera. But many already beat me. Judging by the huge crowds outside of Casa Batllo, I skipped it. Ditto Picasso Museum.
Taking photos at these places without people in them required patience and luck. I planned accordingly and allotted extra time for my visits.
OTOH, a half day to Montjuïc was a blissful relief, with only a few people there.
Casa Batllo was a bit more jam-packed than Casa Mila at the time of my visit. I suspect the managers simply allow more people in at the same time. Not that Casa Mila wasn't also crowded; it just wasn't quite as bad. Because of the nature of those sights, you could still enjoy them--unless you wanted to take photos; I think indoor photos would have been very difficult. It was easier up on the roof.
The Picasso Museum was like photos I've seen of current conditions in the Vatican Museums. It was very difficult to get close enough to read the labels beside the artworks. An art museum is difficult to enjoy under those conditions, and I do not recommend the Picasso for folks who are not Picasso fans. Barcelona has lots of other art museums that are easier to appreciate.
You only have 2 days, not enough time to allow for spontaneity. I got good advice to book the first entry time and line up 15-20 minutes in advance. That way I had some quiet time inside to take nearly people-less photos and contemplate the awesome interior. Within a couple of hours (after a tower visit), there was a strident din of many people talking plus the hammering and drilling of the workmen. Buses get bogged down in traffic. The metro is more efficient - not to mention cheaper - than the HOHO buses.
As others have said, there is no off season in Barcelona. I visited in February and it was very busy, the queues for Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Picasso Museum et al were huge.
We did do the HoHo bus and had no wait. It's not something we generally do but with young children we wanted an easy method of getting around whilst maximising the views.
I wouldn't suggest winging it, book your tickets.
Just for info for the "more adventurous" when visiting Barcelona:
Due to the sheer number of visitors to this city happening all year long, many on tourism but also for a myriad of other reasons (business, special events, etc), several of the most popular tourist sites have introduced some years ago -same than in other popular European destinations- the "time-band" booking systems.
For the most popular sites, pre-booking online is almost mandatory, it's very rare to find tickets in the manned booths at the site for immediate visitation. Visiting hours are split into "slots" and there's a maximum capacity of visitors every hour, not only for safety reasons but also to ensure a comfortable visit for the customers.
When pre-booking online, one chooses one slot, which indicates the time one MUST be at the entrance, ready to go in. The window is (normally) 15', miss it and you need to purchase another ticket to visit. Once inside there's no limit to the time you can be admiring the site, so you can spend an hour, two... whatever. Having said that, those sites (ie Casa Batlló) in which you don't roam freely but in a sort of pre-established itinerary (much like in any Ikea, if you know what I mean!), you can't really spend that much extra time because you're being "pushed", so to speak, by the group behind you. This is not to say you can't stay in a room longer if you want to, but in practice, you'll feel you're being pressed to move on after a reasonable period of time.
So, if you think "bah! I'll just buy a ticket on the spot -or online, on the phone, when I get at the site" know that you'll most likely find that your next available "slot" is hours away, or even the next day. That's how busy most of the most popular sites are.
Having said all that, the expert management of the flow of visitors at these sites makes it reasonably comfortable to visit.
As mentioned, some of the sites that are advisable to pre-book are: Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, Park Güell, La Pedrera, Palau de la Música Catalana, Torre Bellesguard, Casa Museu Gaudí.... and a few more.
Enjoy!
PS: Disclaimer!... sometimes, at certain days, when planets are aligned in the sky and other heavenly happy coincidences occur, one can find tickets at the manned booths for a time-slot reasonably close to the time you're there.... even immediately. But again, you probably have more chances to win the Euromillions or the PowerBall, LOL!
