"Las Ramblas Ramble" and barceloneta safe at night?

Book your Picasso Museum tickets online before you go.

With jet lag and a 9 hour time change, find a taxi. If you don’t see one, have a bar or restaurant call one for you. I would do a quick look at Las Ramblas in the daylight and get away from that area.

Didn't think to ask restaurant to hail taxi. Good thinking! Thank you! The particular night we arrive is a free night at Picasso Museum. I have not researched how to do that yet.

I wouldn't plan to go to any museum the day after an overnight flight. You're very likely to have no interest in the museum when the time comes due to mental befuddlement, and it normally does require advance purchase of tickets. Walking around the Barri Gotic would probably be a lot better. That's a lot nicer than the Ramblas.

I see now that it's a free period at the museum. If you can get the tickets online, before your trip, I guess you have nothing to lose, and I can't say it will be any worse than usual on a free day, because the place sells out just about all the time. However, you will not be in the mood to fight those mobs when you're sleep-deprived and jetlagged. Let others have the miserable experience that night.

So maybe the Barri Gotic walk, then, and then the Barceloneta? Or Montjiuc? We have limited time, unfortunately, three nights, and we are trying to cram in something easy-ish first night so we DO NOT go to sleep and try to get on local time. I do not know much about Picasso, not a huge fan, but I just may be once I go to the museum, and I would hate to give that experience short shrift!

Unless there has been a change recently, free tickets are only available four days before the free day. You must have a ticket to enter even though they are free. Book online or they will be sold out. Expect crowds. I wouldn’t enjoy this experience if I was jet lagged, tired, going with young children and not much of a Picasso fan. For fans, the new Picasso in Paris exhibit sounds wonderful, although I would assume it requires a special exhibit ticket. At any rate all the information you need is on their website.

Thanks for that information! yes, I tried to get tickets for the free Thursday nights online, and it would not allow it.

Hi Shelley,

Barcelona is a magical city. Last year we did the free museum day at the Picasso (went about 1:00 p.m.) and it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The lines are well organized and we were able to see everything we wanted to see. I loved this museum (and I have been to the Picasso museum in Antibes and have seen many of his paintings in other museums). You will only be able to get tickets a few days before (check the website for when they open up).

My suggestion is that you skip the Rambles. It is crowded and if not a great experience if you are jet lagged. After you check into your hotel, I would head to the El Born and explore that area, catch a bite at Mercat Princesa: a wonderful food hall behind the Picasso, then go to the museum. At Mercat Princesa, the food is good, you pick what you want to eat among a number of food options. Make sure you try the eggs. Here is the url: https://m.facebook.com/MercatPrincesa/

Have a great trip,
Sandy

Quote: "We should be in our Hotel Atlantis I am hoping by 5:30 pm. (International flight lands at 4:00pm *1600 hours) I would like to either:
1) do the Ramblas Ramble down to the waterfront, then the Picasso Museum and/or Barceloneta."

Are you trying to do this all in one evening after 530 pm?

First, with possible jet lag, I'd do the walk down the Las Ramblas to the waterfront. From the Atlantis, you'd walk to the Placa Catalunya and walk towards the ocean on the Las Ramblas. At 6 pm, it's sedate. There should still be daylight (you don't say when you are going) and there will be lots of people around including the buskers.
(And frankly, the buskers are part of the action worth seeing, otherwise it's just a stroll down a pedestrian way) Look at the Miro tile work in the ground, wander the Boqueria, take the short detour to the Placa Real, and then back on the Las Ramblas to the ocean. I doubt you will get any rowdies there at that time of early evening. We walked the Las Ramblas at 1030 pm after a dinner in the Barri Gotic area at 8pm (they eat late here) and the Ramblas was full of people. so think about dinner after 8 pm.
Once at the waterfront, barceloneta (the beach area) is a short walk from the Columbus statute.
I would not walk the Barceloneta neighborhood area after dark, (because Barceloneta is all about the beach and the port area) or just stay along the waterfront to get to the beach,
Then walk back up the Las Ramblas, think about dinner, and then back to your hotel, when the jet lag should kick in.

For the Picasso museum, You'd need a quick way to get to the Picasso Museum, probably taxi (or metro) and you'd want advance timed tickets and about 2 hours to see everything with an audio guide. So the latest entry I'd recommend is 6 30 pm, if the museum is open to 830 pm. But then that doesn't give you much time to walk the Ramblas or the beach area of Barceloneta. The museum has Picasso's early stuff. Nothing famous. So you need the audio guide to give an explanation as to what you are seeing and why it's relevant to Picasso's life.

Thank you so much Derek and Susan! Just the specific info I was hoping for! And thank you for the url link too!! Very helpful and exciting! We should be on Las Ramblas around 5:30, I am hoping. drop off luggage and make a run for it! If we stay .... we are doomed and fall asleep and wake up at 2:00 am eyes wide open.

@Shelley, you guys picked the right arrival time for jet lag, morning arrivals are the worst! I will usually use melatonin supplements to help combat jet lag, now that I am living in the US, I find they are a lifesaver when visiting family back in Spain. You can find pretty good chewable melatonin tablets at Trader Joe's.

We should be in our Hotel Atlantis I am hoping by 5:30 pm. (International flight lands at 4:00pm

I am agog at the optimism of the flight arriving on time, the immigration process moving so quickly and traffic moving so smoothly as to allow you to be to your destination, all in 90 minutes.

I hope it works out.