Modernisme Route Guidebook

I bought the book on a week-long visit to Barcelona but didn't actually use it then, so I didn't take advantage of the discounts.

I did use the book on a long weekend in Barcelona earlier this year. I photocopied pages from the book for the part of the route in the area I wanted to visit. The book is heavy (over 600 grams) which may be part of the reason I didn't use it when I bought it :-)

I saw a lot I would have missed without the book. I'm sure I will explore more of the route on future visits.

Despite the fact, as Chani mentioned, it's 'cumbersome' to carry... it's a great source of information for those especially interested in Modernisme architecture and art. It lists, if I recall correctly, over 120 buildings/sites worth passing by -most of which are private residences/offices and a handful of them visitable- to admire its façades.

The book is a great--though heavy--souvenir of Barcelona.

I believe the typical tourist might not break even financially, because the discounts for the highest-traffic sites would probably not be used. To get the discount you have to go through the ticket line at the site. At the problem sites, that could mean an hour in line, or longer. Not worth it for most of us. Also, some sites now have a small discount (I think about one euro) for buying a ticket inline, which is what you'll want to do to avoid the lines at La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell (no tickets sold at the site), Casa Mila/La Pedrera, and Casa Batllo. For the Palau de las Musica Catalana, some English tours sell out in advance. I am not sure about the ticket-purchase situation at the Palau Guell.

So, I think from the financial standpoint, the question is how much time you will have to go inside modernista sites I have not listed here--the ones for which I hope you can simply walk up and buy a ticket. The Museum of Modernism is worth a visit, especially if the card gives you a discount, which I think it does. The MNAC also has a nice modernism collection (as well as many other interesting things). I don't know whether the Ruta del Modernism card provides a discount at MNAC.

I took another look at the book after acraven's comments. I did not get a discount card. Instead, there is a place for a stamp on the last page of the book, where the first site you visit is meant to stamp with the date. The discounts are valid for one year from first use. My book (bought at the Centre del Modernisme office) got stamped when I bought it. So you would have to carry the book around with you to show it at the entrance to each site. MNAC is included.

Note that the book is more for exploring Barcelona (and other places). The explanations for ticketed sites are very limited and would not be useful as a guide to most of them. If you want to follow part of the route (it's quite long), you will see a lot of free accessible modernisme architecture and decor in the shops, cafes, hotels and other buildings that you would otherwise not notice.

I don't remember whether Chani's vusit was before or after mine. I bought the package in early August 2016. There were three parts: the book (whose descriptions are indeed brief), a map, and the little discount booklet. At that time I think the cost was about 12 euros. If there were multiple people traveling together, the additional folks could pay less (5 or 7 euros) for just the discount booklet. It wasn't necessary to carry the book around with you. Perhaps they were temporarily out of the discount booklet at the time of Chani's visit.

Thank you very much for all your responses - they’re very helpful!