Hello! My family (myself, husband, and 11 yo son) will be in Barcelona later this spring. My son is a huge PIcasso fan and I would love to find a guide to take us through the museum on a private tour that will keep my son engaged. I know the museum offers the service but the tour is only one hour. I am hoping someone has a recommendation for a different option that might be a little more in depth. I have also seen an option through Context Travel but that is 3 hours. So something in between would be ideal if it exists! Alternatively, if anyone has other private guide recommendations for other sights in the city that would engage an 11 year old boy please share as well. Many thanks!
Posted by
Oregon
44 posts
Check the Rick Steve tour book. We booked one of his guides for June. Feel price Is fair.
The guide is taking us through the Picasso museum and gothic area.
Posted by
Washington DC
27096 posts
The tourist office offered several walking tours as of 2015; I haven't checked to see whether they are still doing that. One of the tours was a Picasso tour that walked us to a few sites connected to the artist and then went to the museum. I don't remember exactly, but I think perhaps we had about one hour of guided time in the museum. The guide was personable but did not pretend to be an expert on art, much less an expert on Picasso, so I don't think this meets your needs, but I thought I'd let you know that it does exist. You might like the tourist office's Barri Gotic tour, though. That tour covered a lot of historic sites, and I felt the guide was giving us accurate information rather than spinning tales (which can be an issue on tours conducted by unlicensed guides, especially those who work for tips).
You should be aware that in the past the Picasso Museum has often been overrun. My experience in August 2016 reminded me of the scenes in old movies of cocktail parties in small Manhattan apartments. You could barely move. It's a small museum, so there's not a lot even the best guide can do to make that better. The only area that wasn't practically shoulder-to-shoulder was the ceramics room, which is not an area where many people want to spend more than a few minutes. Note: Some other folks have definitely had better conditions than I did, so I don't mean to be excessively discouraging. What I'd suggest you do is consult with whatever guide you decide on to see if there is a time of the day or day of the week that might be a bit less crowded. Sometimes it helps to go to a museum during the local lunchtime (which would be, I guess, about 1:30 to 4 PM in Barcelona).
I used the audio guides for La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila/La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. Those are also very crowded, though for me only Casa Batllo approached the sardine-can conditions I had at the Picasso Museum. I thought the audio guides met my needs, but I am not an 11 year old, and I'm nutty about modernista architecture. To repeat what I said above, I really like the T.O.'s Barri Gotic tour; I'd recommend that above tours of Gaudi sites for which audio guides are available.
The Palau de la Musica Catalana is gorgeous and offers its own tours. They are worthwhile, but I'm not sure that would be the best modernista building to visit with an 11 year old. The Gaudi sites are weirder, so I suspect they might be more appealing.
Posted by
270 posts
https://www.viator.com/Barcelona-attractions/Picasso-Museum/d562-a837
Here are some private tours. Good luck.
Posted by
Oregon
44 posts
We are using a guide from Ricks book