Sagrada Familia

We'll be there in a few weeks (April) and I pre-bought tickets. If you know when you're going, I can't see a reason NOT to pre-buy. I've heard the lines can be substantial - even in shoulder season.

We were there also in October 2015. We had tickets ahead of time and I would recommend that you get them prior to your visit. It was extremely busy there and lineups and people just milling around made for a lot of congestion.

Thanks for the info. I will look into getting the tickets ahead of time.

As I've mentioned many times in the forum, there's no shoulder or low/high seasons in Barcelona... nor have been for at least 30 years now. While indeed it's really busy in Jun-Sep, the rest of the year is equally busy. Barcelona continues to be the 3rd preferred destination in Europe for city tourism after London and Paris, and 12th in the World ranking (Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2015)... so go figure, no rest at all anytime for us poor Barcelonians, LOL!

So although some forum members might have posted "when I visited on such day or such time there were little or no queues in such or such venue", I can assure you that's a mirage.. at least in the most popular ones, half an hour before or half an hour later from this member visiting you can see turning up a large group of school children, or OAPs -lucky enough to be able to travel at any time during the year-, or a couple of big cruisers arrive into the city and 10000 passengers disembark all wanting to see this or that at the same time, or simply, it's a holiday or a week-end and you have many Barcelonians or fellow Catalans from elsewhere visiting their capital city.

So if you can pre-book... always do it and save yourself ulterior disappointment should you arrive and be packed. Or else assume that just turning up you might be lucky and wait only for a short time or not, sometimes the queues are epic. Well, it's your holidays and your time... I'm just saying :))

Thanks for your information, Enric.

The only thing I would add: opt for the earliest time in the day. In 2011, we were there just as it opened, on a weekday in October. Within an hour, it was very crowded. And, worth every crowded minute! That is why we are returning October 2016.

We were there last week and had a 9 am ticket with a 10 am Nativity Tower. We got there about 9:20 because I got us lost and there was no problem getting in. There was a line for tickets at that point. I would say, yes, get your ticket, especially if you want to go up a tower because that was very crowded and they were strict about letting people go up at their scheduled time. By the time we left the church at 10:30, it was packed and I was so glad we had about 30 minutes to see the place less crowded.

Such a beautiful, spiritual place. I will never forget the morning light coming in through the stained glass.

I've had good luck getting tickets to Sagrada Familia while just arriving in Barcelona. The trick is to order them in advance on line (which can be done anywhere). I once walked around the corner, only to see a line that was almost two blocks long and 4-6 people deep (1/2 block, full block and around the corner another 1/2 block). I saw the window where people could enter if they had their advanced tickets. After talking to the person manning the booth, I was convinced I needed to order advanced tickets. I saw a Starbucks 1/2 block away. Ran over there, signed into the internet (thank you Starbucks) and purchased my ticket for a tour (with towers) 30 minutes from that time. I had a lovely cup of coffee and strolled over to the Cathedral and walked in for my tour. No lines. The tours are 15 minutes apart. You HAVE to be there within the 15 minute window or you will miss your time allowance. They are pretty strict about the time.

Just for clarity... Sagrada Família is NOT a cathedral, it's a basilica. In the Catholic world it can only be one cathedral in each city/town and in this case, the Cathedral of Barcelona -which is called Catedral de la Santa Creu and Santa Eulàlia, or "the Cathedral" to locals- is a completely different site located in the Ciutat Vella (Old City) district. I'm just clarifying because if you're in Barcelona and ask for "the Cathedral", you're going to be pointed to this venue... not to Sagrada Família.

Glad to hear though you had an easy solution to reduce waiting time to Sagrada Família :))... also, a tip, it's better to pre-book in advance but if you choose to do as Julie and happen to have to wait say over 90' you can in the meantime walk the cozy Avinguda de Gaudí boulevard to Sant Pau Centre Modernista and pay a visit to this Modernist gem which is only 10' away.

I will be there in April and want to purchase tickets now. What are the crowds like at 5pm? How much time should I allow before getting tickets to the tower?
thanks

We will be there on april 5 and wanted to buy tickets online. Is it possible to get just the basic tour and tower tickets? We have 6 kids in our group of 15 and was wondering about the price for kids.