Sagrada Familia and Park Guell on same day: how to best plan time?

.... a previous response of mine elsewhere to the same question: check WED16 at http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k7350676-First_Timers_Help_With_5_Day_Itinerary-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#57433425 and this is the map I refer to in the text: http://bit.ly/DIYroute-pg-sf

In short, do visit Park Güell first -which is on top of a hill-, then stroll down to the bohemian neighbourhood of Gràcia for lunch and then head to Sagrada Família. Don't forget also drop by Sant Pau when you finish SF, it's just a short ten minutes walk from there. This is far better than visiting the other way around.

I did both in the same day. I’m not sure why, but I always go to the furthest point first, so I did park guell first. I had tix for park guell at about opening time. We had a picnic lunch and when we were done with the park, we took the bus to La Sagrada Familia. I think my tickets were for 3. We arrived early so we walked around the park in front and took some pictures. We also browsed the gift shop a bit. It was all pretty simple

During hot periods, I'd prefer not to do Parc Guell around the middle of the day. Otherwise, I think I'd choose to make La Sagrada Familia my first stop at opening time. It seemed to me that crowded conditions would have more impact there than at Parc Guell. In both cases you do want to arrive with tickets already in hand.

There was little to no shade at Park Guell. It seemed the La Sagrada Familia was climate controlled

Based on our experience in Barcelona, I agree that you should start with Sagrada Familia. However, instead of 10:00 a.m. I would strongly recommend that you book tickets for the opening time of 9:00 a.m. We were very happy that we were there at the opening, because by 10:00 it was extremely crowded. If those are the only two sights that you have planned for that day, then a 1:30-2:00 entry time for Parc should give you plenty of time for lunch in between.

Are visitors including time to go through the museum at Sagrada Familia? My itinerary did not include visiting the museum, however, I was glad that I did. It provided much context in the details of what one saw in the church. I was at Sagrada Familia at 9:00 am and left around 1:00 pm.

I guess it comes down to what type of experience you want, and how much time you devote to visiting each site. No right or wrong answers.

I agree, the museum at La Sagrada Familia is excellent and it did come as a surprise to me. I had no idea it was there and with all the research I did, I feel like I never read about the museum. I did observe that many skipped the museum or walked thru rather quickly, so for us the museum didn't feel that crowded. Actually, tickets were sold out that day for both La Sagrada and Park Guell. I didn't find either to be unmanageable in terms of crowds. I thought it was more crowded at the park near La Sagrada Familia and entrance to La Sagrada than it really was inside. (Casa Mila, on the other hand, felt extremely crowded thru the whole experience)

Last year we in in Barcelona in late September and did exactly the same itineary as you are recommending. I agree that seeing the Sagrada Familia in the morning early helps beat some of the crowds. At 10:00 a.m. it was already packed, if you visit one of the towers and museum, you can easily spend 2 to 2:30 hours. We opted to take a cab to Park Guell and eat near there and then explore the park before our tour. If we had to do it again, we would have got a picnic as the restaurants near Park Guell are really touristy.

Also note that there are limited # bathrooms at Park Guell and if you get there when there is are lots of tourist buses, you will wait in a long line.

I had a first-time-slot ticket at La Sagrada Familia. I used the audio-guide, did not ascend a tower but did visit the museum. I spent a brief time in the shop, which is nice but has considerable overlap with shops at other modernista sites. I was at LSF for about 1-1/2 hours, but I am a totally non-religious person. I can well imagine that many religious visitors would want more time, and then there's the whole tower business.

I agree that the museum is very, very lightly visited and worthwhile.

One useful thing to know is that once you enter the shop, you cannot return to the rest of the site.

I'd also go look at the museum portion of the Basilica where you can watch craftsmen restore the models that Gaudi used to plan the cathedral. While we were there, there were two men putting together models and it was fascinating to watch, at least for me.

Thank you all for these great tips! One more question: is the Tower a must add-on? You can bundle Guell and Sagrada but it doesn't include the Tower climb.....?

I didn't consider it essential to go up one of the towers, so I skipped it. But that means I am in no position to tell you how great it was or was not. I will just note that unless you're spending two weeks or more in Barcelona, there are trade-offs between the various sightseeing options. You get to decide how important the tower is to you, compared to the many museums and other sights (modernista and otherwise) in Barcelona. Plus all the great side-trips.

We did them both in the same day. We did the one earliest times at La Sagrada Familia, spent 1.5 hrs. We got the audio guide, walked around the ground floor/sanctuary, went up the elevator to a tower and then did the museum. I was not that impressed with the tower, but others loved it. It's more about the architecture than the view. We went to the Gaudi Museum at Parc Guell and then had tickets for The Monuments area at 1:30.

We did Sagrada Familia, (including the audio tour, tower tour and museum) and the Parc in the same day, with Sant Pau in between. Go early to the cathedral, then walk to Sant Pau. It's an easy city bus from there to the park, then an easy bus from the park back to Eixample where we were staying. If I remember, our cathedral entry was around 9 am, and our Park entry was around 2 pm. We had no problem fitting all that in, plus a quick bite and beer. In my view, the tour part of the the cathedral is skippable. Although it's a quick elevator ride up, it's a long twisty way down with no handrails.