Sagrada Familia

I would recommend the 4:30 tickets. A few years ago, traveling on our own, we arrived there about 3:30 or 4 and noted that all the tour bus groups were leaving (maybe 20+ buses). No lines at the ticket booth and no crowds inside. In my personal opinion Sagrada Familia beats the heck out of Park Guell or La Pedrera and we visited all of them. Obviously opinions vary. Enjoy your trip!

We didn't go up a tower when we visited Sagrada Familia in October 2022. We had already had spectacular views of Barcelona from several locations - Montjuic castle, our hotel rooftop terrace, and the cafeteria at El Cortez Ingles department store overlooking Plaza Catalunya. We didn't feel that we missed anything.

We did a guided tour and it was a bit hit and miss. Our guide got a bit preoccupied with the sun shining through the windows and then rushed us along at the end. We did a 5:30pm tour which was a bit late as they started closing up before we had quite finished as there was a mass being held that evening. We left just before 7:00pm and probably needed an extra 15 minutes. Make sure to have a look at the school that Gaudi built for the children of the workers - it's quite interesting

Make sure to allow time to get into the building. The security process took close to 20 minutes even with our "skip the line" tickets.

We found the audio guide to be more than sufficient, and it allowed us to visit at our own pace. The tower was fine, but IMO not worth skipping the other Gaudi sites that interest you. The "Night Time Experience" at La Pedrera was one of our favorites in Barcelona.

I haven't been up one of the towers, but I have read on this forum that the towers are not so much for the view as for getting a closer look at some of the architectural elements.

The museum at La Sagrada Familia is quite interesting, I think, and there was almost no one there but me at the time of my August 2016 visit. The church itself was very crowded.

Be aware that once you enter the shop, you cannot re-enter the church.

I enjoyed Parc Guell and La Pedrera as well, so I don't know what to recommend that you do. Even without the tower climb, La Sagrada Familia takes a good bit of time. And unless you hop in a taxi, it takes time to get to and from Parc Guell, which is some distance (uphill) from the nearest Metro station. Buses will get you closer.

I imagine you know that you also need to pre-book La Pedrera and Parc Guell.

Acraven is spot on. The roof scape of the edifice is spectacular and can only be fully appreciated when viewed from a tower.

Regarding Parc Guell, perhaps we went on the “wrong” day, but it was so crowded we couldn’t appreciate the wonderful forms and marvelous tile work.

I was just in Barcelona this past Sunday and Monday. In hindsight, I should have got the TMB "Hola" card for easy transport by bus and Metro throughout the city. Card is about 15 EUR for 2 days, and 3, 4,and 5 day versions are available at slightly lower per day costs. It also includes transport to/from the airport.

Single ride tickets on the the Metro are 2.40 EUR and are not transferable to buses, nor are bus transfers allowed. So the Hola card makes it all seamless. There is a big Metro station at Sagrada Familia. and you can get to Parc Guell on the 116 Bus from Joanic Metro station. I would recommend the bus because it is quite a hike up the hill to Parc Guell. The bus stops right at the entrance.

Transport in Barcelona is terrific. Metro trains are frequent, never waited more than 3 minutes for a train. Barcelona is my new favorite city in Europe. Sorry Paris.

https://www.tmb.cat/en/barcelona-fares-metro-bus
https://www.holabarcelona.com/tickets/hola-bcn-barcelona-travel-card

PS Sagrada Familia tickets include an app with an audio guide. It is a little complicated to get loaded on my phone (dinosaur that I am), but the super helpful guides there got it set up on my phone.

I used Rick's audio tour of Sagrada Familia (found on his app). It did the trick for our group of four (two sets of airpods). The right amount of detail as you spin around to marvel at the place.

We went up a tower in 2016.
I think it was worth it!
However, coming down they send you down the stairs, as elevators were only for as ascending visitors.
So I don’t know if that’s still the routine.
I don’t like heights, and it’s a open, very high, spiral stairwell with quite a low railing between you and the “plunge of doom.”
I was going down slowly hugging the wall the whole time, and was very glad to get to the bottom.
It might be different now.

Thank you so much for your replies. They really helped me focus on what is the best thing for us to do with the limited time we have in Barcelona…and that is to focus on the Sagrada and come back some day for the rest. We would like to go up a tower too. You have been so helpful. I will post again with an additional question about which tower to do. Thinking about the one with wider steps coming down.

I am so glad I found this particular forum, as I'm working on planning our vacation in September. We won't be going up the towers, but would like to visit the Montjuic castle and do the La Pedrera night experience. Could you kindly suggest which companies you used to reserve these? Also, what is the best "skip the line" offer? We will be doing everything on our own and will download the audio app. Thanks in advance!

La Pedrera and the other popular Gaudi site really require purchase of timed tickets ahead of time, because ticket lines are very long and if you show up without a ticket you'll waste a lot of time and possibly not get in at all. Any timed ticket allows you to skip the ticket line. References to "skip-the-line" tickets are just misleading marketing-speak.

Buy your tickets from the official websites of the sites themselves whenever possible.

I don't know about the Montjuic castle. I assume that's something you can easily do yourself. There are public buses that go up that hill, and there are outdoor escalators that take you part of the way up. I haven't been all the way to the top myself.

We did our trip to Barcelona in 2011. I think it was a bit different then. We just waited in line about half an hour and went in. We did go up one of the towers--I am not a huge fan of heights in buildings, but did enjoy the view and the architectural and decorative details. We didn't do audio or guided tour. I actually think we just were using a guide book that pointed out interesting aspects to look for. Parc Guell I remember being very crowded (maybe even more so now), and wishing I could be there with less people. I definitely liked Sagrada Familia more.