We have booked tickets for the Sagrada Familia on November 2nd - entry @ 9:15; tour @ 9:30. I assumed, when I did the booking, that a timed entry ticket would not mean waiting in line, but I have since seen information talking about wait times for entry from "nil to 3 hours." Does anyone have an idea about what time we should actually arrive for entry @ 9:15 in early November. Thanks!
Posted by
Washington DC
27166 posts
Did you buy the tour on the official website?
Three hours sounds like the time you might wait if you showed up without a ticket considerably later than 9:15. My most recent visited to the church was in 2016, so I can provide no informed guidance; I'm sure others can. In the absence of scary reports from others, I'd have no hesitancy in showing up at 9 AM. There should be a separate line for ticket holders, and you'll get inside before the 9:30 group. I suppose you could go a bit earlier in order to be near the front of that line, but I'm not sure that's going to matter much. The 9 AM folks will already be inside, so you won't be entering an empty church, and you'll have only a very few minutes to glance around before your tour starts, anyway.
Later in the day I suppose there might be a delay at the door; I know that used to happen at Casa Mila and Casa Batllo as they seemingly waited for people to exit before allowing more inside. But the earliest entry time at La Sagrada Familia is 9 AM, so they won't be holding your entry group at the door because of overcrowding; they know all the 9 AM people will still be inside.
Posted by
OP
Edmonton, AB, Canada
37 posts
Thanks very much for the response - input re: early entrance time being a factor, also, was helpful. Purchase of advance tickets is now required; nothing is apparently sold at the door, which is what got me wondering when I saw reports of long wait times. I don't know, however, when those reports were made, so perhaps that was prior to the requirement for advance tickets??
Posted by
OP
Edmonton, AB, Canada
37 posts
Tickets were purchased from the official site.
Posted by
Citizen of the World
1439 posts
We had an entry ticket for 9am a couple weeks ago. When we arrived, there already was a line of about 50 people ahead of us waiting for their 9am admission. Security requires putting your shoulder bags/purses
through an x-ray machine and then put your bags in a locker afterwards. That delayed our entry by about 5 minutes but when we exited the church about 10 am the lines were building and you could easily imagine that process taking 15-20 minutes. So, walking up with a timed entry of 10am may not necessarily mean you will walk into Sagrada Familia at 10am.