Sagrada Familia questions

Hi dcarnegie6

Visiting any day of the week doesn't make a difference in terms of crowd size. Note, btw, that you need to pre-book the tickets in advance, otherwise is very unlikely you'll be able to visit on the day.

The best time of the day is very subjective and it might depend on the time of the year. To me, personally, if visiting in winter, I prefer between 2 and 4 pm since the light of the sun passing through the stained glass inside the basilica makes for great pictures.

@enric - good suggestion on the timing of the visit for the light. Winter has shorter and different daylight, and the windows are an absolute highlight of the Sagrada Familia. It makes sense for any visitor to try to optimize their visit for best sunlight conditions.

I went down there, and just used my phone to buy a ticket online on the spot. It's kind of zoo with all the people. I agree with what someone else said - check when the sun will rise or set, and be there a few hours before sunrise or before sunset to get the sun coming through the colored glass. One of the times I was there, there was a mini-concert of sorts which was very moving. Not sure if it's possible to know when those take place. Also make sure to go to the basement where they have a museum showing how it was designed and built - it's free and included with the admission.

We just took the guided tour yesterday. Yes, I would say for the minimal additional cost, it is worth it. We didn’t use the audio tour, so I can’t compare them.
We went right at 9am when they opened. We are so glad we did because by the time we were leaving at about 11:30, it was packed! December might be different in terms of number of visitors though. As far as the light is concerned, you can try to time your visit accordingly, but it can be cloudy at any time of day. It was cloudy when we were there, and it was still magnificent!

I'd do the earliest available guided tour, hopefully the first one of the day. The mob of people just seems to increase around SF as the day moves on.

We visited Sagrada Familia in the afternoon, I think about 4:00 (16:00). Since the sun comes in through blue stained glass windows in the morning, and orange stained glass windows in the afternoon, we had the sun coming in through the orange windows. It was spectacular. This was in May. It was very crowded, but you could walk around, and there were plenty of seats when we wanted to sit down.

Check out when the sun will rise and set in December to make sure it will be shining the right way when you visit.

Also, make sure you get your tickets well in advance. I think we got ours about 3 days in advance.

We didn't take a tour. I did a lot of research and learned as much as I could before we visited it.

My reaction to it is, the outside is okay, but the inside is one of the best things I've ever seen. I was blown away.

We didn't take a tour and found that a lot of audio guides were not helpful at most of the venues we visited.

It was nice to be able to spend as much time as we liked in certain areas of the Sagrada Familia and having the ability to walk back to certain areas was great. Having flexibility is more important to us. It would be helpful to do some research before visiting, especially about Gaudi, as Marty mentions above, nothing really prepares you for seeing it in person, and, unfortunately, photos do not really reflect its awesomeness either.

Go early on Sunday morning for the international Mass. It may be at 9, and you need to get in line at least an hour before. You can take a tour after Mass, but the best way to visit the church is to actually attend services there.