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Strategy for Sightseeing Barcelona

The last time I visited Barcelona was over 40 years ago when my ship made a port call there. I'm sure a lot has changed. My wife and I are starting off our European tour in Barcelona. We arrive at BCN in mid-April, and would like to spend at least 4 days touring Barcelona and Catalunya before heading north (by car). We would like to tour the city for 2 days, but are wondering if it is best to:

a) Stay in a hotel near the airport or find one in the city

and

b) Rent a car straight-away and drive into the city or hold-off on renting and use public transport to enter and tour the city.

Experienced opinions and advice are appreciated. Thank you.

Posted by
1936 posts

1)Stay in the city. I like L’Eixample(?) or The grid part of the city.

2) you do not need a car in Barcelona and don’t want to pay for it to sit in a garage.

Posted by
91 posts

I am interested in the responses to this query. I have only spent a short amount ot time in Barcelona so have only seen the outside of the Sagrada, rambled along Las Ramblas and travelled in the aerial cable car. I am planning to be there in June next year for about 4 nights and will use one of my days visiting Montserrat which by accounts is worth visiting.

I have a bit of conversational Spanish so was also wondering if that is acceptable when speaking to the locals. Or should I also master some conversational Catalan. I can hold a limited conversation in French which possibly the locals speak. And I suspect many speak English.

Posted by
26829 posts

A car is of no use in any major European city. And you need to stay in the city to facilitate efficient sightseeing.

The tourist situation in Barcelona has changed massively in recent years. Visitor levels have risen so sharply that there are at least six sights for which you need to get tickets in advance (if you want to see them, I mean): Picasso Museum, La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila/La Pedrera, and Palau de la Musica Catalana. I was last in Barcelona in 2016; for all I know there may be additions to that list.

The need to pre-purchase tickets, which in most cases must be timed tickets, makes it necessary to do more planning in Barcelona than many of us like. On a long trip, you can plan to do one of those popular sights first thing each morning, then you can be flexible with the rest of your day, spending as long as you want at each place. On a shorter trip--and both of you are planning on 4 days (which I'm betting is really 4 nights, so only 3 days), you are going to be putting together a jigsaw puzzle if you want to go inside the top sights rather than just observe their exteriors.

How much time will you want at Sight A? How long will you spend in line at Sight A even if you already have a ticket in your hand? How long will it take you to walk or otherwise get to Sight B? Will you want a snack or lunch on the way? How long will that take? You need to answer all of those questions to know what time you'll be ready to enter Sight B so you can buy that ticket in advance. Yes, it's going to be that difficult if you're interested in a bunch of those six sights.

I urge you to read your guide book and really think about which places you truly want to see. It will be easier to plan your visit if you go to only some of the six I listed and add on other places than can be visited spontaneously. I cannot tell you what to see, because people's interests are so different. That's what guide books are for.

I do recommend that only people really interested in Picasso go to the Picasso Museum. The place can be as crowded as the Vatican Museums (Google for pictures), and I find it hard to enjoy an art museum if I can't get close enough to the art to read the labels. Barcelona has many other very good art museums that do not generally require pre-planning. I'm partial to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which has some very interesting exhibitions of modernist decorative arts and medieval frescoes from churches in the Pyrenees as well as the expected paintings, and the nearby Miro is great for modern-art lovers. But there are many more. It's not the Picasso Museum or nothing.

If you scan back through the Spain forum you'll find many earlier threads about sightseeing in Barcelona. They will answer questions you haven't even thought to ask, and they will give you the perspective of a bunch of different travelers.

Posted by
13 posts

Thanks, for the feedback. I honestly did not think there would be car parking in Centro, but I was wondering about park and ride lots on the outskirts of town similar to some cities in Northern Europe. I guess I will wait to rent the car and look for a hotel that is in the city... or at least close to public transport. Deciding which POI to enter and explore will be the tough nut to crack. I can already see a dispute with my wife over the Picasso museum... LOL. Maybe I'll offer to take her to the Dali house further up the coast.

Posted by
7175 posts

My plan of attack with four days in Barcelona and the pre booking of sights.

Day 1
•Sagrada Familia (BOOK a first up visit)
•Hospital Sant Pau
•Eixample - Passeig de Gracia, Casa Mila & Casa Batllo

Day 2
•Palau de la Musica Catalana (BOOK a first up visit)
•Las Ramblas - La Boqueria, Placa Real
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral

Day 3
•Picasso Museum (BOOK a first up visit)
•La Ribera - Basilica Santa Maria del Mar
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta

Day 4
•Park Guell (BOOK a first up visit)
•Montjuic (funicular from Parallel) - Joan Miro Foundation, Castello, Olympic Ring
•Plaça Espanya - MNAC, Las Arenas, Magic Fountains

NOTE: Joan Miro & MNAC are both closed on Mondays.

Posted by
26829 posts

And the MNAC is rather large, so unless you have 5 or 6 hours to devote to it, I suggest browsing the museum's website and developing a strategy.

As you head north I highly, highly recommend some time in Girona. It's a lovely city.

Posted by
2455 posts

There's certainly a lot to see and do in Barcelona. I will just add a few comments:

  1. With such a short visit, I think whether or not Monserrat should make your itinerary depends a lot on both the weather that day, and whether you plan to do some hiking up there. It is a time-consuming trip there and back, with some moderate expense, and to just visit the church and museum, I would say stay in the city.

  2. I skipped the Picasso Museum on my two recent trips to Barcelona. I really like Picasso's cubist art, but my understanding is that the museum focuses on his early, more realistic works, not his cubist paintings. Plus the fact that it is SO crowded.

  3. I thought MNAC was great, especially the amazing early frescoes. The museum is divided into 4 sections, the early frescoes being the first. The evening dancing fountains just below MNAC were a pretty spectacular event, if they occur on one of the evenings when you are in town.

  4. I also highly encourage a visit to the old town of Girona, less than an hour north of Barcelona by fast train. Better to spend a night there on your way north, rather than just make a day trip, I think. You might consider going to Girona by AVE train, then getting your rental car as you leave Girona. Consider visiting one or two very old hill towns/villages too, such as Besalu or Rupit. MUCH smaller and more intimate than Girona and certainly Barcelona.

  5. Certainly in Barcelona, stay near the center of town, where you can walk or metro to all the major sites. With the T-10 metro pass, you get 10 rides for about one euro each, and a family can share the same pass.

Posted by
15560 posts

Dali Theatre and Museum is an excellent day trip. Take an early train, get there when they open so it's not so crowded as you go through it, then visit the Dali jewelry collection around the corner (same ticket), and then spend a few hours in charming medieval Girona before heading back to Barcelona. Much much better than a couple hours at the very crowded Picasso Museum.

Barcelona is big and the sights are spread out. The best way to get around is by metro - cheap and fast.

Posted by
16024 posts

Thanks for the reminder to plan and pre-book sights in Barcelona! We have one full day ( two nights) in the city next May before meeting our Pyrenees hiking tour group ( REI Adventures). We have been to Barcelona before, but want to see some things we skipped last time because lines were so long. Our full day will be a Sunday.

Between Casa Mila and Casa Batilo, which is the more interesting to visit? I seem to recall that one allows a rooftop visit: if correct, which is it? We always enjoy a rooftop view ( and have booked a hotel with rooftop terrace accordingly).

Where can I find a schedule for the Magic Fountain? It probably isn't out yet for May, but I would like to check.

Posted by
26829 posts

I believe you can go up on the roof of both Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. At the time of my visit (2016), Casa Mila had a very interesting display (with videos) about Gaudi's other buildings, including some in other cities that most tourists don't have an opportunity to see. The display didn't feel temporary, but it may have been. It was on the top floor, I think.

If anything, I found Casa Batllo a smidgen more crowded than Casa Mila. They both seem to meter traffic in and out, so even with a timed ticket in your hand, you may not get inside right away. It was suggested to me that Casa Batllo lets more people inside at the same time, but I have no official confirmation of that; it just seemed that way to me. Both will be very crowded, enough to make taking pictures extremely difficult. Not enough, to me, to recommend that people not go.

If my comments about the crowding are giving you really serious concerns, I suggest that you substitute the Sant Pau modernista site. It was designed by one of Gaudi's fellow modernista architects. It's a beautiful multi-building site. Allow a minimum of 2 hours; I think 3 would be better.

Posted by
7175 posts

Yes, you get to visit the roof top at both Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. I finally got to experience Casa Batllo on my recent visit, and at €28.50 its mindblowingly expensive. Personally I preferred the experience at Casa Mila, particularly because of the roof top.

Posted by
91 posts

Some good suggestions and even itineraries. I am going to focus on the Gaudi attractions and probably the Miro and MNAC museums. I saw a couple of Picasso touring exhibitions when I lived in Australia and as I am also planning to visit a museum in Cologne, the Ludwig which has a large collection of Picassos, I feel I can safely drop the Picasso Museum off my list.

Has anyone visited Casa Vicens, another of the Gaudi designed houses? It is not often mentioned in all the visit Barcelona type websites.

Is it worth paying extra to go up into the towers of the Sagrada? Pay a little extra for the guided tour or is the audio headset option ok?
The latter would allow me to go at my own pace and not be shuffled along by a guide.

I enjoy walking so the vast variety of strolls I can take appeals to me as long as it is not unbearably hot. Is the Barrio Gottic safe to walk around or would that be worth taking a guided tour?

Posted by
26829 posts

Casa Vicens has only recently been restored and opened to visitors. It was surrounded by scaffolding and construction drapes as of August 2016. I think that's why you're not seeing it mentioned in many guide books, etc. With luck someone on this forum has seen it. The small part of the outside I was able to see looked interesting, and I'll certainly head there on my next trip through Barcelona.

I can't help with your other questions.

Posted by
7175 posts

I visited Casa Vicens, as well as Bellesguard, in October. It’s wonderful. Nowhere near as crowded as Casas Mila & Batllo, and nowhere near as expensive either. If you are a Gaudí fan and have the time then it’s well worth the effort. Check out some photos on my Instagram ... djpbne

Posted by
91 posts

David, your photos of Casa Vicens and Bellesguard are great. Almost felt I had been there!. And the Barrio de Gracia looks interesting as well.

Posted by
15560 posts

Lola - On Sundays, the Ayuntamiento (city hall) is open - and free - from 10.00-13.30. The photos on this page don't do justice to the beauty of the rooms. The schedule for the Magic Fountain has light/sound shows every Saturday night at 9 and 9.30. Enjoy.

Posted by
13 posts

Visiting City Hall sounds like a great deal. We'll be in Barcelona on a Sunday, so a visit to City Hall and lunch sounds like a plan.

Posted by
7175 posts

I also visited City Hall on my recent visit. Sumptuous rooms. Highly recommend it also. Follow it up by doing the roof tops tour at Santa Maria del Mar.

Posted by
16024 posts

Thanks, Chani and others. You just planned our Sunday in Barcelona for us. City Hall and Casa Vicens, and perhaps the Miró museum.

We may not make it to the Magic Fountain on Saturday night, as we arrive in Barcelona around 17:30 after the two flights from US west coast. Our hotel is a short walk from Plaça Catalunya and we will use the airport bus to get there. We will most likely check in and shower, then go out for a walk and light dinner, and aim to be asleep around 10 pm.

That worked well for our last visit to Barcelona. We slept for 11 hours and felt great from our first day onward.