which tickets do we need to book ahead?

I'd get tickets for both the Barcelona sights (La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell) ahead of time to avoid the possibility of a very long wait in a ticket line or conceivably even a sell-out. Advance tickets were recommended when I visited the city in 2016, and it has only become more popular since then.

You shouldn't need to rush to get the tickets; unlike the Alhambra, they do not sell out months in advance. I thought the audioguide at La Sagrada Familia was good, but I can't compare it to a tour since I haven't taken a tour there. I'd allow at least 90 minutes for the visit to be safe if you do NOT want to ascend one of the towers. You'd need to add time for a tower ascent, which I did not do.

I think Parc Guell is the sort of place you can do on your own. How much time to allow there depends on how much wandering you want to do. There's the ticketed area (the "Monumental Zone") and also an area that can be visited without a ticket.

Other places in Barcelona for which advance tickets are pretty necessary if you want to see them: Picasso Museum, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila (La Pedrera), and the Palau de la Musica Catalana. PdlMC requires a tour.

I haven't been to Andalucía recently and cannot provide any input on the cathedrals in Seville and Granada. I'm sure someone else can help you out there.

We were in Sevilla and Granada last April and did not prepurchase tickets for either cathedral. In Sevilla, we waited in line for about 15 minutes (late morning visit); in Granada, there was no line. We were in Sevilla during the April Fair, so lots of people in town, but I can’t speak for wait times over Christmas.

We did not like the audio guide for the Sevilla cathedral and ended up following Rick’s “tour” in his guidebook. The Granada audio guide was pretty good, and we enjoyed our visit there very much.

I don’t think I would take a guided tour for either one, but you might consider it for the Sevilla cathedral if you want to know more about it in depth. I’d already been there twice before this trip, so I was fine with the walking tour in Rick’s book, and my family members (their first visit) thought our 2-hour visit via guidebook was plenty. It’s a huge place.

For the Alhambra, I would recommend a guide. We used Margarita Ortega Ortiz de Landazuri. Her partner Maria gave our tour (private tour for just our family) and it was excellent. You should contact them in advance. I emailed before I bought our Alhambra tickets so that we could coordinate a date and time.

— Deb

P.S.... December tickets are available on the Alhambra website and already showing limited availability, so you want to get those purchased ASAP.

In Barcelona there are "no seasons", if anything all year is "high season", so pre-booking the usual suspects is a must, namely, Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Park Güell, Museu Picasso and so on... and advisable in others like Palau de la Música Catalana or Centre Modernista Sant Pau among others.

Thank you so much for all of your help! and man, you aren't kidding - on the site it says they only open up 90 days ahead, so I have had it on my radar, but didn't realize they open it up for even before the 90 day mark. Thanks for the heads up!

My husband and I took the English tour of Park Guell (http://www.parkguell.cat/en/buy-tickets/) and enjoyed it very much. It includes the Monument Area. Our guide (Annalise I think) explained the significance and purpose of many of the buildings and structures. I don't think we would have gotten as much out of walking around on our own. The downside to booking an outdoor tour is that you're at the mercy of the weather. We waited until maybe 5 days before (when the weather sites were offering forecasts) and still wound up with a damp and gray experience. We enjoyed it none the less, just dress in layers and come prepared.

Hi there,
Sagrada Familia tickets were available at our hotel (The Claris) and we bought them once we checked in. Which was good since there was a long line of people w/o tickets in advance. The Guell I think we just walked in. However, we went in May when it was a little less crowded than December. The one day trip tour we did was Dali's house and museum which is a drive away. We booked through Viator and it was great. Everything else we did on our own with the good help of RS :D

I say this for all trips--if you are able to book it online and you know the dates when you're going to a certain place--do so. Train tickets, museums, shows, tours, reservations at high end restaurants*, etc. It is much easier to do so now, with the internet and direct portals and apps. The museum and cathedral sites should be able to guide you to the online ticketing. Time = money when traveling, that is our opinion. You can spend an extra +1-2 hours waiting in lines or enjoy things right away.

*if you don't book these ahead, do research of where to go via Yelp and Tripadvisor and Eater.com