Barcelona free time on Best of Spain Tour

We were on the Barcelona-Madrid city tour a couple of years ago, and enjoyed Park Guell, the Miro museum and the Picasso museum.

I would recommend using your pretour days to visit Barcelona sites that you don't want to miss. We headed in 2 days early before our tour. We visited Park Guell, Gaudi's buildings, waterfront, strolled Las Ramblas, etc. This tour is fantastic but does not cover a lot of Barcelona. I think we were done touring La Familia around 1-2 PM. This leaves only the afternoon and evening, as you leave for Madrid the next morning. Enjoy this tour!

Shana, I took the RS Spain tour last April 2016. I remember finishing at Sagrada Familia at just before 1 pm, and I walked the 15 minutes slightly uphill to the wonderful Sant Pau Hospital, where I took the English language tour at 1:00 pm. That is a beautiful complex, especially impressive when you consider that it was endowed, designed and operated as a hospital for the poor. I agree that there are so many fine sites in Barcelona that with limited time, I would not want to spend all the time getting to and from Sants railway station, and then on the train both ways, doing something outside the city. I spent a total of 9 days in and around Barcelona, and still did not get to all the places in the city that I would have liked to visit. That's a wonderful tour, I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves!

Thank you Bob, Debbie & Larry - greatly appreciate your tips! It is very helpful to get advice from those who have been there before since there's often places we might not think of going to and at the same time not burning ourselves out trying to see too much in too short of time! Barcelona sounds like a fantastic city which deserves more time, so it seems it would be worth adding some time there. We are very excited to go!

We took the Spain Tour in 2014. I would agree that the tour ended about 1 pm. We choose to stay for an extra hour and a half just absorbing the beauty of the building ( and taking lots of photos). The tour is great, but doesn't allow enough time IMO.

We arrived 4 days early and still could have used a few more days just for Barcelona. Loved the Gaudi sites- Casa Batllo, Casa Mika (La Padrera) and Parc Guell.

If you are set on going to Figueres, I would recommend going before the tour begins so that you aren't rushed. There are plenty of things to keep you busy in Barcelona for the open afternoon.

Thank you, Karen. It seems our list of see & do's in Barcelona keeps growing! I am looking forward to seeing the Gaudi sites as well :) We have 3 pre-tour days in Barcelona, hopefully we can cover all we hope to!

I did the Best of Spain tour in 2015. We didn't even meet for the walking tour until about 2:00 pm. I think it was because of the local guides's schedule, but it could have been the appointment time at the Sagrada Familia. I visited the Picasso museum and others went to the Parc Guell. Our wonderful guide was available at breakfast to give us suggestions and guidance for the free morning. Enjoy!