Things to do in Barcelona: Gaudí, old town, Montjuïc
Barcelona's best-known sights are the work of one architect, Antoni Gaudí, and the ones that draw the largest crowds, the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and the two houses on Passeig de Gràcia, sell timed tickets that run out days ahead in spring and summer. Book those first, then plan the rest around them: the Gothic quarter, Montjuïc and the beach need no booking at all.
If you plan several museums, look at the Barcelona Card. The Essential version without transport costs €29 for 72 hours and gives free entry to more than 25 museums, among them the Museu Picasso, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the Fundació Joan Miró, MACBA, CosmoCaixa and Montjuïc castle; it pays off once you visit three or four of them. Gaudí's buildings are not included, and Casa Batlló and La Pedrera give only a discount. If art is your main interest, the Articket BCN at €38 covers six art centres, including the Museu Nacional, the Fundació Miró, MACBA and the Fundació Tàpies.
1Sagrada Família
Photo: Ken Cheung / Pexels, Pexels License
Gaudí took over the project in 1883 and worked on it until his death in 1926; more than a century later, building continues from donations and ticket sales. Inside, tree-like columns branch out to carry the vaults, and the stained glass sets the colour of the light: cool blues and greens on the side of the Nativity façade, which faces the morning sun, and warm reds and oranges on the side of the Passion façade, which catches the evening. The Nativity façade, crowded with carved figures, is the part Gaudí saw finished; the stark, angular Passion façade was added decades later. A tower ticket adds a lift ride up one of the towers of the Nativity or the Passion façade, with views over the Eixample to the sea; you come down on foot, by a narrow spiral staircase.
Time
1 to 2 h, plus time for a tower
Setting
Both
Best time
Before 10 am, or in the late afternoon for the warm light
Getting there
Metro L2 or L5 to Sagrada Família
Tip: Buy tickets on the official Sagrada Família website a few days ahead; on many days nothing is left at the door. Dress as for church: shoulders covered and no very short shorts or skirts.
Basic ticket €26, with a tower €36, guided tour €30, guided tour with a tower €40. Open from 9 am (Sundays from 10.30 am) until 6 pm from November to February, 7 pm in March and October and 8 pm from April to September; Saturdays until 6 pm; 25 and 26 December, 1 and 6 January until 2 pm.
Planned as a garden city for wealthy families on a bare hillside, the project found almost no buyers and became a public park instead. The ticketed Monumental Zone holds the parts everyone comes for: the gatehouses that look like gingerbread houses, the mosaic lizard on the main stairway, the hall of Doric columns and, on top of it, the long serpentine bench covered in broken tiles, with Barcelona spread out to the sea below. Entry is by time slot, and you need to arrive within it.
Time
1 h 30 min to 2 h 30 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
The first slot at 9.30 am or the last ones up to 5.30 pm, on a clear day
Getting there
Metro L3 to Lesseps or Vallcarca, then about 20 minutes uphill; bus 24 stops closer to the entrance
Tip: There is little shade on the terrace, so in summer avoid the midday slots. From Vallcarca, outdoor escalators take care of most of the climb.
Adults €18, children 7 to 12 €13.50, under 7 free. Book online; slots from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm.
Gaudí remodelled an ordinary apartment block for the Batlló family in the early 1900s and gave it balconies like masks, columns like bones and a roof that rises like the scaled back of a dragon. Inside there is hardly a straight line, and a light well tiled in shades of blue that grow deeper towards the top spreads the daylight evenly through every floor. The visit comes with a multimedia guide and ends on the roof terrace.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
Early morning or the last hours of the evening
Getting there
Metro L2, L3 or L4 to Passeig de Gràcia
Tip: Short of time? Go inside either Casa Batlló or La Pedrera and see the other from the pavement; the two façades are a five-minute walk apart on the same avenue.
Tickets from €45. Open daily 8.30 am to 10.30 pm, last entry 9.30 pm.
Barcelona nicknamed Casa Milà "the stone quarry" when it went up between 1906 and 1912, and the name stuck. The wavy stone front has no load-bearing walls behind it, so the flats could be divided freely. The highlight is the rooftop, a landscape of stairways and chimneys shaped like helmeted guards; below it, the brick-arched attic tells the story of Gaudí's work, and a period flat shows how a wealthy family lived here.
Time
1 h to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Both
Best time
A sunny day for the rooftop, or the Night Experience after dark
Getting there
Metro L3 or L5 to Diagonal
Tip: The Night Experience takes you onto the rooftop after dark, when projections light up the chimneys: a good way to fit Gaudí into an evening when the day went to the beach or Montjuïc.
Essential ticket from €29, children up to 11 free. Night Experience from €39.50, sessions from 7 pm.
The Gothic cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulàlia was built between the 13th and 15th centuries; its ornate main façade was only completed in the late 19th. The cloister is the surprise: palm trees, a fountain and thirteen white geese, one for each year of the young martyr Eulàlia, the city's patron saint. The steps in front of the cathedral are a meeting point for the whole Gothic quarter.
Time
30 min to 1 h
Setting
Both
Best time
On a weekday morning
Getting there
Metro L4 to Jaume I
Tip: Cover your shoulders and knees. The cloister is the best part on a hot day: shaded, with water running.
Tourist visit €16. Weekdays 9.30 am to 6.30 pm, Saturdays and the eves of religious holidays until 5.15 pm, Sundays and religious holidays 2 pm to 5 pm.
Lluís Domènech i Montaner built this concert hall in El Born for a Catalan choral society, finishing it in 1908. From the street it is hard to see much in the narrow lane; inside, sculpted muses step out of the wall behind the stage and an inverted dome of stained glass hangs from the ceiling like a sun. The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Time
50 min
Setting
Indoor
Best time
In the morning, or on a concert night
Getting there
Metro L1 or L4 to Urquinaona
Tip: The self-guided visit costs €20 and the guided tour €24; a concert ticket often costs not much more and lets you see the hall doing what it was built for. Check the Palau's visit page for times.
The red-brick arch was built as the entrance to the Universal Exhibition of 1888, with no war or victory behind it. It opens onto a wide palm-lined promenade that leads to Parc de la Ciutadella, with its rowing lake, its monumental fountain and the Catalan parliament. Entry is free, and on weekends the promenade fills with street musicians, skaters and families.
Time
10 to 20 min, longer in the park
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
In the late afternoon, on the way to the beach
Getting there
Metro L1 to Arc de Triomf
Tip: Walk through the park and on to Barceloneta; from here the beach is a pleasant stroll away.
The hill above the port was the stage of the 1929 International Exhibition and the 1992 Olympic Games, and both left their mark: the Palau Nacional, now the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya with its Romanesque church murals, the Olympic stadium, and gardens laid out on the slopes. Further up stand the Fundació Joan Miró and the castle, with views over the container port and along the coast. You can easily spend a day here moving slowly from one terrace to the next.
Time
2 to 4 h
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
On a clear day; in summer, in the afternoon towards the evening fountain show
Getting there
Metro L2 or L3 to Paral·lel and the funicular, or L1 or L3 to Espanya and the outdoor escalators
Tip: The funicular from Paral·lel is part of the metro network, so a T-casual covers it. The cable car to the castle is extra: buy it online for the discount. At the Museu Nacional, entry is free on Saturdays from 3 pm and on the first Sunday of the month; see the museum's hours and prices.
Cable car return €19, online €17.10, one way €12 (ticket office only); from 10 am until 6 pm in January, February, November and December, until 7 pm from March to May and in October, until 9 pm from June to September. Museu Nacional €12, ticket valid on two days within a month; Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm (to 8 pm from May to September), Sundays to 3 pm.
Built for the 1929 exhibition at the foot of the Palau Nacional, the fountain puts on free shows of water, light and music on certain evenings. Each show lasts 10 to 15 min, and they repeat through the session. From November to March they run Thursday to Saturday from 8 pm to 9 pm; in the warmer months there are more show nights and they start later.
Time
10 to 15 min per show
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
After dark on a show evening
Getting there
Metro L1 or L3 to Espanya
Tip: The fountain is sometimes switched off for maintenance, so check the city's show calendar on the day. For a view without the crowd, watch from the steps of the Palau Nacional above.
Photo: Vinícius Vieira ft / Pexels, Pexels License
Barceloneta was laid out in the 18th century as a grid of narrow streets for the families displaced from the old town, and its small blocks with washing on the balconies still feel like a village. Its beach is the busiest in the city, the start of a chain of sandy beaches running north-east along the coast for several kilometres. Further along, at Nova Icària and Bogatell, the sand is less crowded and the atmosphere calmer. In the summer bathing season lifeguards watch every city beach from 10.30 am to 7.30 pm.
Time
2 to 4 h
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Swimming from June to September; a walk along the sea at any time of year
Getting there
Metro L4 to Barceloneta or Ciutadella-Vila Olímpica
Tip: Take only what you need to the beach and never leave bags unattended. Swimwear belongs on the sand: in the streets, cover up.
The summit of the Collserola hills carries the Sagrat Cor church, visible from all over the city, and an amusement park that has been running since the early 20th century, with old-fashioned rides set right on the edge of the drop. From up here Barcelona lies flat between the two rivers, with Montjuïc and the sea beyond. Before you go, check the weather on Tibidabo: when cloud sits on the hills, the view is gone.
Time
3 to 5 h
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A clear day, ideally late in the afternoon
Getting there
FGC train to Avinguda Tibidabo, bus 196 and the Cuca de Llum funicular
Tip: The amusement park does not open every day; look at its calendar and rates before going. The church square and the view are free.
Amusement park, visitors over 120 cm, with the funicular €39; Panoramic Area rides with the funicular €21.50.
