In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Book two things before you fly. The Sagrada Família: tickets go on sale roughly two months ahead, for a set time and in your name; if you arrive late you are not let in. The basic ticket is €26 at the basilica’s own site. Park Güell: timed slots up to three months ahead, €18, and you must enter within 30 minutes of your slot. For Montserrat, visitors who do not live in the EU need a tourist ticket for the basilica and the Black Virgin, bookable a month ahead. The Picasso Museum is closed on Mondays, and so is the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres outside July and August. Hotels add a tourist tax of €7 to €12 per adult per night. From the airport, the Aerobús is €7.75 and 30 to 35 minutes to Plaça Catalunya, day and night. Or book a tour: GetYourGuide’s dates are separate from the official ones, and some tours are also cheaper: the Park Güell guided tour with entryad is from £21.43, against €35 (about £29.99) for the park’s own ticket plus its own guided tour.
What to book before you go
Adult prices from each operator’s own page, checked 29 and 30 September 2026.
| Sight | Tickets go on sale | Adult price | Book at | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sagrada Família | Roughly two months ahead | €26; €36 with a tower | sagradafamilia.org | Tickets are for one time and in your name, with photo ID checked at the door. Arrive late and you are not let in. No refunds or exchanges as a rule. |
| Park Güell | Up to three months ahead | €18 | parkguell.barcelona | Enter within 30 minutes of your slot; once you leave you cannot go back in. Bookings cannot be cancelled. |
| Montserrat: basilica and Black Virgin | One month ahead | Several combinations, with or without transport | montserratvisita.com | Visitors who do not live in the EU need the tourist ticket. Packages with the train are collected at FGC Plaça Espanya, 8:00 to 14:00 only. |
| Casa Batlló | Book once your dates are fixed | From €29 | casabatllo.es | The price moves with demand; booking ahead saves up to €15 a person. Under-13s free. |
| La Pedrera (Casa Milà) | Book once your dates are fixed | From €29 | lapedrera.com | Daytime visit 9:00 to 17:30; the guided night visit is from €39.50. Under-12s free. |
| Picasso Museum | Book once your dates are fixed | €12 online, €13 at the desk | museupicassobcn.cat | Closed Mondays. |
| Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres | Book once your dates are fixed | From €18.50 | salvador-dali.org | Closed Mondays except in July and August. |
The Sagrada Família sells any leftover same-day tickets only through QR codes posted around the basilica. Park Güell does not guarantee entry to anyone who arrives without a booking. 3 days in Barcelona fits these bookings into a first visit, day by day, and one day in Barcelona does the same for a stopover.
The Sagrada Família from the hills above the city. Photo: Julian Lupyan, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Where the official ticket is cheaper, and where a tour is
GetYourGuide prices are its lowest “from” price on 30 September 2026; euro prices are converted at the ECB rate of 29 September 2026 (€1 = £0.857).
| What | Official | GetYourGuide | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sagrada Família entry with audio guide | €26 (about £22.29) | £28.97 | Official, while dates are open |
| Park Güell entry | €18 (about £15.43) | £18.43 | Official |
| Park Güell entry with a guided tour | €18 + €17 = €35 (about £29.99) | £21.43ad | GetYourGuide |
| Casa Batlló entry | From €29 (about £24.85) | £24.86 | Either; the official price drops the earlier you book |
| Montjuïc cable car, return | €19.00, or €17.10 online (about £14.66) at holabarcelona.com | £16.28 | Official, online |
| Aerobús, single | €7.75 (about £6.64) | £6.64 | Either |
The Sagrada Família’s own guided visit is €30, and with a tower €40; resold guided tours with entry start at £40.28 (Sagrada Família tickets compares them, and the towers).
The terrace at Park Güell. Photo: AwOiSoAk KaOsIoWa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
What closes, and on which days
- Monday: the Picasso Museum is closed. So is the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, except from 1 July to 31 August and on the Mondays it lists as exceptions (12 October, 9 November and 7 December in 2026).
- Every day: the Sagrada Família and Park Güell open all year. The basilica opens at 10:30 on Sundays rather than 9:00, and from 9:00 to 14:00 only on 25 and 26 December and 1 and 6 January.
- 9:00 to 10:00 at the Sagrada Família is a quiet hour: bring earphones for any audio, including the audio guide.
- 1 January and 25 December: the Dalí Theatre-Museum is closed; on 24 December it closes at 15:00. The Picasso Museum closes on both days too; Barcelona at Christmas has the rest of the holiday hours, the Santa Llúcia market and the Three Kings parade.
The Picasso Museum’s winter hours, from 29 September 2026 to 29 March 2027, are 10:00 to 19:00, Tuesday to Sunday.
The tourist tax
Every hotel and tourist flat adds a per-person, per-night tax on top of the room: Catalonia’s rate plus Barcelona’s own €5 surcharge. It applies to adults for up to seven nights; under-17s pay nothing (atc.gencat.cat, 29 September 2026).
| Where you stay | Per adult, per night, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 |
|---|---|
| 5-star or grand luxury hotel | €12.00 |
| 4-star or 4-star superior hotel | €8.40 |
| Tourist flat | €9.50 |
| Youth hostel | €6.00 |
| 3-star hotel or below, and everything else | €7.00 |
It goes up on 1 April 2027, when Barcelona’s surcharge rises to €6. A couple spending four nights in a 4-star hotel pays €67.20 on top of the room at the current rate.
Getting in from the airport
Barcelona–El Prat has two terminals, T1 and T2, linked by a free 24-hour shuttle bus.
- Aerobús: €7.75 single, €13.30 return, 24 hours a day, 30 to 35 minutes to Plaça Catalunya via Plaça Espanya (aerobusbarcelona.es, 29 September 2026). Line A1 serves T1 and line A2 serves T2.
- Metro L9 Sud: from both terminals, every 7 minutes, on the €5.90 airport ticket; the 10-journey T-casual is not valid at the airport stations. The line ends at Zona Universitària, so most trips into town need a change.
- Rodalies R2 Nord train: from T2 only, about every 30 minutes, 17 to 20 minutes to Sants and 23 to 27 to Passeig de Gràcia.
- Taxi: official taxis are black and yellow and metered, with a €4.60 airport supplement and a €21 minimum from the airport (taxi.amb.cat, 30 September 2026).
Barcelona airport to the city centre compares every option, with the Aerobús combined tickets, the taxi fares and the coach from Girona airport. Arriving by ship instead? Barcelona cruise port to the city centre has the Cruise Bus, the metro and the taxi fares. In town, a T-casual gives one person 10 metro and bus journeys for €13; Barcelona metro tickets says when the Hola Barcelona card is the better buy.
More to book
- Football: the Spotify Camp Nou is being rebuilt, so the Camp Nou tour is the club’s museum, with a 360-degree show and a viewpoint over the works: €28 at fcbarcelona.com, open every day except 1 January and 25 December.
- Food: the food tours and paella classes compared: tapas walks from £48.08 and paella classes from £48.75. To choose your own tables, where to eat in Barcelona ranks tapas bars, Catalan restaurants and paella places by how many independent sources name them.
- Evening: flamenco shows compared: a set show of 40 to 75 minutes at Los Tarantos, El Duende, the City Hall theatre and others, from €27, or with dinner at Tablao Cordobés and Tablao de Carmen.
- The view: the Montjuïc cable car is €19.00 return, €17.10 online, and a separate ticket from the funicular below it.
- On the water: boat tours compared: Las Golondrinas’ harbour boats from €9, catamaran and sunset cruises from £12.00.
- An Art Nouveau concert hall: the Palau de la Música Catalana is €20 self-guided or €24 guided, 50 minutes, daily from 9:00 to 15:30, with no refunds and no entry once the visit has started.
Day trips
The monastery on Montserrat is about an hour and a half away: the FGC train from Plaça Espanya, then a rack railway or a cable car up the mountain. Girona and Figueres are north on the R11 from Sants, 1 hour 19 and 1 hour 50 on the faster regional trains; Figueres has the Dalí Theatre-Museum. Sitges is 31 to 37 minutes down the coast by train, and Tarragona, with its Roman amphitheatre, 1 hour 9. Day trips from Barcelona compares them with the Costa Brava, the Penedès cava country and Andorra, train against tour.
Where to stay
Barcelona from the Bunkers del Carmel. Photo: Alexey Komarov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
For a summer trip with a pool, Barcelona hotels with a rooftop pool gives the months each pool is open. For a short first visit, the Gothic Quarter and the Eixample put you within walking distance of most of the sights on this page, and both are on the Aerobús route: its stops are at Plaça Catalunya, Plaça Universitat and Gran Via–Comte Borrell. The Rodalies airport train stops at Passeig de Gràcia, in the Eixample.
For a beach base, Barcelona hotels near the beach checks the hotels from Barceloneta to Diagonal Mar on their own sites.
When to go
Best time to visit Barcelona has the weather, the lifeguard dates and the public holidays month by month. The two festivals a visitor plans round are La Mercè in late September and Christmas, from the Fira de Santa Llúcia to the Three Kings parade on 5 January.
Itineraries
Day-by-day plans for a first visit.
Itinerary
3 Days in Barcelona: Itinerary with What to Book
Three days in Barcelona: the Sagrada Família and Gaudí's houses on day one, Park Güell and the old town on day two, Montjuïc and the sea on day three. What to book before you fly, which day each sight closes, and how to fit the plan round a Sunday or a Monday, checked 30 September 2026.
Itinerary
One Day in Barcelona: An Itinerary That Works
One day in Barcelona: the Sagrada Família at 9:00, one of Gaudí's houses on Passeig de Gràcia, La Rambla and the Boqueria, then the Gothic Quarter and the cathedral, with Montjuïc or the sea for the evening. What to book, which sights close on a Sunday or a Monday, and what to cut if you have half a day. Checked 30 September 2026.
Which ticket to buy
The official ticket, the tours that include entry, and which sells out first.
Tickets
Sagrada Família Tickets: Sold Out, Towers or Tour?
The Sagrada Família's own ticket is €26 with the audio-guide app, on sale roughly two months ahead, in your name and for one time: arrive late and you are not let in. The official tickets and the resold tours compared, which tower to pick, and what to do when your date has gone. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Park Güell Tickets: Sold Out, and Is a Tour Worth It?
Park Güell's own ticket is €18 for a timed slot, on sale up to three months ahead, and you must enter within 30 minutes of it. Buy entry from the park; buy a guided tour from a reseller, where it costs less than the park's own ticket and tour together. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Casa Batlló or La Pedrera: Which Gaudí House?
Casa Batlló and La Pedrera stand 490 m apart on Passeig de Gràcia and both start at €29. The two compared on what you see, the evening and early tickets, children, rain and closing dates, with the official prices against the resold tickets and the tour that covers both.
Tickets
Camp Nou Tour and Barça Museum: What You See Now
The Spotify Camp Nou is being rebuilt, so the standard Barça ticket is the Barça Immersive Tour: a museum beside the stadium with a 360-degree show and a viewpoint over the works, €28 at fcbarcelona.com. The tickets compared with GetYourGuide's, the tours that add a guide or a pitch walk, and what is in each part of the visit. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Barcelona Flamenco Shows Compared: Prices and Times
Barcelona's flamenco shows compared from each venue's own site: Los Tarantos is 40 minutes from €30, El Duende 55 minutes from €27, the City Hall theatre and Teatro Flamenco Barcelona an hour, Tablao Cordobés about 70 minutes with dinner, Tablao de Carmen an hour on Montjuïc. Show times, seat prices, children and what GetYourGuide charges. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Barcelona Boat Tours Compared: Catamaran or Golondrinas
Barcelona's boat tours compared: Las Golondrinas' harbour boats are €9 for 40 minutes and €13 for an hour, the catamaran cruises start at £12.00 for an hour and £24.00 for a sunset sail with live jazz, and the party boats £42.86 and up. Where each leaves from, how long it runs, what is included and what decides it. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Montjuïc Cable Car Tickets, Prices and Hours
The Montjuïc cable car costs €19.00 return, or €17.10 booked online at Hola Barcelona, and runs 750 m from Parc Montjuïc up to the castle with a stop at the Alcalde viewpoint. The tickets against GetYourGuide's, how it differs from the funicular and the port cable car, the hours, and what is on Montjuïc: the castle, the museums, Poble Espanyol and the Magic Fountain. Checked 30 September 2026.
Tickets
Palau de la Música Catalana Tickets and Tour Times
The Palau de la Música Catalana sells a €20 self-guided visit with skip-the-line access and a €24 guided tour or audio-guided tour, each about 50 minutes, daily from 9:00 to 15:30. Official prices and languages, the combined tickets with La Pedrera and Sant Pau, what the guided tour adds and the rules on late arrival and refunds.
Day trips from Barcelona
Out and back in a day, with the tours compared against going on your own.
Day trip
Day Trips from Barcelona: Train or Tour, Cost and Time
Montserrat is 1½ hours by train and rack railway; Girona is 1 hour 19 and the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, closed most Mondays, 1 hour 50; Sitges is 31 minutes. The day trips from Barcelona compared on train times, fares, closing days and what a tour costs.
Day trip
Montserrat Day Trip from Barcelona: Train or Tour
Montserrat is an hour and a half from Barcelona by FGC train from Plaça Espanya and a rack railway or cable car, €28.80 return for train and rack railway. Visitors who do not live in the EU need a tourist ticket for the basilica and the Black Virgin. The routes, the tickets, the tours and how to spend the day.
Day trip
Girona and Dalí Museum Day Trip from Barcelona
Girona is 1 hour 19 from Sants on the R11 and Figueres, home of the Dalí Theatre-Museum, 1 hour 50. The museum is closed on Mondays outside July and August, has no audio guide and turns away rucksacks. Trains, fares, the museum's rules and the tours that include entry, checked 30 September 2026.
Day trip
Costa Brava Day Trip from Barcelona: Train or Tour
The train from Barcelona reaches the Costa Brava only at Blanes, 1 hour 22 on the R1; Tossa de Mar, the walled town most visitors come for, is by road or boat. The train, the tours that run all year and those that run only in summer, and what to see in Tossa, Lloret and Blanes.
Day trip
Sitges Day Trip from Barcelona by Train
Sitges is 31 to 37 minutes from Barcelona-Sants on the R2 Sud, about 70 trains a day, €5.50 single. The train times and the last one back, the beaches a few minutes' walk from the station, the Cau Ferrat and Maricel museums (closed Mondays), and the tour that pairs Sitges with Tarragona.
Day trip
Tarragona Day Trip from Barcelona: Roman Ruins
Tarragona is 1 hour 9 from Barcelona-Sants, €8.60 single, 33 trains a day. Its Roman amphitheatre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the circus and the walls are €5 a site or €15 for five, and all close on Mondays and on Sunday afternoons. The train, the sites, the hours and the tour that adds Sitges.
Day trip
Andorra Day Trip from Barcelona: Is It Worth It?
Andorra has no railway. The coach tours take 12 hours, go through France first and leave 75 minutes to 2½ hours in Andorra la Vella; the direct bus from Sants takes about 3 hours each way and costs from €31.50. What each tour includes, the timetable, passport rules and what you can bring back.
Where to stay
Areas and hotels, chosen for a visitor rather than a resident.
Where to stay
Where to Stay in Barcelona: Areas for a First Visit
For a first visit, stay in the Gothic Quarter or the Eixample: both are on the Aerobús route and a walk from most of the sights. The areas compared on what you can walk to and how you get to the airport, hotels with addresses checked on their own sites, and the tourist tax of €7 to €12 per adult per night on top of the room.
Where to stay
Hotels Near Sagrada Família, Barcelona: Closest First
The places to stay closest to the Sagrada Família, ranked by the distance from their own street address to the basilica: apartments with a rooftop pool 200 m away, a hostel and hotels within about a kilometre, and the rooftop pools a little further out. For readers with an early slot who want to walk there.
Where to stay
Barcelona Hotels with a Rooftop Pool, and When Open
Barcelona hotels with a rooftop pool, with the pool details from each hotel's own site: Hotel Europark and Hotel Soho restrict swimming from November to March, Catalonia Magdalenes closes its pool from 31 October to 31 March, the H10 Marina's bar is summer only, and the Hoxton's pool is open 7:30 to 19:30. Addresses, views and what is at the door. Checked 30 September 2026.
Where to stay
Barcelona Hotels Near the Beach: Barceloneta and More
Barcelona hotels by the sea, with what each says on its own site: W Barcelona's beach club and direct beach access in Barceloneta, Hotel Arts's two pools, the walks to Nova Icària and Bogatell from the Vila Olímpica, and Diagonal Mar, where the walk is longer. Addresses, pools and the tourist tax on top.
Airport transfers
From the airport to the centre, every option priced and timed.
Getting around
Tickets, passes and the transport a visitor actually uses.
Getting around
Barcelona Metro Tickets: T-casual or Hola Card?
A single metro ticket in Barcelona is €2.90; the T-casual gives one person 10 journeys for €13. The Hola Barcelona card, from €12.50 for a day, pays off only if you ride a lot, and it includes the airport metro both ways. Every ticket a visitor can use, what it costs, and when the metro runs.
Getting around
Barcelona Cruise Port to City Centre: Bus, Metro, Taxi
From Barcelona's cruise terminals, the Cruise Bus is €3.50 one way or €5 for the day from the Adossat quay to La Rambla; the World Trade Center terminals are by the Drassanes metro (L3); a taxi from the Moll Adossat is metered with a €4.60 supplement, and €46 fixed to the airport. Terminals, fares and hours from the operators, checked 30 September 2026.
What's on, month by month
Festivals, holidays and closures that change a visit.
Events
Best Time to Visit Barcelona, Month by Month
Barcelona month by month: highs and lows, rainfall and sunshine from AEMET's averages, when the council's lifeguards are on the beaches, what changes in August, the night of Sant Joan and the public holidays that close museums in 2026 and 2027. September and October are the wettest months, not winter.
Events
Barcelona Christmas Market: Dates, Lights, What's Open
Barcelona's Christmas market is the Fira de Santa Llúcia in front of the cathedral, which ran daily from 28 November to 23 December in 2025. The market, the lights, New Year's Eve, the Three Kings parade on 5 January, and which sights close on Christmas Day.
Events
La Mercè in Barcelona: Dates, Castells and Fire Runs
La Mercè is Barcelona's city festival, built round 24 September, a local holiday. The 2026 programme ran 23 to 27 September: human towers at Plaça de Sant Jaume, a fire run on Passeig de Gràcia and the fireworks on Nova Icària beach. How the date is set, the 2027 dates and what to wear at the fire run.
Food and drink
Where to eat, what to order and when to book.
Food and drink
Where to Eat in Barcelona: Tapas, Catalan Food, Paella
Where to eat in Barcelona, ranked by how many independent sources name each place: tapas and vermut bars, Catalan classics, a paella that is not a tourist trap, bakeries and a special dinner, with the barri, the kitchen hours and the one thing that decides a visit, checked 30 September 2026.
Food and drink
Barcelona Food Tours and Paella Classes Compared
Barcelona's food tours compared on price, length, group size and what you eat: tapas walks from £48.08, paella classes from £48.75, a wine tasting from £30.00 and a gourmet dinner from £98.57. Where the operator's own price is higher than GetYourGuide's, which class includes the Boqueria market, and which start times suit a first evening. Checked 30 September 2026.
Common questions
What should I book in advance for Barcelona?
The Sagrada Família (tickets go on sale roughly two months ahead, for a set time, and late arrivals are refused), Park Güell (timed slots up to three months ahead; you must enter within 30 minutes of your slot) and, for Montserrat, the tourist ticket to the basilica and the Black Virgin, which visitors who do not live in the EU need and which is bookable a month ahead.
Is the Sagrada Família cheaper on the official website?
Yes. The basic ticket with the audio-guide app is €26 at sagradafamilia.org (about £22.29 at the ECB rate of 29 September 2026), against £28.97 for the entry ticket resold on GetYourGuide on 30 September 2026. A reseller is worth it only when the official dates have gone, or for a guided tour.
Which Barcelona museums close on Mondays?
The Picasso Museum closes every Monday. The Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres closes on Mondays except in July and August and on a few listed Mondays (12 October, 9 November and 7 December in 2026). The Sagrada Família and Park Güell open every day.
How much is the tourist tax in Barcelona?
From 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 it is €7.00 per person per night at a 3-star hotel or below, €8.40 at a 4-star, €12.00 at a 5-star and €9.50 in a tourist flat, for up to seven nights. Under-17s pay nothing. It is charged on top of the room rate.