hurrygirl

My husband and I are going to be in Barcelona two full days and are trying to decide on the best day tour in Barcelona. We want to see the best examples of Gaudi's architecture but not in depth. We would like to see the highlights of the city. We are wondering if we should book a private guide or do a small grouptour that takes a van. The private guides use local transport and seem to not cover as great an area.

There are half day tours of the city with an afternoon tour of Montserrat. We are wondering if it would be better to do a full day tour of the city and either skip Montserrat or do it the next day.
We would like some time browsing the city on our own as well.

Christina

I would do one day Barcelona and one day Montserrat. No way can you see the best of Gaudi plus the highlights of Barcelona in a half day. Or perhaps skip Montserrat, once you decide how much you really want to see in the city. It does take up most of a day, at least it did for me, going on my own by metro then cable car or whatever, plus sightseeing up there. I don't think I was back down to the center of Barcelona until very late afternoon. There is an excellent small art museum up there, also, by the way, with Catalonian art, so that's part of the trip.

Even in one day, you obviously can't see all the highlights, but you could do 2 Gaudi things (maybe one of the apt buildings plus Sagrada Familia) and then the highlights you wish (I'd choose the Catalonian art museum as one, plus maybe the Ramblas (I'm really not a fan, but you have to at least see it), cathedral and possibly the Palau Musica Catalonia. I wouldn't make the Picasso museum a must see myself as I have seen his art so much anyway and I don't really think that museum has his best works anyway. But a lot of people make a pilgrimage to any Picasso museum, it's amazing to me how popular they are and how crowded (like that one and the one in Paris). so just choose based on your interests.

I don't see the point of a private guide to take you around to basic tourist sites by public transportation, but maybe that's just me. What purpose would this guide serve for you? I know some people are intimidated about any public transportation, especially in a foreign country, or just being in a foreign country or need some help, and if that is you, maybe it would be worth it, of course. If you needed physical help and didn't want to use metro, I don't think that would be the way to go if it uses public transportation, anyway.

When I've been there, I just did the Gaudi sites on my own, as well as any museum, of course, and the cathedral. There are tours of Palau Musica Catalonia, in fact, I think maybe you have to join a tour (there are limited ones in English, I undersatnd Spanish so had no problem getting one).

I have used the Hoho bus one day in Barcelona and think that can be very useful for a day with spread-out sites you want to visit as some things are pretty far apart (like the Catalonian art museum and the Miro museum). It's nice to see more of the city that way, also, in the outer areas. I ditched it once I was back in the very center as it is too congested there (Say around the cathedral) and you don't need it there anyway.

Nikki

I agree that that hop on hop off bus is a good option in Barcelona, where many sites are spread out around the city. Look at the website to see which of the three routes will work for the sites you want to see.

https://www.barcelonabusturistic.cat/en/rutes

Iwan2go

Though we travel frequently and read guidebooks and history prior to visiting, we have still been extremely happy with hiring guides in cities the first day or two. In Barcelona this spring, we had two mornings with wonderful guides from A Guide in Barcelona. Website http://www.aguideinbarcelona.com/

I wrote it up in my trip report (click on my name to see it), but basically the first morning we walked from our apartment near Diagonal down through the Placa Catalunya, Barri Gotic, and all around that area, discovering and learning the history of the Catalan people. The second day we gained an in depth understanding of the Sagrada Familia, then went up to the MNAC.

It was worth it and I'd highly recommend them.

hurrygirl

Thank you all for your help. We really appreciate it.