Last time we were in Barcelona we stood in line at Sagrada Familia for maybe 10 minutes, but discovered it was up to a three hour wait and it was about 100 degrees. So we left. Although I've done it before, it's been quite a while and Peter has never seen it.

I know that tours can get you right in, but we'd rather do it on our own. Isn't the audio tour quite good? I Googled and found a couple of "avoid the lines E ticket" prebooking sites. Just curious if anyone has some specific recommendations.

We were there in May and bought our tickets on the Sagrada Familia site. We booked Park Guell in the morning and Sagrada Familia for mid-afternoon.

We skipped the lines in both places and enjoyed both. We booked the park for morning to avoid the afternoon potential heat.

You can buy tickets on-line and skip the lines, walk in directly and do your own tour both with and without audio-guide. http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/tickets/

I should mention that specifically I looked at a site for "Tiqets" which gives you a specific time and date to "skip the lines" and costs for two of us about 31 euro total. Most other sites seem to be more than double that cost -- just not sure if this is too good to be true or what the real deal is. But paying something like $78 euro for the two of us to take a tour seems VERY steep. (Viator, among others).

How funny. With all the googling, I never found the official site for buying tickets direct. That's perfect. Thanks. I'm thinking the audio guide makes more sense than an actual guide -- although they are the same price.

Hi NeoPatrick, we did the audio tour in July with advance purchase and it worked great. We got there a few minutes ahead of our appointed time slot; there were perhaps a dozen people ahead of us to pick up their headphones etc. The "tour" actually started on the other side of the building from where we picked up the headphones, but once we realized that and figured out how to jump around in the audio tour it was easy to do.

The audio guide lets you go into different levels of detail - I thought it was well done.

I used both the audio guide and an actual guide, thought them both very good, and was impressed by how little overlap there was between them. I usually prefer audio guides, but in this case, I preferred the chance to ask questions of a knowledgeable guide. I booked my entry time and my guided tour in advance (along with a time for the Nativity Facade tower), and rented the audio guide once there.

I also highly recommend to take the guided tour. Would most probably add immensely to the experience. I thought I knew a lot about both the church and Gaudí before visiting a couple of years ago, but the very knowledgeable guide made of course a huge difference. Took questions and elaborated on details that the audio guide for sure wouldn't tell you ;-)

We're doing the guided tour in October, minus either tower. Instead of seeing one of the Sagrada Familia towers we plan to go to the roof of the cathedral in Bari Gotic.

http://www.barcelona.de/en/barcelona...al-la-seu.html

The above is MaiTai Tom's idea.

We just took a vote. We agreed that lots of details will be forgotten by cocktail hour. So we're opting for the audio tour. If it's like most audio tours, about halfway through each "stop" we are likely to cut it off and move on.

"Instead of seeing one of the Sagrada Familia towers we plan to go to the roof of the cathedral in Bari Gotic"

FWIW, I wouldn't go to a tower of the Sagrada Familia specifically for a view over Barcelona. For that, you could go to Barcelona's Cathedral, Parc Guell, or Montjuic. I visited a tower for a close-up view of some of the details of the roof and towers of the Sagrada Familia.

Hi neo...here's our morning at La Sagrada Familia...as you'll see, the elevator to the top gave a new meaning to our trip. We did enjoy the audioguides.

http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/chap...rnist-marvels/

When coming to visit Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, do not miss the opportunity to visit a new tablao Flamenco (& delicious tapas Restaurant), Casa Camarón de la Isla - http://www.casacamaron.com - just five minutes away from the world famous cathedral. Find an oasis where culture, art and gastronomy merge every day. A place that never ceases to amaze with the best Flamenco while savoring tasty tapas.

I agree that booking from the Sagrada site is the way to go. We did it and it was cheaper and very easy - waited a few minutes on a very very hot July day this year. And I also agree that the tower visit is worth it for the close up of the details of the roof. It was brilliant! I would go to Montjuic for a free view of the beautiful city.

Yes, JVH007, we'll be sure to sit around for 11 hours after visiting the cathedral to see your tacky Flamenco show at 9 PM. Seriously? By the way , when you registered here to post your ads, did you bother to read the part that tells you ads are not welcome here?

Thanks to all the others.

OK, new question. I booked the tickets with audio and included the Passion Tower. But a couple of places I read things like "the elevator is only for the ride up, you must take the stairs down" and "I've heard people ask if they could take the elevator down". So what's the deal? My knee is really bad lately, and I'm a little nervous. Surely you CAN take the elevator down, can't you?

I believe I read you can walk down from the Passion Tower, but not the Nativity Tower, so you should be good.

I meant you can take the elevator down from Passion Tower, but not the Nativity Tower. I have to stop drinking early in the morning.

Interesting (about the towers, not about your drinking). I guess I picked the right tower.