My wife and I have a Sunday overnight visit to Barcelona scheduled in late October. We've visited many times and know the city well. For whatever reason, we've never visited Casa Batllo and would like to visit on the Sunday afternoon of our arrival, around 2-3pm. I can buy entrance tickets online and pay a 5 euro upcharge to "skip the line." My question, is the 5 euro upcharge actually needed on a Sunday afternoon in late October? Could the lines be extremely long or will it only be a 10-15 minute wait? BTW, I checked and there is only one cruise ship in port that afternoon. Thanks.

October isn't an off season or anything, in fact, it is a popular time to visit Barcelona. It's not as bad as end of September, at least.

I would buy it if you want to guarantee no waiting, of course, but it sounds like that 5 euro charge is important to you to save. I've never seen the lines only be 10 minutes wait, but I admit I haven't been there at the exact time you name that I can recall. I've had only about a 15 minute wait in early evening, when the lines aren't so bad (it was raining, also, maybe that had something to do with it). And of course, Sunday is even a worse day for tourist attractions than usual. The time you pick is probably the busiest time there (Sunday afternoon), so it's your call. Either first thing in the morning or late in the day would more likely have shorter lines, if you would rather not pay for tickets in advance. If you are there all day, you could go later on. It's one of the few touristy things you might want to do to fill time before dinner, for example (I think it's open until 9 pm).

I had advanced tickets and walked right in. I thought the only lines were to buy tickets.

Sunday afternoon would be a great time to visit since you'll avoid the school groups. I don't think the cruise ships are the problem. When I was there there were millions (ok - I exaggerate) of school kids who were busy flirting and texting and just getting in the way rather than looking at the house.

How do you check to see how many cruise ships are in port on a particular day?

Adrienne, try this link. http://ports.cruisett.com/

Pick your country, port, date. It will list the ships in port that day and the total number of passengers.

Thanks.