Which first - Sagrada Familia or Parc Guell

Hi all. I have a few questions.

We are in Barcelona before our cruise in August for a few days and planning on seeing both in the one day.

1. Does anybody have any suggestions as to which one to do first to avoid the crowds. I know that I have to prebook for both to choose the times I want.

2. Is 2-3 hours enough time at each?

3. Is it easy to catch a taxi between the two?

Any other insights would also be very helpful.

Thanks.

I am sure you will get much better responses, but here is mine.

I would say do the Church first.

We didn't make it into the Sagrada, as we didn't prebook (and the line to purchase tickets, in September, was over 2hrs) so I can't comment on time to visit, but I would say you would want longer than 2-3 hours if you plan to do the Church, atleast 1 tower and the basement display areas.

Getting a taxi between the two areas should be easy. Plenty of taxis around.

We did Park Guell in the evening, and only toured the monumental zone, not the rest of the park. You can easily see the monumental zone in 2-3hrs, even with a wait to get into the buildings that are open. If you plan to hike the park, plan for longer.

We spent about 90 minutes at Sagrada Familia and then easily found a taxi at a taxi stand outside the cathedral to take us to Parc Guell where we spent about 2.5 hours. We did NOT go up a tower at Sagrada Familia, so if you plan on doing that, add more time.

Similar to the previous poster. We spent a couple of hours at each location and did not have any trouble finding a taxi. Also, we did not go up in the tower. We did the church in the morning, ate lunch near the church and looked in some stores (although did not buy anything). Lunch and shopping not included in the 2 -3 hour estimate.

If you take a taxi to Sagrada Familia, ask the driver to drop you off on the Carrer de Sardenya side, as that is where the ticket office is. There is one place to purchase tickets, and another for those who have already purchased. We took the printout from our prepurchased tickets and showed it at the window. No problem. We also got an audio guide, which was very helpful. Finally, I prebooked a visit to the one of the towers. Won't do that again. You go up by elevator, then you walk down. The stairs are narrow and there are a lot of them. I had painful thighs and calves for a few days. Glad I did it though, just not again.

Thank to all those who have replied. I guess I just wasn't sure if Park Guell would be really crowded in the afternoon and if it would be better to do that first. I still have a while to go though, so can easily change my mind.

On our last visit to Barcelona ,we did Sagrada Familia first and Park Guell afterwards. We bought our tickets on line and had our visits about 3 1/2 hours apart. You go right to the head of the line when it is near your time slot and go right in. We did not do the towers but spent close to 90 minutes and saw everything we wanted to see.

There is a buffet on the side street called Lactuca where we had lunch before going to Park Guell. The food was very good, nice fresh salad bar, also hot food like paella, chicken and homemade pizza. The cost was 10,50 euros p/p and included your drink and dessert and fresh fruit. Very clean and had restrooms.

We then went to Park Guell, we entered at the escaladers that took you uphill and our walk was downhill and much easier. I think we spent a couple of hours there until we were tired. There were places to sit down to rest and also restrooms there.

On our last visit to Barcelona ,we did Sagrada Familia first and Park Guell afterwards. We bought our tickets on line and had our visits about 3 1/2 hours apart. You go right to the head of the line when it is near your time slot and go right in. We did not do the towers but spent close to 90 minutes and saw everything we wanted to see.

 

There is a buffet on the side street called Lactuca where we had lunch before going to Park Guell. The food was very good, nice fresh salad bar, also hot food like paella, chicken and homemade pizza. The cost was 10,50 euros p/p and included your drink and dessert and fresh fruit. Very clean and had restrooms.

 

We then went to Park Guell, we entered at the escaladers that took you uphill and our walk was downhill and much easier. I think we spent a couple of hours there until we were tired. There were places to sit down to rest and also restrooms there.

We also went to Lactura. As previously said that food was fine and the bathrooms clean. Also, all you could drink was included.

http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff386/mmkbx75/IMG_2222_zpsbf3c9fd1.jpg

What ever you do, don't miss going inside Sagrada Familia and going up in the tower.

It will be incredibly hot in August...consider that in planning Parc Guell. You do NOT need tickets for the Park unless you want to tour the interior of Gaudi's house there (most do not). Taxis are readily available from both locations.

Highly recommend advance ticket purchases for Sagrada Familia. Why spend your precious sightseeing time standing in line for hours? Allow yourself plenty of time to do an audio tour (or guided tour) and also tour the lower level "museum" type area to understand the Genius of Gaudi and his designs.

If you have a full day....consider next going to Gaudi's home, Casa Batllo. It is also incredible without any straight lines anywhere in the home...no window, doorway, floor or ceiling line, fireplace etc! You can also pre-purchase admission tickets with audio tour here.

I would save Parc Guell to last because you will still have plenty of light and yet the sun will not be as intense in the later afternoon. You don't have to walk the entire park to see it's highlights.

It will be incredibly hot in August...consider that in planning Parc Guell. You do NOT need tickets for the Park unless you want to tour the interior of Gaudi's house there (most do not). Taxis are readily available from both locations.

 

Highly recommend advance ticket purchases for Sagrada Familia. Why spend your precious sightseeing time standing in line for hours? Allow yourself plenty of time to do an audio tour (or guided tour) and also tour the lower level "museum" type area to understand the Genius of Gaudi and his designs.

 

If you have a full day....consider next going to Gaudi's home, Casa Batllo. It is also incredible without any straight lines anywhere in the home...no window, doorway, floor or ceiling line, fireplace etc! You can also pre-purchase admission tickets with audio tour here.

 

I would save Parc Guell to last because you will still have plenty of light and yet the sun will not be as intense in the later afternoon. You don't have to walk the entire park to see it's highlights.

I just purchased advance entrance tickets to Parc Guell. They are now limiting how many visitors enter each hour and all tickets are for a timed entry.

Thanks lobster 129 and 4friends for your answers. I have decided to do them on two seperate days, both in the morning, to try to miss the crowds and the heat. Hope this works. Jen

It will be incredibly hot in August...consider that in planning Parc Guell. You do NOT need tickets for the Park unless you want to tour the interior of Gaudi's house there (most do not). Taxis are readily available from both locations.

 

I just purchased advance entrance tickets to Parc Guell. They are now limiting how many visitors enter each hour and all tickets are for a timed entry.

As 4friends notes, it's no longer correct that you don't need tickets. You'll definitely want to pre-purchase timed tickets for the "Monumental Zone," which is the part of the Parc that most folks want to see.

http://www.parkguell.cat/en/buy-tickets/

Visit the Sagrada Familia first, pre book your tickets online and take them with you, we were there this March and the queues were still huge. The Turistic bus takes about half hour from Placa Catalunya or use the metro. You'll need 90mins - 2hrs to do the cathedral justice it is truly a jaw dropping experience. We went in at 10.30am and came out around 12.15. The light thro the stained glass is a sight to behold.

Parc Guell is free to enter but if you want to visit the museum and some of the gaudi sights prebook your tickets on line, we got the next turistic bus from the Sagrada to Parc Guell for our 13.30hrs slot there and we maybe spent 90mins there before hopping back on the turstic bus and seeing the rest of the sights from that.

Nou Camp itself was not impressive but i'm told the museum is very good we didn't have time.

A tip for the turistic bus is to take a scarf or tight fitting hat, it was mighty windy and cold on the outside top deck.

2BACruiser