Barcelona: Self-disembark and timing our day

[Nanner]

We are planning to self-disembark in Barcelona, take a taxi to the hotel, drop our bags, and then head to Park Güell. Anybody have a suggestion on what would be a reasonable time to book the tickets to the park? Our ship arrives at 7 AM.

 

Also, how long do you think we might spend at the park? I want to see La Pedrera and Casa Batlló that day as well, so need to be planning timing for the whole day. I know it will be a long day, but I really want to see as much as possible on our layover day. Too bad the only flight to get us home is mid-morning the next day, as I would have loved a bit more time in Barcelona.

[4774Papa]

We took a Barcelona Day Tours tour there and spent about an hour there.

[timetravelers]

We spent about an hour at the park and would have liked a little more time. It was crowded though. A few weeks ago we were outside La Pedrera and Casa Batlló and there were long lines. Buy your tickets ahead of time if you can. Have you considered the Food Lovers Tour - Tapas Tour the evening before you leave. We had four people in our party who did the tour (meets outside La Pedrera) from 7:30 -11:30 pm then they caught flights the next morning. Great food and 4 different stops in the area!! If you can also do La Sagrada Familia I would highly recommend it - about 2hr. You might consider it over Casa Batlio or La Pedrera. Absolutely fabulous!!!

[NMLady]

We are planning to self-disembark in Barcelona, take a taxi to the hotel, drop our bags, and then head to Park Güell. Anybody have a suggestion on what would be a reasonable time to book the tickets to the park? Our ship arrives at 7 AM.

 

Also, how long do you think we might spend at the park? I want to see La Pedrera and Casa Batlló that day as well, so need to be planning timing for the whole day. I know it will be a long day, but I really want to see as much as possible on our layover day. Too bad the only flight to get us home is mid-morning the next day, as I would have loved a bit more time in Barcelona.

 

Take a look at BarcelonaDayTours.com They pick up at port, do Barcelona Tour and then drop at your hotel. If you contact them and tell them the itinerary you want, they would probably be able to do that for you, including getting tickets for inside Parc Guell. Driver stays with bags in car.

Also, don't miss La Sagrada Familia, at least the outside if you don't have time for inside.

[rmurray847]

To the OP, I had to laugh when I read your question. The day you have described is very similar to what my wife and I undertook in August, 2012. Ours was before our cruise.

 

We arrived at our hotel (after a quick ride from the airport) at about 10 am. We were actually able to check in. Dumped our luggage and walked to the Gothic District. (We were staying just off Las Ramblas, near the Bocqueria.) We wandered that area for easily a couple of hours. Went back to the hotel around noonish, dropped off our purchases and then headed to the top of La Ramblas to grab a bus to Park Guell. (If you take the bus, you get dropped off at a back entrance. I recommend this...you start up high in the more obscure areas and gradually work your way down to the main attractions.) We took two hours there, including grabbing a sandwich in their little cafe. From there, we took at cab to La Pedrera...we did not have advance reservations. We stood in line for 30 minutes or less. Spent just over an hour there. Then walked to Casa Battlo (no reservations again!), but got in quickly. My wife is a Gaudi nut, and this is like ground zero for Gaudi (not counting Familia, which is in a different category of amazing). We spent close to 3 hours in the darn place. When we left, the sun was just setting. Yes, it was a busy, hectic day, but what you have outlined is very doable.

 

HINTS: If you can, get tickets in advance.

In Barcelona, the cabs are actually reasonably priced. And our limited experience showed the drivers don't really try to milk the ride.

Another poster said to see Sagrada. I agree with that. At the very least, carve out a little time to walk around it. It is amazing. If I had to swap out one of the other attractions to see Sagrada, I think I'd drop La Pedrera (not that it isn't amazing...but if you gotta make a choice).

 

You'll have a wonderful time, and you'll be wondering when you can get back there again to see more!

[donaldsc]

. Too bad the only flight to get us home is mid-morning the next day, as I would have loved a bit more time in Barcelona.

 

You could stay overnight a few days post cruise. We always do that on any cruise that we take.

 

DON

[svnet]

I have also used Barcelona Day Tours.

They pick us at the port and we did our tour and then they drop us at wherever we needed to, as we were a group, some were dropped at hotels, train station, airport.

The best of it was that we didn't have to worry about our luggage :D

[BaseballMomof4]

We are planning to self-disembark in Barcelona, take a taxi to the hotel, drop our bags, and then head to Park Güell. Anybody have a suggestion on what would be a reasonable time to book the tickets to the park? Our ship arrives at 7 AM.

 

Also, how long do you think we might spend at the park? I want to see La Pedrera and Casa Batlló that day as well, so need to be planning timing for the whole day. I know it will be a long day, but I really want to see as much as possible on our layover day. Too bad the only flight to get us home is mid-morning the next day, as I would have loved a bit more time in Barcelona.

 

We spent about an hour and a half in Park Guell. Beautiful place. Make sure you take a cab there, it is a steep hill to the entrance.

 

I would pick ONE of the Gaudi houses. We did La Pedrera and were able to view Casa Batllo from the outside. Lovely, but one seemed to be enough - at least for us. If you can, go see the Font Majic at night for the dancing waters and/or the Gaudi houses lit up.

 

You can do Sagrada Familia in a fairly short amount of time and it is totally worth the price of admission. Just buy tickets online and you are able to walk right in.

 

Cabs are plentiful and fairly inexpensive in Barcelona and it is a very walkable city. We never booked a tour company. Saved plenty and used cabs when we got tired of walking and for Park Guell.