One day in Barcelona must dos?

[Geordieprincess]

We are off to Salou and a Portaventura for Halloween - 2 adults, 2 kids age 13 and 9.
We’ve never been to Barcelona so thought we’d get the train there for the day.
I’ve been googling but am struggling to get my head round the must see sights.
Obviously the cathedral and Las Ramblas, Nou camp (but we aren’t really into football). Contemplating the hop on hop off bus but it’s pricy and we’ve had a few bad experiences with them recently with heavy traffic and giving up part way round.
Where would you recommend if you only had one day to see Barcelona?
Thanks!

[baggers]

We love the Sagrada familia (we got engaged at the top of one of the towers), the gaudi apartments and Park guell. If you are going to any make sure you get tickets first. It’s a great city but be wary of pick pockets around the Ramblas area.

[kateb78]

Mercado de La Boqueria - an amazing food market just off Las Ramblas which has a vast array of produce (and all of it is very tempting )

[malt1977]

As mentioned above, you’ll need tickets for Sagrada familia, and make sure you get them well in advance if you want to go as you’ll not get them on the day...we learnt that lesson (managed to get them for 3 days later)

Nearly all the attractions require tickets, and the top tier ones will need to be purchased in advance.

[tylergeorgia]

When we went mid September the queues for the hop on hop off buses were huge.
I love a hop on hop off bus, you definitely see more of the city than walking, but no way was I waiting that long and in that heat.

[floridasgirl]

Def beware of pickpockets, it seems to be one of worst cities for it! I went on a work trip in a group, we had one blatant bag snatch (wslking down from the cable car, a smartly dressed chinese Asian man pushed through the group and grabbed one of the girls bag!) and one attempted (while we were sat in the hotel bar!) We were aware and thought we were being careful!
I have been back uneventfully since and it's a beautiful city!
We were there in Aug and got tickets for Sagrada Famillia on the day.
I wouldn't bother with Nou Camp if you are not football fans, I don't see the point, even though it's iconic. We live 25 mins from Manchester United and have never visited because we don't like football!
The market on Las Ramblas is lovely to wander round.

[Picalily]

Hi, we got the bus plana guided tour from Salou which worked well for us. It takes you to the main sights where you get a set time then drops you off at the ramblas at the end of the day before getting the same bus back.

[June8th]

Can I also please say be very careful, the pickpockets are rife and Very clever. Our neighbours had two incidents in three days! One a moped bag snatch ( keep all bags, if you must carry one, across the front of your body) the second one a wallet picked from his pocket on an escalator, the person in front stopped at the bottom and in the ensuing push his wallet went!

[mskitty]

We did a day when we docked there on a cruise. We started at Camp Nou. We did enjoy it but we like football. If you aren't in to football you may want to save your money.

From there we got a taxi to Segrada Familia (this is different to the cathedral as our taxi driver very firmly told us 😂&#128514 but didn't go in as we didn't have time. We then used google maps to wind our way down on foot to Las Ramblas which was a lovely walk and we got to see so much. At the bottom of La Ramblas there is a marina across the road with a shopping centre too and we spent a bit of time in that area also.

[richieboy07]

Would also suggest doing the bullring which has been converted to a shopping mall with ring of restaurants at the top somewhere different !