My family and I were recently in Barcelona Spain for 2 weeks in the summer of 2019. While we spent most of our time at an Airbnb in a town right on the beach, we did spend 3 days in Barcelona itself. With a limited time in Barcelona, we had to be smart about which things to do in Barcelona we wanted to do. We were provided 2 Barcelona Passes, which did help as we planned out our things to do in Barcelona with kids and families
Sagrada Familia
You gotta start with Barcelona’s most famous landmark – The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. Entrance to the Sagrada Familia is not covered with the Barcelona Pass, but is well worth it.
The Sagrada Familia started construction in 1882 and is still under construction, and currently scheduled to be completed in 2026.
If you do plan on visiting the Sagrada Familia, make sure to get your tickets in advance. We thought that we could just show up and buy tickets, but when we arrived we were told that the tickets were sold out all week. We later found out that we could buy the tickets that came with the audioguides that were not sold out. Basic tickets cost 17 € and the audioguide tickets cost 25 €. Children under 11 are free.
Other Gaudí sites
Antoní Gaudí is one of Barcelona’s most famous denizens and there are many Gaudí related sites throughout the city. The Barcelona Pass gets you free admission into:
- Gaudi museum and exhibition center
- Casa Milà (La Pedrera; pictured below)
- Casa Batlló
- Casa Vicens
- Gaudí Experience 4D
- Colonia Guell and Gaudí’s crypt
The collective works of Antoní Gaudí are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
FC Barcelona Museum + Tour
FC Barcelona is one of Barcelona’s best known mascots, and the Barcelona Pass comes with tickets to the FC Barcelona Museum as well as a tour which shows some of the history of the team along with exhibits about some of the greatest players in FC Barcelona history
Head to the beach
Barcelona is part of the Costa Dorado and there are many great beaches all up and down the Mediterranean. We spent a week in Roda de Berà, which is a small town about 45 minutes west of Barcelona and in between Barcelona and Tarragona. We had an Airbnb about a 10 minute walk from the beach and during the week we had a beautiful beach pretty much all to ourselves
Barcelona Zoo
The Barcelona Zoo is one of Barcelona’s most famous attractions, located in Parc de la Ciutadella in the northeast section of barcelona. The Barcelona Zoo has over 300 different species and over 2000 animals. Adult tickets are 19.90€ and Children (3-12 years of age) are 11.95€.
Las Ramblas
Las Ramblas is Barcelona’s main shopping district, and is a great place to go if you’re into shopping, great food or people watching
Barcelona Hop on / Hop Off bus
The Barcelona Pass also comes with a ticket to a Barcelona Hop on / Hop off bus. The route contains 45 stops throughout the city, and you can board the bus by just scanning your Barcelona Pass at any of the stops. The audio commentary comes in 16 languages: Catalan, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Arab, Turkish, and Hebrew.
Hop on / Hop off buses can be a good way to see some of the sights without having to actually walk to each attraction.
Is the Barcelona Pass worth it?
The Barcelona Pass gives you free admission to 20 different attractions throughout the city, including many of these top things to do in Barcelona. As with all things, you have to do the math to figure out if the Barcelona Pass is worth it for you and the things that you want to visit in Barcelona. A 2 day adult pass costs €99.99 while a child pass (ages 4-12) costs €67.99. 3 day passes costs 119.99 / 79.99. You can also add a Barcelona Travelcard for about 20 to 30 Euros more which covers the metro, Montjuïc funicular and bus (TMB), local train (FGC, Zone 1), tram (TRAM) and regional train (Rodalies de Catalunya, Zone 1)
If you have the desire (and time) to visit all of the attractions that come with the Barcelona Pass, you’ll definitely save money with the Barcelona Pass. But take a good look at the list of attractions and make sure you prioritize which attractions you REALLY want to visit and decide what makes the most sense for you.
Have you ever been to Barcelona? What are your suggestions for the top things to do in Barcelona?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Thanks for the advice. We will visit Barcelona for the first time at the end of December. This is exactly what I have been researching for. Very much appreciated.