Barcelona for 6 hours - what's best to do?

[MotherForkinShirtBalls]

I'm flying into Barcelona on Monday and will have about six hours to myself. I've never been before so want to make the best of it. I was thinking of just wandering around Las Ramblas, but someone recommended Gaudi's Casa Batllo (with an express ticket) and it looks amazing. If you know Barcelona, can you suggest anything I can or should do?

Take the train to the city and get off in Paaseeig de gracia. Walk up towards the Casa Batlo and aftert that keep walking up until you reach Carrer Provença, opposite you on the other side of street is Casa Mila, known as la Pedrera, another Gaudi creation. Take left on Carrer provença and you arrive in Rambla de Catalunya with a tons of shops and boutiques totally affordable . A very Barcelonian shop is eseoese . There are two shops in Rambla de Catalunya. Then continue down tozmwards the Rambla but be super careful about pickpockets. Keep your bag closed and turn it so you carry it on your chest. Keep your train ticket in an external pocket so you won’t have to open your wallet to retrieve it. If you have to open your bag in the tube, do it with a wall on your back. I lived 5 years in Barcelona and saw the hordes of pickpockets every bloody day.

M’y true favourite shop in Barcelona www.eseoese.com

Thanks, that sounds great. I had heard about the pick pockets so I'll be aware. Do you think it's worth getting a ticket to go into any of the Gaudi sites?

Sagrada Familia - beautiful and well worth a visit.

KingIrving nailed it! You can stop for a coffee on Rambla Catalunya and people watch for a bit.

I'd avoid Las Ramblas as it's a shitpit, has nothing of interest.

If you want to see the Sagrada Familia, then book tickets online before you go, you get an entrance time but can spend as long as you want in there. I'd also get the airport train/bus to Placa Catalunya and just grab a taxi to SFamilia as you are time-poor.

CasaBatllo is fantastic, La Pedrera also lovely (do the roof tour, not the apartment tour, roof has more wow factor, furniture in the apartment tour is all reproduction). Of the two, i'd recommend Batllo.

For central restaurants i can recommend:

El Glop on Rambla Catalunya

Cerveceria Catalana on the corner of Rambla Catalunya and Mallorca.

Enjoy!

Of the airport train/bus i'd use the bus as fewer chances of pickpockets - i have seen them go through a train carriage like a whirlwind

To deal with pickpockets I always wear a small purse under my jacket as close to my chest as possible. Nothing of value in my pockets or backpack.

I have a really small handbag I was planning to put under my coat with only the bare essentials with me. I think I'll drop my bag at the hotel and wander light. I saw fast pass tickets online for the Batllo so I might book that in my way from the airport when I've a better idea of times. I'll be meeting work colleagues for dinner so unfortunately that's out of my hands. Thanks everyone, really looking forward to my day, although not tge 4am start

There's a hop on,hop off bus you can buy a daypass for, once you've sorted out your must-sees. Apols if this has already been mentioned.
Have a fab time! Well worth your early start

There is a little known Gaudi building called Palau Guell just off the Ramblas.
Most Gaudi's house are more beautiful from the outside than inside. So yes you can visit any of them, but if you are short on time, I would just walk around and get a feeling of the city, admiring the buildings from the streets.
The old city, with its narrow streets, or take the cabin across the harbour to the Barceloneta , walk from Plaça Espanya to Mont Juic. There are so many options on what to do.

The Sagrada Familia is certainly unique but it is quite out of the way and unless you go there early morning, it is really crowded and you can't really take the time to observe the infinite details that makes it unique.

When you are are the restaurant, keep you bag on your lap and just put your napkin on top of it, never hanging from the chair or on the floor.

What makes barcelona Barcelona is not so much all the beautiful buildings but the people who live there. Happy, relaxed, sitting in bars at any time of the day, kids playing soccer in Gracia's squares at midnight on schooldays, the hidden gardens behind buildings in which you can sit on a bench and eat a "bocadillo" .

I live now in Sydney and still after 4 years miss Barcelona dearly.

Go to the Gothic Cathedral. Not far from the Rambla and right in the Gothic part of the city. It's unbelievably peaceful and beautiful, with ferns and geese in the internal courtyard. Also La Boqueria food market is awesome. You'll get such a nice meal/ coffee/ snacks/ souvenirs.

Thanks for all the ideas, I think I'll go back to my original plan of wandering and seeing where I end up, but I'll try to work in some of your suggestions so I get to see some of the highlights.

Take a hop on hop off bus tour and see most of the important sites from the comfort of the top of the bus. By the time you get into Barcelona from the airport the time will have flown by. Personally I wouldn't spend time having a meal if I was tight for time and I was eating out in the evening. Enjoy!