The Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi is a Gothic church that was built in the 15th century. Today it…read moreis an active church with a worship schedule. My tour guide took my husband and me to view this church. We did not attend a worship service, but we admired the architecture. For example, the front facade has a main entrance that is surrounded by beautiful columns, arches, and a large window, which my tour guide said has a covering to prevent debris from falling. The bell tower still rings. Overall, I felt interested in seeing this church that is much older than what we have in the U.S.

Less than a 5 minute walk from my hotel, Chic&Basic Habana Hoose. Attracts lots of locals and…read moretourist, open until late and has a lighting tower on certain days. Def helped me find my way back home lol. To each their own but I'd say you don't need to pay to see a church that has all the same magical designs. Sorry Antoni and Sagrada Familia. The church rings its bell every hour on the hour, I truly enjoyed hearing them.

The Cathedral of Barcelona, which is also called the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia,…read morewas built in the Gothic style from 1298 to the 15th century. It is an active church that provides masses, confessions, and other sacraments. It also provides tours for 16 euros and up (as of the time of this review). I understand that some people think that a church should be free to enter, but I also understand that many tourists are not practicing Catholics and that the church needs to bring in revenue to pay its bills. My tour guide took my husband and me to the exterior of this church and explained its architecture and history. We did not pay for an interior tour. It is a lovely church to see.

The Gothic Quarter is exactly my kind of architecture. This is where the Catedral de Barcelona…read moresits, and it was so beautiful in person. I wish I had more time to actually learn about the cathedral and its history. Great place to take pictures obviously. Even though there were a lot of people around, we were still able to get shots without anyone in the background. Probably because we went there around evening, but it was still rather bright at night. Highly recommend!

Don't let the distance dissuade you from visiting. There are a few ways to get there including…read moremetro and bus though we did taxi from where we were at the time. We actually went here before we visited La Sagrada Familia. If it had been reversed it would have felt anticlimatic. This site though has its own charms. The view of Barcelona is amazing. Definitely pay for the elevator (5 euro) ride. It takes you from ground (church ) level almost to the top just below the statue of Christ. The final level is accessed by stairs. When we arrived they were actually getting ready for Mass and we happily joined in. The Mass was in Castilian but the Catholic Mass structure is universal and I downloaded readings in English prior. As churches go, it was small but highly ornate. Oddly enough there is a carnival park as part of the grounds. Seems out of place but I suspect if you're going to haul your kids up there for Mass then they need to make it a family affair plus it brings in money. There is also a restaurant but we did not do that.

I would absolutely recommend hiking up to the temple. The view of Barcelona is stunning. We took a…read moretrain to the funicular and hiked up to the church from there. The hike is ~1.5 miles, but there is a notable incline. There is a funicular available for 5€ round trip, but this only gets you about halfway up

Our Sagrada Família tour was absolutely wonderful! We booked through Viator, and the tour was…read moreprovided by Crown Tours. The last time I visited Barcelona, I only saw the outside of the basilica. This time, I had the opportunity to experience the inside, and I truly believe it is a must-do for anyone visiting. Our guide, Albert, was incredibly knowledgeable and brought the history and story of this magnificent basilica to life. His insight made the experience even more meaningful and memorable. I highly recommend this tour, especially with Albert as your guide, to anyone visiting the Sagrada Família!

At 566 ft, the Sagrada Família is the tallest church in the world!…read moreThis church is still unfinished & has been in the works since 1882. At the time of Gaudi's death, the church was only about 15-20% completed & the pace of construction relies directly on ticket sales and private funding. I didn't go inside this time around, however, when I went last summer, the interior was stunning! I highly recommend booking well in advance before your trip to Barcelona, as the tickets sell out very quick. Try to buy the retail ticket price & avoid the scalper prices. It should be around 26€/person.

Very well preserved church. People walk in and out throughout the day. You're still able to find…read morepeace and quiet in one of the side pews.

We came for the 8a Get Your Guide tour of Monserrat. We met at the meet-up point (Julia Travel…read moreCenter at the Barcelona Nord bus station, in Barcelona) to checkin for our trip. We met our tour guide Jose Carlos and our driver, Gemma and were on our way. We made a stop at a local train station, exited the motorcoach, and took the scenic train up to Montserrat. Once at Monserrat, we went on a guided tour (equipped with one-ear headphones to hear our tour guide) of the Basilica, viewing the Black Madonna (included with the tour ticket) and having a couple of hours of free time to explore Montserrat with the great instructions provided by Jose Carlos. We hiked up to see the cross, took part in the four liquor tasting (provided with the tour ticket), and saw the "stairway to heaven" a block sculpture with ascending stairs to the sky (thanks to our tour guide Jose Carlos, who gave us directions to where it was...behind the buffet building!) There was an interactive museum on Montserrat ($) as well as a museum ($) with art from Dali, Picasso, just to name a few, and white tents lined the sidewalk with local vendors featuring their local cheese, nuts, and other food items. Montserrat is where you can also see and hear the boy's choir in the Basilica, but that show began at 1p and our tour left at 12.10p (maybe on another visit!) All in all, we enjoyed this scenic, history-filled tour. Jose Carlos was an excellent tour guide, and we appreciated his expertise in all of the details of this tour; Gemma, our bus driver, was pleasant and professional in providing a safe, comfortable drive to and from Montserrat. We highly suggest this tour if you are in Barcelona for a couple of days.

Beautiful monastery, located against the backdrop of the Montserrat mountain where the peaks are…read moreliterally surrounding the monastery. The Cathedral that is at the heart of this monastery is very ornate and gorgeous with classic European craftsmanship from an age gone by clearly visible throughout the cathedral. As beautiful as the monastery is, the elevated views from this location are drop dead gorgeous and worth the trip alone. Unfortunately, on the day we visited, there was a mass going on where they closed viewing of the black Madonna for the day to not be in conflict with the mass which is standard practice. So you need to keep an eye on this if you plan to visit this site. The other negative thing is that the place was slammed with tourist and I felt that the outlying buildings were completely commercialized to sell trinkets to the tourist that visit. I personally am not a fan when places of worship do this, but I do understand that this type of operation probably funds the maintenance and operation of monastery year-round and is probably a necessary evil in this case. All in all, this is one of the main attractions in the Barcelona area and should be included on any itinerary during your visit here. Opportunities to see beauty like this along with it's historical relevance are far few and in between and should be taken advantage of anytime you're given this opportunity.

Europe has so many amazing old churches and no picture can replicate the experience of walking in…read moreand just taking it all in. But in looking at pictures it's hard to tell them apart from each other. Something this had that other didn't is the view of the city from the top put you have to go up narrow spiral staircase that is less than fun to navigate and deal with people going the other direction. But the view from the top was def worth it. Obviously if you have mobility or claustrophobia this wont be something you should try.

After visiting the other must see Catholic Churches in Barcelona this was by far my favorite…read more Built by the people for the people. The remnants of the fires that destroyed most of the original art in the church gives it character. We were not able to go to mass there but we most definitely will next time in town. Beautiful example of Catalonian Gothic and simply majestic and a must see.

A paradise inside the monster. This is what is l'esglèssia de Santa Anna. It has its entrance…read morelocated in a small square rant opens to Carrer de Santa Anna through a normal gate. If you are coming from the nearest busy Comercial streets in 20s you will be transported to a quiet world. Enjoy the architecture and the peace that it exhaled from the ancient stone la that you can breath for free. If you want to visit the cloister you will have to pay a small fee.