Barcelona Museum Pass

When organizing your trip to Barcelona you will come across several tourist cards and discount passes that can help you save money on your trip.

One of my favorites is the city's Museum Pass. Simple and practical, it's a resource that art lovers should take advantage of to see and do one of their favorite things to do in Barcelona - visit world-famous museums and galleries!...

As its name suggests, the Barcelona Museum Pass is a sightseeing tour designed to visit the most representative museums of the city.

It includes a total of 6 museums and in these the temporary and permanent collections at no additional cost. The best part is that the Barcelona Museum Pass is valid for one year, so if you don't have time to visit all the museums on a first visit, you always have the opportunity to come back and take advantage of your investment.

Barcelona's museums and art galleries are, according to experts in the field, among the best museums in Europe, at least as far as the artistic avant-garde of the early 20th century is concerned, since the region of Catalonia was home to some of the most influential artists of the time, including Miró, Picasso and Dalí.

From impressionism to modernism, post-modernism to cubism, you'll find all this and more in Barcelona's city museums.

The Barcelona Museum Pass has an approximate cost of 35€ per person, which means a saving of up to 45% on the price of the tickets compared to if you buy each of them individually.

The pass is also presented in the format of a small city passport so you take home a nice souvenir style souvenir of your trip to Barcelona.

List of museums included in the Barcelona Museum Pass

Below is the list of museums you can visit with the pass, as well as what you can see in each of these spaces.

• Picasso Museum Located in Montcada, is a must for all lovers of Picasso's art. Essential to understand his formative years and his creative process.
• Fundació Antoni Tàpies Located at Carrer Aragó 255, it is dedicated to one of the most outstanding artists and writers of the beginning of the last century. In addition to the artist's work, you will find a space for the promotion and study of art.
• Joan Miró Foundation Located in Parc de Montjuïc, the foundation was created to promote knowledge about this talented artist. Here you can find his most comprehensive and private collection, as well as explore other facets of Miró.
• Centro Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona Located at Montalegre 5, the CCCB is worth a visit not only for its great art collection but also for the beautiful space and fabulous visuals.
• Museo Nacional d'Art de Cataluña Located in Parc de Montjuïc, this is the reference space for Catalan modernism, with works by artists such as Gaudí, Jujol and Casas as well as Velazquez, Goya and others.
• Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art Located in Plaça dels Àngels, as its name suggests, this is where the best of local and foreign contemporary art is exhibited. You will find works by personalities such as Calder, Tàpies and Keith Haring.

Does the Barcelona Museum Pass include the Sagrada Familia?

No, the Barcelona Museum Pass does not include admission to the Sagrada Familia; only to the exhibition spaces listed above.

The first and most important step is to purchase your Barcelona Museum Pass. First of all, I recommend buying it online weeks before your trip, to avoid wasting valuable time that you can spend exploring and getting to know the city.

The museum pass is shaped like a small red passport, which is why it is known as the Barcelona Art Passport. You can pick it up directly at any of the museums included in the pass, you just need to present your voucher at the ticket office.

As soon as you visit the first museum your pass is activated and as you visit the other exhibition centers you will receive stamps that endorse your visit.

After your tour of the most important museums of Catalan art is over, the pass remains as a nice souvenir that you can add to other objects you purchase in the city.

Validity and conditions of use

Perhaps the most important aspect that attracts the attention of tourists is that this museum pass is valid for a full year.

If your first visit is of short duration, for example two days in Barcelona or three days visiting the city, but you plan to return in the next 12 months, you can reuse your pass in those museums that you could not take advantage of the first visit.

This last condition of use is extremely important: the Barcelona Museum Pass is valid only for one visit to each museum included in the list.

If your plan is to spend about four days in Barcelona and you have a special interest in the arts, this pass will allow you to save approximately 45% on the price of tickets.

Remember that the pass is valid for one year, so if on a first visit you do not manage to exhaust the entire tour you will always have the opportunity to return.

Additionally you will have an express pass that avoids the need to queue to enter any of the museums included; this resource is highly valuable in times of high tourist influx such as summers in Barcelona.

There are some scenarios in which buying the Barcelona Museum Pass is not the smartest option and these are:

• When traveling for a few days: If you visit Barcelona for a day or two and it is also your first trip, it is best to see the city (streets, architecture, parks, bars) and delegate the more artistic part to a second visit.
• Catalan or Spanish art is not your thing: If you have seen this type of art before and you are not particularly interested in it, it is best to skip this type of experience.
• When you go to Barcelona with children: If you visit Barcelona with children it is not necessary to buy a museum pass for them. As long as they are accompanied by an adult with the pass, children under 16 can visit all the museums listed.

In Barcelona you will find other tourist passes that might be of interest. Like Museum Pass, these seek to help the visitor in their process of getting to know and exploring the city, and also save a little money in the process.

Barcelona Card Tourist Card

This is a very complete tourist pass that offers travelers numerous advantages. These include admission to some 25 popular tourist attractions in the city; the use of public transportation and discounts at pre-selected museums, monuments and restaurants in the city.

• Attractions included: Among the attractions included in this tourist pass are the Pedralbes Monastery, the Chocolate Museum and the Joan Miró Foundation.
• Attractions with discount: Some attractions with discount on the entrance fee are Gaudi's La Pedrera, Camp Nou and the Palace of Catalan Music.
• Price: You can purchase a pass for a minimum of 3 days and a maximum of 5; the cost is from 48€ for adults and 26€ for children from 4 to 12 years old.

Barcelona Pass

The Barcelona Pass is designed to offer tourists free access to many of the most popular attractions included in any visit to Barcelona. It offers the possibility of skipping the entrance queue at selected attractions only and the alternative of adding a transport pass to move around the city.

• Attractions included: With this card you will have free access to attractions such as La Pedrera and Casa Batlló or other works by Gaudí, the Museum of the History of Catalonia and the Hospital de Santa Cruz.
• Price: For the two-day mode the card is available from €99 and if you want to include transport it is about €125. If you want to add more days the price of the pass increases.

If you decide to purchase the museum pass for your next visit to Barcelona, below I share a few complementary tips that can be of great help when planning your excursion around the Catalan capital.

Plan when to visit each museum

The Barcelona Museum Card is a cost-effective purchase for most travelers, mainly because of its economic cost, but to get the most out of your investment it is necessary to plan your tour in advance.

This means seeing 2 to 3 museums in a day and alternating these visits with walks through the beautiful streets of Barcelona or areas such as the Gothic Quarter.

Take into account schedules and duration of the tour

Taking into account the schedules and duration of each attraction is vital when planning your trip. Below I share with you the duration of the visit to all the museums included in the Barcelona Museum Pass.

Of course, if you are a true fan of avant-garde and contemporary art you may need a little more time but on average this is how long it will take you:

• Picasso Museum: you will be able to visit it in 90 minutes.
• Fundació Antoni Tàpies Museum: you will be able to visit it in 60 minutes.
• Joan Miró Foundation: I recommend spending a minimum of 2 hours, as the collection is varied and abundant.
• Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona: it also takes about 2 hours.
• National Art Museum of Catalonia: 2 to 3 hours for a complete tour.
• Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona: in 90 minutes you can see the entire collection.

If you visit Barcelona with children...

If you visit Barcelona with children under 16 years old, please inform us when you buy the Barcelona Museum Pass or when you pick it up in the city.

Minors are given a special free card called Boarding Pass with which they can stamp the attractions they visit with adults.

Consider a guided tour

If you want to make the most of the experience of visiting Barcelona's museums you should know that, for some of them, you can find guided tours by the hand of expert guides.

Buy your museum pass online

It is one of the best ways to save time and have all the important details completely structured long before your arrival in the country. Believe me, with the rush and the transfers the last thing you want is to find yourself in the obligation to mobilize to solve this issue.