Why go

Casa Batlló is the house that makes people stop in the middle of Passeig de Gràcia. Between 1904 and 1906 Antoni Gaudí remodelled an ordinary apartment block for the textile magnate Josep Batlló, and turned it into something closer to a living creature. The façade shimmers with broken glass and ceramic discs, the balconies look like masks or skulls, and the roof rises in a curved spine of scaled tiles that many people read as the back of the dragon slain by Sant Jordi, Catalonia’s patron saint.

Inside there is hardly a straight line. Doors, ceilings and window frames swirl, the light well deepens from pale to dark blue so that light falls evenly on every floor, and the main floor where the Batlló family lived looks out over the avenue through a great undulating window. It is the most theatrical of Gaudí’s houses, and the visit leans into that with digital displays and an augmented reality guide.

What to see

  • The façade. Best seen from across the avenue. Look for the bone-like columns on the lower floors, the coloured trencadís and the cross on its turret.
  • The noble floor. The Batlló family’s main rooms, with the ceiling that swirls like a whirlpool around its lamp and the great window over Passeig de Gràcia.
  • The light well. Tiles shade from white at the bottom to deep blue at the top, and the windows grow smaller as they rise, so light spreads evenly down the building.
  • The attic. A sequence of white catenary arches, like the ribcage of an animal, where the laundry rooms once were.
  • The roof. The dragon’s back, the chimney stacks in coloured mosaic and views up and down the avenue.

Plan your visit

Tickets. Casa Batlló sells several experiences, from the standard day visit with a self-guided augmented reality tablet to night visits, concerts on the roof and visits combined with exhibitions. Prices change with the date and time and are shown when you book on the official site. At the time of checking, partner sites listed adult tickets from about €29. Children up to 12 go free.

Opening hours. The house is open every day of the year from 8.30am to 10.30pm, with last admission at 9.30pm. The ticket office closes at 9pm. Early morning and late evening are usually the quietest times.

Getting there. Passeig de Gràcia station, on metro lines L2, L3 and L4 and Rodalies line R2, is by the door. Plaça de Catalunya is about 10 minutes’ walk down the avenue. Several buses, including the 7, 22, 24 and V15, stop close by, as do both routes of the Barcelona Bus Turístic.

Good to know. Allow about an hour and a quarter. The whole house is accessible by wheelchair, with two lifts, and there are baby carriers for children under 2 in place of pushchairs. Audio guides cover 15 languages, and the free Gaudí App adds content on your own phone, so bring headphones. Casa Batlló sits on the block known as the Mansana de la Discòrdia, beside modernista houses by Puig i Cadafalch and Domènech i Montaner, and La Pedrera is a 10-minute walk further up the avenue, so it is easy to see both in a morning.