Why go

The Gothic Quarter, the Barri Gòtic, is where Barcelona began. The Romans founded the colony of Barcino on this low hill two thousand years ago, and stretches of their wall and four columns of their temple still stand among the medieval lanes. On top of them grew the city of the Counts of Barcelona: narrow streets, stone palaces, small squares and, at the centre, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulàlia, begun in 1298.

It is a district to wander rather than tick off. The best moments are often unplanned: a guitarist under an archway, a quiet courtyard behind a heavy door, the bells of the Cathedral drifting over the rooftops. Come early in the morning, before the crowds, or in the evening when the lamps come on.

What to see

  • Barcelona Cathedral. The great Gothic church on Pla de la Seu, with its carved choir stalls, crypt of Saint Eulàlia and a lift to the rooftop for views over the quarter.
  • The cloister and its geese. A shady garden of palms and orange trees where 13 white geese live, one for each year of Saint Eulàlia’s life.
  • Carrer del Bisbe. The lane beside the Cathedral, crossed by a much-photographed neo-Gothic bridge built in the 1920s.
  • Plaça de Sant Felip Neri. A small, still square whose church wall is pocked by bomb damage from the Spanish Civil War.
  • Plaça del Rei and Plaça de Sant Jaume. The royal palace square, and the square where the city hall faces the palace of the Catalan government.
  • El Call. The tight streets of the medieval Jewish quarter, west of the Cathedral.

Plan your visit

Tickets. The Gothic Quarter costs nothing to explore. The Cathedral’s cultural visit costs €16 and includes the choir, the rooftop, the chapter house, the Diocesan Museum and a virtual audioguide. Students up to 25 and large or single-parent families pay €14, and visitors with a disability of 33% or more go free. An evening visit, with limited numbers and the terrace, costs €28. You can buy tickets online or at the ticket office.

Opening hours. The cultural visit runs on weekdays from 9.30am to 6.30pm, with last access at 5.45pm. On Saturdays and the eves of religious holidays it closes at 5.15pm, and on Sundays and religious holidays it runs only from 2pm to 5pm, as the mornings are kept for Mass.

Getting there. Jaume I station on metro line L4 is about five minutes’ walk from the Cathedral, and Liceu on L3 about seven. From Plaça de Catalunya it is a 10-minute walk down Avinguda del Portal de l’Àngel.

Good to know. Cover shoulders and knees inside the Cathedral. Keep a close eye on bags and phones in the busy lanes, where pickpockets work. From late November to 23 December the Fira de Santa Llúcia, Barcelona’s oldest Christmas market, fills the square in front of the Cathedral with stalls of nativity figures, moss and the Catalan tió log. A walking tour is a good way to hear the stories behind the stones on a first visit.