Why go

Park Güell began as a business plan that failed. In 1900 the industrialist Eusebi Güell asked Antoni Gaudí to design a garden suburb for wealthy families on a bare hillside above Gràcia. Only two houses were sold, and the city later took the land over as a public park. What remains is Gaudí at his most playful: gingerbread gatehouses, a stairway guarded by a mosaic lizard, a forest of columns holding up a great terrace, and a serpentine bench covered in broken tiles, with the whole city and the sea spread out below.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the busiest places in Barcelona, which is why the monumental zone at its heart now works on timed tickets. Outside that zone, the wider park of pine woods and stone viaducts is free and much quieter.

What to see

  • The dragon stairway. The twin staircase rising from the main gate on Carrer d’Olot, with the multicoloured salamander, usually called the dragon, halfway up. Expect a queue for photos.
  • The Hypostyle Room. Eighty-six Doric-style columns, built to hold up the square above and planned as the market for the estate. Look up at the ceiling mosaics.
  • Nature Square and the bench. The wide terrace on top of the columns, edged by the long, wave-shaped bench clad in trencadís, Gaudí’s mosaic of broken tiles. The views stretch to the Sagrada Família and the sea.
  • The gatehouses. The two pavilions by the entrance, with roofs that look iced. One holds a small exhibition about the park’s history.
  • The viaducts and woods. Gaudí’s rough stone walkways wind up through the free part of the park, and the higher paths lead to the best panorama over Barcelona.

Plan your visit

Tickets. General admission to the monumental zone costs €18, with a reduced price of €13.50 for children aged 7 to 12 and visitors over 65. Under 7s go free but still need a ticket. Each ticket gives a time slot, and you must enter within 30 minutes of it. Book on the official website a few days ahead, as slots sell out, particularly at weekends.

Opening hours. The park is open every day. Tourist slots run from 9.30am, and from late October to the end of December the last slot is 5.30pm. Early mornings and evenings are reserved for neighbours and local Passi Verd holders, so tourists cannot visit then. The park has no artificial lighting, so in winter a morning or early afternoon slot gives the best light.

Getting there. Lesseps and Vallcarca stations on metro line L3 are each about 20 minutes’ walk away, uphill, though outdoor escalators help on the Vallcarca side. Buses 24 and V19 stop near the upper entrance on Carretera del Carmel, which saves the climb; buses D40 and H6 serve the Carrer d’Olot side.

Good to know. Once you are inside the monumental zone you can stay as long as you like, but you cannot leave and come back in. Allow an hour or so for the monumental zone and another hour to walk the woods and viaducts. Wear comfortable shoes, as the paths are steep and uneven, and bring water in warm weather.