Park Güell Guide: Tickets, Route and Views

Park Güell was meant to be a gated estate for wealthy families. The industrialist Eusebi Güell hired Gaudí in 1900 to design it on a bare hillside, but only two houses were ever built and sold, one of them to Gaudí himself. The project failed, the city bought it, and it became a public park. What survived is the entrance, the terrace and the paths, and they're wonderfully strange.

The park has two parts. The monumental zone, with everything you've seen in photos, needs a timed ticket bought online in advance from the official site, and slots in the middle of the day sell out. The rest of the park, the woodland paths and the hilltop viewpoint, is free and open to everyone.

Getting up the hill

The park sits high above Gràcia and the climb is steep. The easiest route on foot is from Vallcarca metro station (L3), where a series of outdoor escalators on Baixada de la Glòria takes most of the effort out of it. Lesseps (also L3) is closer on the map but means a long uphill walk through the streets. City bus 24 from Plaça de Catalunya stops near the upper side of the park.

A route through the park

Start with the free part if you arrive early. Walk up to the Turó de les Tres Creus, a small mound topped with stone crosses at the park's highest point. From the top you see the whole city down to the sea, with the Sagrada Família towers rising out of the grid.

Then enter the monumental zone at your ticket time. The main terrace is edged by a long, curving bench covered in trencadís, a mosaic of broken tiles, bottles and plates, largely the work of Gaudí's collaborator Josep Maria Jujol. Sit down: the bench is shaped to fit your back. Under the terrace is the Hypostyle Room, a hall of dozens of leaning columns with mosaic medallions set into the ceiling.

Walk down the double staircase to the famous tiled dragon (locals call it a salamander, el drac), which is always surrounded by people taking selfies. At the bottom are the two gatehouses, with rippled roofs that look like iced gingerbread. On the way out, look for the Laundry Room Portico, a leaning gallery of rough stone that feels like walking through a wave.

Allow an hour for the monumental zone and another for the free woods. Gaudí's former house, now a small museum, has a separate ticket and is only for keen fans. Our three-day itinerary pairs the park with an afternoon in Gràcia, and the what to wear guide explains why sandals are a mistake here.