Casa Batlló

Josep Batlló, a textile industrialist, bought the house on Passeig de Gràcia in 1903 and gave Gaudí a free hand. Gaudí kept the old structure and changed almost everything you can see: a new façade, a reworked main floor for the family, a wider light well, an attic and a new roof.

The front is covered in broken ceramic and glass, a technique called trencadís, and has hardly a straight line on it. The best-known reading is the legend of Saint George, patron saint of Catalonia. The roof is the dragon, the round tower with its cross is the knight's lance, and the balconies and columns are the skulls and bones of the dragon's victims. Gaudí never explained it himself.

The Batllós lived on the main floor and rented out the flats above. The Bernat family, owners of Chupa Chups, bought the building in 1993 and opened it to visitors in 2002, and it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage listing for Gaudí's work in 2005. Its neighbours on the same block are houses by Puig i Cadafalch and Domènech i Montaner, which is why the stretch is nicknamed the Block of Discord.

A visit takes about 1 hour 15 minutes, with an audio guide and a tablet that adds augmented-reality scenes to each room. It starts on the main floor, where the Batlló family lived. The big window over Passeig de Gràcia, the oak doors and the ceilings all curve, and even the door handles are shaped to fit a hand.

From there you pass the back courtyard and climb beside the light well. Its tiles shade from deep blue at the top to nearly white at the bottom, so daylight from the skylight looks the same on every floor. Higher up is the attic, a white corridor of brick arches that feels like the inside of a rib cage. Then comes the roof, with its tiled chimneys and the scaled back of the dragon, and finally the Gaudí Cube, a room of moving digital projections.

Check what a ticket covers before you buy. On the official site the cheapest ticket leaves out the rooftop, the evening visit does too, and the family's private rooms are only in the top tiers. On Artista, each guided visit lists what is included.

The house has two lifts, and wheelchair users can reach every area.

Casa Batlló opens every day of the year. Day visits run from 9:00 into the early evening, an early-entry slot lets the first visitors in at 8:30, and night visits begin around 8:30 pm. Times shift with the season, so check them for your date.

The first hour is the time for photos of the light well and the roof without other people in them, which is why early-access tours exist. From late morning to mid-afternoon the rooms fill up, and the narrow attic and stairs feel it most.

The night visit is cheaper and calmer, with the façade lit up outside, but it skips the rooftop. In season the house also runs Magical Nights, an evening visit followed by a concert and a drink. Official prices move with demand, so booking a few days ahead usually costs less than buying on the day.