Park Güell

Güell bought a rocky, almost treeless hillside above Gràcia and asked Gaudí to turn it into a garden city on the English model. That is why the name uses the English word Park. Gaudí did not level the hill. He ran the roads along it on viaducts built from stone dug on site, and covered the main square and its bench in broken tiles, a technique called trencadís.

The houses did not sell. The plots were far from town and the conditions of sale were strict. Only two were built: one for Güell's friend, the lawyer Martí Trias, and a show house that Gaudí moved into in 1906 and lived in until 1925. That house is now the Gaudí House Museum. Güell lived in an older house on the estate, which is a school today.

Güell died in 1918. His heirs offered the estate to the city, which bought it in 1922 and opened it to the public in 1926. UNESCO listed it in 1984 among the works of Gaudí. Since 2013 the central Monumental Zone has needed a ticket.

Your ticket has a 30-minute entry window. Once inside you can stay until closing time, but you cannot leave and come back. Most people spend an hour to an hour and a half in the Monumental Zone.

The usual route starts at the main gate on Carrer d'Olot, between two gatehouses with roofs that look like icing. One of them, the Porter's Lodge, holds a small museum that needs its own ticket. From the gate, the Dragon Stairway climbs past the mosaic salamander that locals call el drac. At the top is the Hypostyle Room, a hall of 86 columns that was meant to be the estate's market. Look up at the ceramic discs set into the ceiling.

The roof of the hall is Nature Square, a wide terrace edged by the long serpentine bench. Its curves are shaped to fit a seated back, and the view runs over the city to the sea. From here, paths and stone viaducts lead uphill into the free part of the park. The pink house with a spire is the Gaudí House Museum, sold separately.

The park is on a slope, with steps and loose gravel. It is hard going for anyone with reduced mobility. Wear shoes with grip.

Time slots for visitors start at 9:30 in the morning. The last slots are around 7:30 pm in summer and earlier in winter. Early mornings and late evenings are kept for local residents. Check the official hours for your date.

The first slot of the day is the calmest. Coach groups arrive from mid-morning, and the terrace is at its fullest around midday, when there is almost no shade on the bench. On summer afternoons the hillside gets hot, so carry water. Late-afternoon slots are the next best choice, with softer light on the mosaics.

Numbers are capped for each time slot, and slots sell out. In spring, summer and at Easter they can be gone days ahead, so book as soon as your dates are fixed.