Park Güell
Park Güell is an almost make-believe landscape, home to Barcelona’s famous mosaic lizard—the image on a thousand postcards—plus spiral towers that look like fairground slides. The city’s grandest park began life as a collaboration between entrepreneur Eusebi Güell (hence the park’s name) and Antoni Gaudí. Güell’s vision was to build an estate for affluent families—Gaudí planned 60 homes, a market, and gardens inspired by British parks (which explains the English spelling of the Catalan word parc), but the scheme never took off. Work stopped in 1914, with only two houses completed, including today’s Porter’s Lodge. Success came later—the park is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Any standout features or must-sees?
The lizard stairway and city views from Nature Square, the large open area surrounded by a wavy wall of mosaics. Book a €10 ($10) General Admission ticket online, and arrive promptly for your allotted slot—there’s zero wiggle room with timing. At sunset, a walk around the exterior path presents a tranquil, candy-colored checklist of the city’s celebrities: Tibidabo, Montjuïc, La Sagrada Familia, and more.
How is it getting around?
An app has now replaced all paper maps, but you’ll soon discover a pleasantly maze-like, Gaudí-style navigation system: “Left at the blue turret by the dragon foot.” However, it’s a difficult trip for anyone with mobility restrictions. The route mapped at this link makes the best of minimizing steps and uneven walkways, but it’s still challenging.
All said and done, what—and who—is this best for?
Park Güell is so iconic, so fantastical, it’s hard to justify skipping it—though during peak months, tour buses also subscribe to this notion. An interesting add-on is Casa Museu Gaudí, the pink spired building inside the park. It’s not included in your entrance fee (so factor in an extra €5.50/$5.50 per person), but Gaudí actually lived there for 19 years, which makes it the home tour of all home tours.
La Rambla
Tell me: What’s this place all about?
Barcelona’s most famous street—a nearly one-mile pedestrianized boulevard from Plaça Cataluyna to Port Vell—is still the strolling route for the city’s visitors. Even if selfie-stick vendors can’t match the charm of the old-school florists, gelaterías, and candy stalls offering bites of crema catalana (a form of crème brûlée) along the way. To predict your next question: But is it La Rambla or Las Ramblas? Well, it’s really both. Originally, the area consisted of five mini-ramblas: Rambla de Canaletes, Estudis, Sant Josep, Caputxins, and Santa Mònica, but they’re often lumped together and today, the street sign says La Rambla.
What’s it like being there?
Busy! Particularly with some parts under construction, as a much-anticipated renovation project expands sidewalks, creates new squares and seating areas, plants trees, and, ultimately, extends the street all the way to the sea.
Pretty interesting! Is there a guide involved?
Not needed; just pick your starting point and walk as long as you like.
Who comes here?
Of the 78 million people who walk La Rambla each year, only 20 percent are from Barcelona. They are the gents reading newspapers in the sun, or locals slipping through a side entrance into La Boqueria market. The other 80 percent are sightseers, bachelor parties, and street vendors selling Michael Kors bags of, let’s say, questionable origin.
Did it meet expectations?
Annoying as it is to keep your purse clenched from pickpockets for a mile, La Rambla has a charm that keeps the 78 million coming. Its building facades can be strikingly beautiful: the opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu, pulls a crowd both inside and out. At number 83, Antigua Casa Figueras is an unexpected jaw-dropper in Catalan Modernism, all stained glass and mosaics, that’s also a treat of a patisserie. While Plaça Reial (step off La Rambla via Carrer de Colom) is a regal yellow square of bars and restaurants; beside the fountain, find lampposts designed by a young Gaudí. Also, watch your step between La Boqueria and Liceu metro station: artist Joan Miró made a street mosaic that, despite its primary colors, many people miss.
Got it. So, then, what, or who, do you think it’s best for?
If you’ve never been to La Rambla, go. If you’ve already seen the stalls, done the stroll, and succumbed to a pair of $12 shades, there are more restful streets. Carrer d’Enric Granados and Rambla de Catalunya (another, different Rambla) set the bar high for on-street dining. Poblenou’s Rambla del Poblenou is expanding from a locals-only socializing zone into something altogether more hipster. On the hip note, El Born’s Passeig del Born offers sun, seats, and cervezas, yet still with the tranquility of a leafy boulevard.
La Sagrada Família
Give us an overview.
It’s practically illegal to go to Barcelona and not visit La Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s extraordinary temple dedicated to the Holy Family—otherwise known as the world’s largest unfinished church. The latest projected end date is 2026, though local theorists speculate it will never be done in order to preserve its in-process cachet. And that cachet has visitors flocking: With 4.5 million people wanting in each year, advance online booking is a must. Dates open three months ahead.
Tickets start from €26 ($26) for site access and an audio guide that’s accessible via La Sagrada Familia official app (for speed, download it before you come). Then there are add-ons of a real-person guide (€4 extra), or ascent of one of the two towers (€10 more).
Which tower is best? The Passion Façade is higher, though the east-facing Nativity Façade (the clincher, for us) lets you walk over a tiny outdoor footbridge between structures. A word to the height- or small-space-averse: the climb down is via spiral concrete stairs that are shoulder-twistingly narrow, often next to open windows that you’ll wish weren’t there. The elevator only takes you up.
What’s it like being there?
To say you’ll experience a sense of wonder feels corny, but it’s very hard to walk inside, tilt your head up to the vaults and rainbow stained glass, and not gasp out loud. So, good corny.
Who comes here?
There’s a constant throng of international neck-craners and photographers (if you have a camera that’s superior to a smartphone, bring it for a better shot). But it’s also a functioning church—Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it in 2010—with a free international mass held on Sundays at 9 a.m.
So, then, what, or who, do you think it’s best for?
Consider this the first must of any itinerary. But if your trip is spontaneous and tickets sold out, go to the roof terrace of the Sercotel Rosellón. The hotel looks unassuming from the street, but you’ll get an eyeful of the church the moment you open the door to the roof.
Picasso Museum
Zoom out. What’s this place all about?
A museum spread over five palaces—we’d expect nothing less for Picasso, who moved to Barcelona as a 14-year-old boy and made frequent trips back throughout his life. Downstairs, a courtyard and Gothic archways lead into white studios that illuminate his works. Upstairs, the rooms are lavish: epic painted ceilings that almost drip crystal chandeliers. Visitors flock here to see Picasso’s work, but the special setting is why they come back again and again.
Ye shall know them by their permanent collection: How was it?
If you’re expecting Picasso’s big-hitters, you might be disappointed—for a few minutes anyway. Guernica resides in the Reina Sofía in Madrid, The Weeping Woman at London’s Tate Modern. What Barcelona’s museum has is everything around those postcard images. In chronological order, it shows every brushstroke (all 4,251 works’ worth) of how he moved from a classically trained painter (see Ciencia y Caridad in Room 3) to a Cubist pioneer. Plus, some things we never knew he did, like ceramics. Some 41 pieces were donated by his widow, Jacqueline Roque.
But also by their new shoes. How were the exhibits?
There’s almost always a temporary exhibition that relates to Picasso’s life, often using a different medium, like how a photographer captured him over the years.
What did you make of the crowd?
The crowd reflects Picasso’s generation-spanning appeal. There’s the chatter and foot-stomp of school trips; culture- and content-hungry Gen Z-ers; plus, those repeat visitors who’ve been lured back again and again over the decades. Book tickets in advance online: each timeslot is color-coded by how busy it is, giving you a gauge of how many people you’ll be sharing the gift shop with.
On the practical tip, how were facilities?
Expect some stairs, but in general rooms are spacious, and there are benches and seating throughout the building, as well as elevators.
Any guided tours worth trying?
Insider tip: entrance is free on Thursday evenings (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.). Otherwise, tickets are €12 ($13.50), with the option to buy an audio guide that you download to your smartphone. Don’t forget to bring headphones.
Gift shop: obligatory, inspiring—or skip it?
Not necessarily obligatory; though it’s well-stocked and carries lots of books, cards, and museum-branded items like mugs and T-shirts.
Is the café worth a stop, or should we just plan on going elsewhere?
No on-site café, but plenty of charming spots near the museum if you’re willing to wander.
Any advice for the time- or attention-challenged?
An hour is doable: don’t skip Picasso’s early pieces, which are genuinely a fascinating display of someone finding their artistic feet; you’ll also want to see Las Meninas, probably the best-known of the lesser-knowns. It’s not one piece, but several works that developed from Picasso’s obsession with one painting: Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. Picasso made a series of his own versions, reinterpreting Velázquez’s work, and they’re displayed together in Rooms 12 to 14.
Camp Nou
