Park Güell: What to See and Where to Start

Short answer. Start at the entrance on Carrer d’Olot, climb the stairs past the mosaic dragon, rest in the Hypostyle Hall and walk out onto the terrace with the long tiled bench. Then follow the paths to the viaducts and, if they are open, to the highest point of the park. A guided tour takes about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, and with an audio guide you can stay as long as you like.

Where do I start?

The main entrance is on Carrer d’Olot, between two small pavilions that look like houses from a fairy tale. Beyond them a wide stairway climbs towards the middle of the park. You are already inside a design by Gaudí.

On the stairway you meet El Drac, the dragon, a mosaic salamander covered in fragments of tile. It is the best known piece of the park, and it was restored in 2007.

What is the Hypostyle Hall?

At the top of the stairs you enter a forest of stone columns. This is the Hypostyle Hall, a covered space that Gaudí planned for the weekly market of the neighbourhood he imagined here. The columns hold up the terrace above your head, and from below you can look up at the ceiling that holds them.

It is covered, so it gives shade. Dogs are not allowed here, as they are not in four other areas of the park.

What is the serpentine bench?

Above the hall lies Plaça de la Natura, the great terrace that some visitors call the Greek Theatre. It is edged by a long, winding bench covered in trencadís, mosaic made of broken ceramic. Gaudí worked on it with his collaborator Josep Maria Jujol, and the bench seems to follow the curves of a snake or a wave.

Sit down and look outwards: Barcelona spreads in front of you all the way towards the sea. The bench and its railing are being cleaned and restored, so part of the terrace may be fenced off when you come.

What are the viaducts?

Gaudí planned a network of roads, about three kilometres, to link the plots of the hill. The viaducts that carry them come in three kinds. The high viaduct is the one on top. The middle viaduct uses natural caves as buttresses. The low viaduct is held by two rows of columns that lean like tree trunks.

Some paths can be closed for restoration and other works, so do not count on a complete circuit of the viaducts.

What else is there to find?

Look for the Laundry Portico, named after a figure carved on one of its columns, and for the Austria Gardens, which were planned as building plots for the neighbourhood. At the top of the park, the Turó de les Tres Creus is the highest point of the park, with three stone crosses. Paths can change with the restoration works, so check on the day which ones are open.

What about the pink house?

Inside the park stands the house where Gaudí lived from 1906 to 1925, now the Gaudí House Museum. The house is pink, with a pointed tower. It was built as the model house for the neighbourhood, and inside there are rooms with his personal objects and furniture from some of his buildings. You can admire it from outside. Whether you can enter depends on whether the museum is open on your day.

And the free part of the park?

Outside the monumental zone there is a wooded area of about 8 hectares, free for everyone. It is a place for a walk when you have seen the mosaics.

Which one for you?

Short on time? Walk up the stairs, stop at the dragon, look at the hall and sit on the bench. Want to understand what you see? Choose a guided tour. Coming with children? Book the family tour, where they follow clues to the dragon and a hidden lizard. Read the hours and the way there to plan your day, and the history of the park to know why it exists.