Gaudí’s Parc Güell

by Greg | Antoni Gaudí

Parc Güell is a truly magical tribute to the genius of Antonio Gaudí, with the bonus of having some unsurpassable views across the city of Barcelona.

Parc Guell in Barcelona

Originally conceived as part of an Art Nouveau Garden City on the Muntanya Pelada in the Gracia district in the north of Barcelona, the park, named after Count Eusebi Güell, who financed the venture, is absolutely unique – even in this Gaudí-dominated city.

As well as being one of Europe’s most enchanting gardens, set into the hills overlooking Barcelona, Parc Güell also features amazing structures, multi-coloured mosaic tiling and a Gaudi museum, in the artist’s former house. From the moment that you enter the park, to be greeted by the marvellous dragon fountain, you will understand why visitors become so enraptured. Gaudí managed to combine his individual vision of the natural world by setting it perfectly into the terraced landscape. Consequently, as you wander around you will see wonderful curved serpentine terraces, multi-coloured mosaic-tiled seats, twisting paths and roadways which blend with the landscape and structures that could only have been designed by Barcelona’s favourite son. Even though the buildings have all the columns, pinnacles and fantastically warped roofs one would expect of the architect, they nevertheless seem completely appropriate and almost organic in the setting of the park.

Gaudí’s house, la Torre Rosa, which has his own characteristically designed furniture, is a museum that enables you to wander around and it really does give the visitor the impression that the owner has just popped out for a minute or two to fetch some bread!

At the park’s highest point, there is a large cross and a view across the city and the bay, with la Sagrada Familia set out in front of you in all its glory. From this vantage point, it’s only too easy to see why UNESCO made the park a World heritage Site in 1984.

One of the adjectives most often used to describe Parc Güell is ‘playful’ and, although this might sound fanciful, it is, in fact, quite appropriate. From the fact that Gaudí took the shape of a bench from the curvature of a naked workman’s buttocks, who was sitting in the wet clay, to the many Catalan and religious symbolic motifs incorporated in the strangest of places, the park is like a magical treasure hunt. And yet, even on a crowded summer’s day, there are still quiet spots to be found where one can just become submerged in the sheer natural beauty of the surroundings.

Parc Güell is on the Carrer d’Olot, which is easily accessed by the Number 24 bus or by the tourist bus. If you are travelling by the metro, then Lesseps is the nearest station – Green Line, L13 – but it does entail a walk of about 20 minutes or so, the last part of which is steeply uphill.

Entrance to the park itself is free to visitors, although there is a fee of 2 euros to visit la Torre Rosa (children are admitted without charge and there is a student discount). The park is open from 10 am until 9 pm from the beginning of June to the end of September and closes at 7 pm for the rest of the year.