Gaudi Highlights in Barcelona

By Joan. After 16 years here I have stopped pretending to be neutral about Gaudi. I walk past his buildings on ordinary errands and they still interrupt me.

Antoni Gaudi shaped the look of Barcelona, and his major works sit close enough together to see in a day. Here is the short list, how they connect and how to book so a tight schedule does not disappear into queues. I have put them in the order I would walk them, which is not the order of fame.

Sagrada Familia

Gaudi's unfinished basilica is the one nobody skips, and for once the crowd is right. Book a timed entry well ahead, because same-day tickets sell out and the general queue can top 45 minutes in summer. Allow 90 minutes inside, more if you add tower access for the views. My own opinion, for whatever it is worth to you, is that the inside beats the outside and most photographs get that backwards.

Park Guell

A hillside park of mosaic terraces and twisting columns above Gracia, with wide views over the city to the sea. The Monumental Zone needs a timed ticket. Pair it with the Gaudi houses, or go at the end of the day for softer light. Be honest with yourself about the climb. It is a hill, and I take it slowly.

Casa Batllo and Casa Mila

Two Gaudi townhouses on Passeig de Gracia, a 5 minute walk apart in the Eixample. Casa Batllo has the dragon-scale facade and Casa Mila, which everyone here calls La Pedrera, has the wave of stone and the rooftop chimneys. Each takes about an hour with the audio guide. If you only have time for one interior, I would take the roof of La Pedrera over the facade of Casa Batllo, but plenty of people I respect say the opposite.

How to link them in a day

Start early at the Sagrada Familia, walk or take the metro to Passeig de Gracia for Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, then head up to Park Guell for late afternoon. A guided tour ties them together and skips the queue at each one.

My advice by traveller

If you are travelling with children, do the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell and leave the houses for another trip. If the budget is tight, walk Passeig de Gracia and look at the two facades from the pavement for nothing, then spend the money on one interior. If this is your first visit, do not try all four. If you have been before, Casa Mila in the evening is the one I would go back to.

Booking tip

Buy timed, skip-the-line tickets in advance for every Gaudi site. A combined Gaudi tour bundles the entries and a guide, so you cover the main works without juggling four separate bookings. Prices change, so check the current one before you book.

Before you go

• Take the earliest slot at the Sagrada Familia you are willing to get up for. Light and crowds both improve.
• Check what your Park Guell ticket actually includes, because the free part of the park and the Monumental Zone are not the same place.
• Leave a gap between bookings. Timed entries are unforgiving and the walk between them always takes longer than the map says.

Gaudi is the reason most people book this city, and two days is genuinely enough for the main works if you book ahead. Do less and look longer.