The private house of a wealthy industrialist, Palau Güell represents an early Gaudí commission. A fascinating insight into the lives of the one-percenters of the time – more than any other of the Gaudí attractions in Barcelona, at Palau Güell you can almost imagine how its occupants lived. It is less crowded than the other Gaudí buildings on the tourist trail too.
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The Mies van der Rohe pavilion was designed in 1929 as the German pavilion for the International Exposition, and is an icon of modernist architecture. To top it all off van der Rohe also designed the iconic Barcelona chair to showcase here.
The €5 entry price is a bit steep however: the pavilion is much smaller than today’s standard wedding-cake brick veneer McMansion. While the modernity, the sight lines, and materials are impressive, unless you’re an architecture tragic, it’s probably not a destination in and of itself; visit in conjunction with the MNAC or the Caixa Forum across the road.
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Casa Milà, more commonly known as La Pedrera (the quarry), is Gaudí’s last civil work and reflects the influence of nature in his work.
Designed from scratch as an apartment building, La Pedrera still has four private tenants! Still, visitors have access to 4,500 square meters of the building across five floors.
Adult general admission tickets are €25 online.
From Monday to Sunday, and holidays: 9:00 am – 8:30 pm
Sessions night tour: 09:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Closed: Dec 25, and a couple of weeks in January – check the website for details.
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