While I’ve lived in Barcelona for three years now, I had never visited one of Antoni Gaudí’s most popular houses, Casa Batlló. I’ve seen it hundreds of times while walking down Passeig de Gràcia, noticing how different the colors of its façade look throughout the day. And I’ve admired how beautiful the house is when it’s covered with roses every year on Sant Jordi’s Day (a holiday dedicated to Saint George and similar to Valentine’s Day).
Why have I avoided visiting Casa Batlló until now? One key reason: the crowds.
If there’s one thing you can always expect to see outside of the famous Gaudí house, it’s crowds of people taking pictures and waiting their turn to get inside. And even though Casa Batlló has timed tickets to keep visitors from entering all at once, it can get pretty busy at peak times, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
I don’t know about you, but I like to take my time going through landmarks like Casa Batlló, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is why I was excited to learn that I could be the first to visit Casa Batlló bright and early in the morning. With early entry, I was able to take my time walking through the house, look out on Barcelona as it was waking up, and snap photos without other visitors walking into the frame.
With a tour guide, you also benefit from expert storytelling along the way. Gaudí is known for his artistry, symbolism, and attention to detail, and a guide helps make sure you don’t miss a thing.
Keep reading to find out what to look out for during your visit and why a guided tour first thing in the morning is the best way to see it.
There are other perks to visiting Casa Batlló in the morning apart from arriving before the crowds. The Gaudí house is an immersive experience that’s meant to engage all five senses, and when are your senses sharper than in the morning, preferably after you’ve had at least one cup of coffee?
Sight is an obvious sense that Casa Batlló appeals to, and in the morning you’ll see how the gentle sunlight enhances the colors and intricate patterns of each room, especially the ones that have a nautical blue-and-white color scheme.
The use of augmented reality (AR) and other technology also help create a visual feast. An AR tablet is included with your first-access tour, which manifests the imagined aspects of Gaudí’s vision in each room you enter.
So while you may be standing in an empty room, the tablet displays 3D animations of how the space would have looked in the early 1900s, showing you the furniture and decorative elements in vivid detail.
For me, touch and space were the most interesting senses that Casa Batlló plays with. One of Gaudí’s philosophies was that objects must fulfill their purpose to be beautiful, and you can feel this in every element down to the banister for the staircase, which seems to rise to meet your hand as you climb each floor.
You also get a sense of the cohesion Gaudí managed to create to bring every part of the house together, like how the color and design of the walls will flow through several rooms like an animal’s skin.
I’m glad I had the chance to really notice how all my senses were engaged before the crowds arrived. Walking through Casa Batlló in the morning felt like I was meditating.
Casa Batlló stops people walking down Passeig de Gràcia because its façade is both beautiful and open to interpretation, as any good piece of art (or “artchitecture”) should be.
Most people believe it symbolizes the legend of Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia, who slayed a dragon threatening to destroy the village and devour a princess whose turn it was to be sacrificed. If you look closely at the roof, especially when you get to walk out onto it during your visit, you’ll see that it resembles the body of a dragon.
The tower topped with a cross represents the handle of Saint George’s sword, and the bone-shaped columns outside the ground floor appear to be the bones of the dragon’s victims. That’s why you’ll sometimes hear it called “the house of bones.”
Another interpretation is that Casa Batlló represents an aquatic seascape, which honestly aligns more with the interior than the legend of Saint George. Many of the rooms make you feel like you’re underwater or on a boat, especially the glass features that mimic the movement of water.
But Gaudí would say that there are no straight lines in nature, so why should he be confined to straight narratives? In other words, maybe the outside and inside aren’t supposed to match.
Luckily for Gaudí, the textile industrialist Josep Batlló gave him the creative freedom to transform a dull-looking building into a family home that would rival the neighboring Casa Amatller, designed by Puig i Cadafalch.
What’s cool about the house is that you see it come to life as though Gaudí is imagining it in front of you. A cool highlight is the Gaudí Dome, an art installation that uses artificial intelligence to explore Gaudí’s inspiration in nature. It’s surreal. The photo above shows a glimpse.
Visiting Casa Batlló in the morning not only gives you amazing lighting for photographs, but our First Access Casa Batlló Tour also gives you a chance to take some Insta-worthy shots without anyone in the background. I’d recommend taking advantage of the morning glow (it’s almost always sunny in Barcelona!) on the rooftop, where the mosaic tiles glitter like real scales on a reptile.
My second tip is to think about the angle of your shot. Gaudí uses natural curved lines in his design like the arches that lead up to the laundries. They were designed to look like a massive rib cage, and without other people around you’re sure to capture a stark yet warm photo of the space.
Tip: Try to frame your photos using the natural curves of the windows and doorways. They frame the subject in a way that really highlights Gaudí’s organic style.
The best way to visit Casa Batlló is to have it all to yourself with an expert tour guide to point out all the details that you might otherwise miss.
Plus, there are recent additions to the Gaudí house that your tour guide can provide more context about — like pictures on the walls that appear static but come to life when you move closer or Casa Batlló’s collaboration with Kengo Kuma and Mario Nanni on a unique art installation over the exit staircase.
This storytelling is exactly what our Casa Batlló Tour offers.
It’s just your tour group and expert guide before the monument opens to the public, which makes it a more exclusive experience. It also includes a little something special: breakfast inside nearby Casa Amatller. You’ll have a chocolate drink and sweet treat that’s part of a chocolate tradition going back over 150 years.
Casa Batlló is open every day from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the last entry at 8:45 p.m. Each visit is timed to be approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
If you buy your ticket online or in-person at Casa Batlló, prices vary since the attraction has different prices at different times as well as various options to customize your experience.
Remember that our First-Access Casa Batlló Tour is a great option if you want to see the house before it opens, enjoy an expert-led guided tour, and savor a delicious breakfast at a historic cafe famous for its chocolate.
Casa Batlló is centrally located in Barcelona’s Eixample neighborhood and can easily be accessed by metro or bus.
Yes, Casa Batlló looks great in any weather. If it’s raining, the raindrops on the windows create a cool effect and give you a completely different visual experience.
Casa Batlló has lifts and other features that make it possible for visitors in wheelchairs to take the full tour and explore all areas of the house. They also provide audio guides accompanied by a written transcript in 15 languages for people with visual and hearing impairments.
I hope it’s clear that visiting this iconic Gaudí landmark is a must-see on your trip to Barcelona. I can’t believe I went so long without visiting Casa Batlló, and I think it’s one of the most vibrant historical sites I’ve ever gotten to visit.
Don’t miss the chance to explore this iconic landmark with the added benefit of a guided tour that will make your visit even more enriching.
