Park Güell

Flamboyant yet subtle, Park Güell is Gaudí’s fanciful imagination on a large scale: an entire park. Perched above Barcelona, Güell features lush gardens, quirky buildings, and all kinds of fanciful details. From the lizard at the entrance, to the famous snaking the details will put a smile on your face. A visit to Park Güell is a chance to get outdoors in sunny Barcelona enjoy some of Gaudí's finest work. That's a win-win proposition!From the manmade walls, roads, and walkways that mimic natural forms, to the exuberant buildings and colorful tile work, Park Güell is basically a Gaudí theme park.There's a magic mosaic lizard watching over the entrance, behind which sit two quirky gingerbread-style houses. And the deeper in you go, the kookier it gets. Originally envisioned as a gated community for aristocrats, Count Eusebi Güell's housing project was a flop. In what we'd now call a 'pivot', Güell put Gaudí to work creating a park, and in 1926 Park Güell was opened to the public. It was an immediate hit. (If at first you don't succeed...)From the forest of stone columns swaying like punchdrunk boxers, to the famous winding along the perimeter, to the house which Gaudí himself lived in for the last twenty years of his life, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is a riot of color, and a festival of fanciful forms. NOTE: Access to the (Gaudí's former home in Park Güell), requires a separate ticket.