Council to start charging entrance to Park Güell

Well, it looks like the crisis is getting to everyone and everything. So after threatening to do it for a while now, the council announced that it will be charging an entrance fee to Park Güell. The Park is one of the most visited attractions that the city has, holding UNESCO World Heritage status and has been for such a long time one of the best things to do in Barcelona for free.

However, needs must, and starting from October this year, the council will be charging between 7 and 8 Euros for an entrance fee for the thousands of tourists who make the trip up to the park. Locals who live there will be able to use the park and its facilities free of charge, and there's also another type of entrance ticket for some kind of reserved list which I didn't fully understand, but the long and short of it is that it'll be another paid attraction that the city has to offer.

So, despite the move creating around 50 jobs according to the press reports, it does come at quite a cost - it'll take an investment of 2,2 million Euros to implement. I can see why the council has moved to do this - I remember reading a while back some staggering figures about just how much it costs the council to keep the place litter and graffiti free (which is shocking when you think about it - if anyone has a link to that, please share in the comments), but at the same time, a part of me feels sad as it was always a great place to go for free - heck, it's a park for God's sake! Charge to go in the pink house and the museums and that, but...well...

One thing that makes me now wonder is that of the "top manta" ambulant salesmen and women around the park. Will they pay money to get in, banking on making their money back? I can't see it, personally, and if that's the order of things, then I'd like to hope that it would mean an end to the many scams and robberies that happen in and around the park on a daily basis. Although, I guess they'd then have to go some place else, right?!

What do you guys think about the payment idea? Any ideas of how it could have been avoided? Are you a neighbour in the area who is in favour or can see some of the consequences down the line being negative? Let me know in the comments!

Fancy a trip to Barcelona this spring? Check out BCN Rentals for some great, late deals on furbished apartments!

Barcelona's Greek Theatre

I've spoken many times about the great Grec festival which happens each summer, and the actual space of the festival - Barcelona's own Greek amphitheatre  - is a diverse space used for the Jazz festival, live music, dance and puppetry as well as just normal theatre. And we're not just talking Greek Comedy or Tragedy, here, the variety of different genres who have stepped onto that stone stage are as equal as the variety of flowers and plants in the surrounding gardens.

It's also just a really nice place to just go and have a look around, and outside of the festival dates, it's an open park with free entrance at the foot of Montjuic. These photos were actually taken in August, hence the amazing blue skies and vivid colours of the vegetation, but they're just from my phone with no filters, etc. so you can't really appreciate it unless you go!

The theatre itself is at the back, and represents perfectly a typical Greek amphitheatre. It was built  - like nearby Poble Español and the fountains of Montjuic - for the 1929 International Exhibition of Barcelona, and can house 1900 spectators.

The metal structure you can see on the left of the photo is for hanging lights/spotlights for night-time performances.

The acoustics  - made by the shape of the seats and the depth of the stage, means that amplification of voices and sound are at the maximum.

The grounds around the theatre itself are peaceful and well attended by the city gardeners. You can find many little corners in the 460m2 to sit and read a book, or just take in the nature around you.

Inside of the white house in the above picture. It's a great place for taking panoramic pictures from the views that are surrounding the park, and the actual theatre itself.

Thinking of coming to Barcelona soon ? BCN Rentals has some great deals on accommodation - check out the web!

Re-Visiting My Favourite Park

I've written about this park before, and it's my favourite of the city's many parks and gardens. My last post wasn't as detailed as this one as all the photos I used to take in the past were with my parents or family members and you could hardly see the park and its installations. 

And that's a shame cos it's a bloody cool park. I've since learned when returning to places I haven't visited before to take a few snaps with no-one in the foreground for posting here! So bear in mind these are just pics from my phone with none of your instagram filters or whatever but I think you'll get the gist!

 One of the first things you'll realise is that the actual Park is much bigger than just the Labyrinth and is housed in some luxurious leafy gardens with shady corners and plenty of romantic hideaways to slip into. We actually went on a Sunday afternoon in summer, so got in for free, and despite the heat we were sufficiently cool in the shade to stay a good while.

Considering the age of the actual residence and the whole story behind the Labyrinth and it's creation, it's still in remarkably good shape. The history of the Marquis Desvalls and his family dates as far back as 1791, and it's their palace/residence that still greets you at the entrance. In a similar way to parts of Montjuic, there's moments of absolute silence despite being in the city itself - one thing I love about the park.

There are a few water features which have been added to the park over the years and restauration works, so streams running along the lower parks and waterfalls are all a prelude to the maze itself. Greek Icons dot the park and in days gone by the Pavillion was used for open air performances.

So when you reach the actual maze itself, it's pretty impressive from the top. Despite what you might think, it is actually a proper Labyrinth and there's only one way to the centre (no clues from me) and it's loads of fun bumping into the same people on the way round with a puzzled look on their faces! My kids loved it. 

The place is immaculately kept, and they only let a maximum of 750 people in the whole park, not just the maze itself, so it never gets "busy" busy, if you know what I mean.

Can you spot my family?!

 And by the miracle of modern technology, here's a mash-up of those three photos to give you a more panoramic view. Granted, my summer photos make it look really cool, but I've been in different times of the year and they've also been just as entertaining, so don't be put off now, just because Autumn is round the corner, OK?!

Parc del Laberint is located in Horta neighbourhood, and you can take public transport, or if you happen to go in a car, there's plenty of free parking spaces alongside the park and near to the private university residences. Get yourself there and get lost!!

Coming to Barcelona this Autum ? Check out these late deals from BCN Rentals Apartment agency and for some of the other Barcelona Parks and Gardens, see the link.

Another Reason to Visit Park Güell

Park Güell is probably one of the busiest and most visited attractions in the city. It's never in a top 10 list of visitor trends as it's free to get in, so difficult to get this kind of information. Late last year, Barcelona council had plans to charge an entrance fee to the park, in order to help with the costs to clean the park, clean up the graffiti, etc. Well, the plans were fortunately scrapped last month, meaning that it's still one of the best things to do in Barcelona for free.



Well, if UNESCO World Heritage Status wasn't enough for you, Saturday gives you another reason to hit the park. The two Hansel and Gretel-style house at the entrance to the park have pretty much been ornamental thus far. Well, on Saturday, you can gain entrance to a fully-restored "Casa de la Guardia" or porter's house. This is a three storey building and was intended to serve as the park's porter/janitor/security guard's house. The restoration work has cost 113,000 Euros according to press reports this morning, and has restored the bright primary colours intended for the inside, and explains a little more about just why the idea of the park never quite took off - for those of you unaware, Gaudi and (funder) Eusebi Güell planned for the park to be an exclusive neighbourhood for the rich bourgeois, a kind of old fashioned Beverly Hills, if you like. Should be interesting!


For a different stay in the city, try renting apartments in Barcelona. You'll feel much more at home than a hotel, and can choose some great locations, too.

The Best Park in Barcelona

OK, so you might be expecting me to churn out a post about the magnificent Park Güell? Or maybe how much I love La Cuitadella (you wouldn't be wrong)? And no, it's not about the botanical gardens up on Montjüic, either. This is a real gem inside Barcelona, and one which is not often visited. I'm talking about the Parc del Laberint, up in Horta.



The northern neighbourhood of Horta literally translates into "market garden" and indeed used to be farmers fields by all accounts. Well, despite being notoriously difficult to reach by public transport (Line 3, Mundet on the metro, guys, then a bit of a walk) it is my favourite park in the city. Maybe cos it's because I'm a sucker for Jim Henson movies or that I'm really just a big kid at heart, but give me a maze any time!

The park actually looks a bit like a forest from the outside and it's only from the inside can you see the amazing labryinth, which dates back to 1791!! Originally owned by the Desvalls Family, Italian architect Domenico Begutti was hired to design gardens around a cypress maze complete with stream and waterfall. There are even picnic tables outside for you to relax with a spot of lunch. There's a similar attempt at training cypress trees up on Montjuic in the Font del Gat Park, too, which I've pictured below.


The park charges a measly 2,17€ to get in, which is well worth the price if you ask me, but is also free on Sundays and is open all year round (different opening times). So why on earth post about parks and gardens in January, I hear you ask? Well, given the pretty baltic temeperatures that have been sweeping around Spain and the rest of Europe, it seems that Barcelona has escaped with just a bit of a chill. No snow (boo!) and just a sharp drop in temeperatures, nothing out of the ordinary. However, imagine for a moment that Barcelona was covered in a blanket of snow, and you ended up getting lost in the maze.......sorry, any excuse to get this photo in the post!!! I've been waiting for ages to do that.



So what do you reckon? Have you been to the maze? Somewhere you'd like to visit, or do you think I'm completely wrong? Leave a comment guys and let me know. Oh, and if you're coming to Barcelona soon, check out these great Barcelona apartments for rent instead of a hotel!