This week is a sad one in Barcelona for Gaudí fans. Yep, the day has arrived that you will now have to pay entrance to his fabulous Parc Güell. The city has been threatening to make people pay to enter the whimsical park for, well, a while now. And on October 25th, the fateful Parc Güell fees finally arrived.
The barceloneses littered the streets with pamphlets declaring their right to use the city parks freely. The Gràcia neighborhood in particular was plastered in little pieces of white paper with the silhouette of famous Barcelona buildings and “Defensem el Parc Güell” (Defend Parc Güell) splashed across the top in bold, black letters. There protests staged at the iconic park entrance, with angry locals waving anti-fees signs on the famous mosaic-lined staircase.
Photo credit: FotoMoviemiento on Flickr.
OK, I am being a bit dramatic. But it is true that now you’ve got to pay for entrance to the previously free park. By Gaudí standards it’s practically a bargain – it costs €8 (€7 if you buy them online before) compared to the €16.50 for La Pedrera, for instance. OK, it’s a pretty special park with truly unique buildings….but having to pay for a previously free park is kind of annoying. And €8 for a park?? (Not that I go often, but it’s still nice to know that I could go for free).
Apart from my personal complaints about having to pay (mostly because I am cheap), there’s been a big debate raging about the entry fees. Here’s a little bit about what’s been going on.
The upsides of the change? Well, the money will go to preserving the structure of the “Monumental Zone”. They will also limit the number of visitors in the park at once (400 every half hour), which could be nice, as the park can get pretty packed in the summer months (the city says up to 3,000 people enter the park every hour at its busiest). The official park site says:
“The regulation of entrance to the Monumental Zone of Park Güell begins with the priority objective of ensuring that local people have the right to use it as a leisure area. This regulation brings an improvement in the quality of life of the residents and at the same time offers a better experience to millions of visitors, who find a higher quality experience and a more accessible setting.”
The park definitely gets crowded. Here’s a picture my parents snapped when they were here in September, which is just past the peak summer season, but still incredibly busy:
On the other side of the argument, the “Defensem el Parc Güell” group has taken a strong stance against the fees, with over 52,000 signatures on a Change.org petition to the mayor of Barcelona to stop the fees. Here’s the English version of their petition:
“Those of us at the “Plataforma Defensem el Park Güell” want an open park and we oppose any type of restrictions and privatization of one of the most vibrant areas in the north of Barcelona. Please collaborate with us by signing. Help us to stop the Park Güell from being privatized.”
They say that the entry fee is “economic exploitation of the park”, rather than a way to conserve it, and suggest using money from tourism taxes to fund the conservation efforts instead, along with having visiting shifts for tour buses.
However, the new Parc Güell fees don’t mean that Barcelona residents always have to pay for the park. Residents in some of the nearby neighborhoods can get in for free at any time. There’s also a way Barcelona residents can register to enter a raffle for a certain number of free tickets every hour. However, a poll on La Vanguardia’s website of over 1,000 people shows that 79% of people think it’s too tedious to be a real workable system to visit the park, so people still aren’t happy with the alternate plan.
Looking at what the “Monumental Zone” consists of, most of the park is still accessible for free. Of course, the 7.9% of the park that’s now restricted is the most interesting bit of the park. Still, that area is quite small, and apart from my personal complaints about paying, I’m not sure the €8 price tag is worth that tiny bit, as lovely as it is.
Still, because the park is so unusual, I don’t think the new fee will exactly be stemming the flow of tourists into Gaudí’s park. So, we’ll see where this ends up going. Either way, it looks like the debate will continue for a while.
I’m curious what you think – do you think the Parc Güell fees are a good idea? Would you pay €8 to go into the park?
Besos!
-Jess
I was in Barcelona in April a few years ago and went to the Park Guell. It was about as crowded as it looks in the picture your folks took; people were lining up to get a picture of the iconic mosaic serpent. Once we got off the staircase things eased up. I definitely think having a small fee is reasonable, but 8 euros (more than $10 US) seems a lot. However, if you accept that this is no longer a park but actually a tourist attraction then it all makes a sad kind of sense.
allyson johnson recently posted…Freeway-Free in Spain: It is Good to be the King
Yeah, it can get really busy. I’m not sure if the ticketing thing is actually going to help with the crowds, as they’ll be restricted to a much smaller area of the park – will they just end up being more concentrated?
I agree that €8 is too much for the park. We’ll have to see what happens!
Charging a fee and only allowing a couple hundred people in the touristy part of the park is probably for the best in terms of conservation a là the Alhambra, but charging the exorbitant fee of 8€ makes it clear this is probably more about generating revenue amidst La Crisis (cf. recent imposition of fines for silly things in Madrid).
Me personally? Of course I would pay to visit! I adore Gaudí’s works (saw everything from Sagrada Família to the Colònia Güell back in February)…but it would be a painful payment, to be sure.
Trevor Huxham recently posted…Photo Post: The Medieval-Renaissance Village of Sabiote, Spain
I agree that €8 is too much, and the touristy limits are a bit weird. If it’s 800 every half hour opposed to 3,000 like they say, that’s a big change, but we’re talking about 800 in about 8% of the park. It may just end up being more crowded in the main tourist part.
If you’re a big Gaudí fan, though, it’s such an unusual park that it’s probably worth the fee!
Yes I would pay, it’s sad that it went from free to pay but if te grounds need to be kept and buildings restored then those things need to be done by people who deserve to be paid for there time and I understand that with that cost comes preservation for generations to come. Not awesome but yes I’d pay.
Best wishes
Benjamin
Benjamin recently posted…Studio update 10.28.13
Yeah, preservation is important. It’s too bad that the fee is so high, but even people who are very against the fees are all for conserving the park, and the money’s got to come from somewhere.
Boo! I suppose charging visitors is reasonable, although I do wish the fee were a little lower. I was not a fan in general of Barcelona’s high entrance fees! But estámos en crisis, so you gotta do what you gotta do.
Kirstie recently posted…Toledo: Madrid’s Favorite Day Trip
True, la crisis, la crisis, and targeting tourists, a group with disposable income, is definitely fair. But I still think €8 is too much (that’s not counting the museum inside either).
In North America they would Have been charging a long time ago. I haven’t been yet but I would pay. If it keeps the crowds down a bit that would help.
I think that’s true, Darlene! We’ll see if it does help keep the crowds down; I saw plenty of pictures on the Defensem el Parc Guell group’s page that made it look very crowded (of course, as the group has a definite aim those may not be the most objective photos).
In Chicago, we have Millennium Park. It is free for everyone to enjoy. That is the philosophy of our park system in this city. Everyone should have access to green spaces and nature. We residents have paid for the park’s construction (and continue to pay for its maintenance) with taxes, and philanthropic businesses and individuals have also contributed, too.
When I return to Barcelona (that’s WHEN, not IF as you’ve noticed) I would pay the 8 euro.
Thanks for the update, Jessica. And I really like the new header, if I hadn’t told you before!
Sarahlynn Pablo recently posted…What Lea Salonga Thinks of Don’t Buy Miss Saigon
Yep, it’s the exact same argument here – parks are a public space to be enjoyed by the residents. Hopefully the fee does what the city is promising and limits tourist while letting residents enjoy the park, but we’ll have to wait and see if that actually happens.
Thanks for the compliments on the header! 🙂
That’s too bad. I wonder what will happen to the performers and musicians who used to play in the park. My favorite was the slide guitar player at the peak.
I know, I hope they’ll still be there! Quite a lot of the park is still free, so hopefully they’ll be somewhere. But it’s so cool to hear the sounds in those little stone “caves” by the entrance on the sides of the stairs.
Darn, i should have gone to Barcelona last month! (haha this shows how cheap I am too.) I´m sure I´ll still pay in the future, but I won´t be too happy about it knowing just before it was free!!
Jessica Wray recently posted…Teaching English in Spain with BEDA : My School & Schedule
Haha how frustrating is that?? I hate it when stuff like that happens. Still, it is a cool park, and parts of it are free…just not the iconic parts. Ah well!
Hola Jessica, first i have to tell you that I love your blog! Gracias! And I love Spain and am crazy about BCN.
Going from zero to 8 EUR seems a bit much but hey, if you go on holiday you already spend quite some and you really like Gaudí you cut down on your budget elsewhere. Specially if the 8 EUR are for a good cause (preservation of the park etc), then why not. As long as it is still free for the locals, which would then also probably include the musicians playing in the Parc Güell. If locals had to pay EUR 8 it would definitely not be fair.
I visited the parc exactly a year ago in November and had a lovely afternoon there. I would pay the entry fee and could eventually take pictures without having strangers on it…although that can be fun too.
Thank you very much! I’m a big BCN fan too, as you may be able to tell. 🙂
It’s true that you can definitely squeeze another €8 out of your budget somewhere, and the money will go to preserving the park. Unfortunately, the fees have also cut down on the access locals get to the park (unless they live in a certain section of the neighborhoods adjacent to the park). Oh well! It’s still a lovely place to visit.
I would probably pay. You have to pay for most things worth seeing wherever you go!
This is true, but I’m still cross about having to pay! 🙂
Hola Jessica, I totally disagree with that. Everything about monuments in BCN is expensive now. If u want visit all of Gaudi houses u need to pay your arms and legs, this is unfair not everyone could afford 18 euros for entering in Casa Batllo for instance. Gaudi is an universal artist and everbody should appreciate his art, not only rich people or tourists who dont care about their expenses during his trip.
In the past u could say everything is expensive in BCN except Park Güel and now it wont happen any more
Miguel Angel Otero Soliño recently posted…Cascada del río Toxa
Yes, visiting Barcelona’s main attractions can get very expensive very quickly! The house prices are absolutely crazy. Even though they’re something special, I think the prices are too high. It’s a shame Parc Güell is on the expensive list now! €8 is too much for the little section of the park, nice as it is.
That is some interesting insight and good reporting.
With the number of people who visit and the price of the park, that will generate some major revenue for the city. I can see why they are doing it.
But 8 Euro to get in a park seems very expensive to me. Residents also pay taxes that likely support the park already, so in effect they are being double taxed.
If I were in charge, and luckily for all I am not, I’d charge the tourists and non-residents and let the locals in for free without a raffle or lottery system. That only seems fair.
Jeff recently posted…The Trails and Tribulations of Driving a Rental Car in Greece
Thanks Jeff! I think if you were in charge, fewer residents would be cross about the changes! As it stands, the lottery definitely doesn’t seem to be a popular option, and I think €8 is quite a high price for a park.
Nooooooo!!! This makes me so sad, it was the one Gaudi creation you could see for free!
At the same time I see both sides to this. Parque Guell does get overcrowded, to the point where I almost didn’t enjoy it when I was there. Not to mention all the (probably illegal) vendors hawking their stuff. I almost felt like I was at the Madrid Rastro! So crowd control is a good thing.
Also with the amount of foot traffic the park gets, I’ve always wondered about the maintenance and maybe possible vandalism because it is (or well was) free and open to the public.
I say either charge people to see the ENTIRE park or let people in for free. None of this nonsense of making a small part of it off-limits. That seems to be more of a hassle than anything else. Not to mention we all know the 8 euro price will rise because Spain has been in an economic recession for the past 5 years.
I know, I was sad about it too, although I do agree that crowd control is a plus. Hopefully the €8 price won’t go up – I think that’s already quite a bit for a small section of an (admittedly very cool) park.
What a shame. I’ve been watching this over the last year and the day has finally come! Me? Of course I’d pay, but I say that with the benefit of hindsight. Back when I first came to Barcelona, I too fell in love with Gaudi but I didn’t pay to enter any of his buildings. I was on a budget, and just couldn’t afford it. Years later I’ve visited most of his Barcelona sites.
I work as a tour guide and have taken hundreds of twenty-somethings into Barcelona. Probably one in twenty know who Gaudi is beforehand, but all of them know after their visit. As such, not many pay the exorbitant fees to get into La Pedrera, Casa Batllo or even La Sagrada Familia. I would say about two-thirds of them go to Parc Guell, most swayed by the fact that it’s free. Parc Guell therefore opens up the world of Gaudi to so many, particularly young people on a longer-term, budget backpacking holiday.
Caitlyn recently posted…A Sarajevo story
I agree, it’s a shame those people won’t be able to access the park for free, as you’re quite right that the other Gaudí attractions are so expensive that a lot of young travelers just don’t have the budget for them. I certainly didn’t on my first trip to Barcelona, and I’m not sure I would go see Parc Güell now that it’s €8.
Wow, this made me really sad. I studied abroad in León about three years ago, and am now currently living in Santiago. I visited Parc Güell while studying in León and absolutely loved it. I’ll be in Barcelona for Thanksgiving and was really eager to visit again… I still intend on visiting, but I definitely agree with you and everyone else. 8EUR is a bit expensive. I never visited (entered) any of the other Gaudi sites because of entrance fees. It’s really sad that art and culture has been taken away from the public.
Nicole Moy recently posted…A Day in the Life of an Auxiliar
I know, it’s a bit of a bummer, and I definitely think €8 is on the pricey side for a park. Especially when everything else Gaudí is so expensive, it was nice to have a free option to enjoy. Oh well!
Wow, I had no idea this was happening. Looks like my most recent visit came at the right time – and good thing I made the point to cover it properly this time!
I have to agree that €8 is far too much though – I mean that becomes a very expensive activity for say, a family of four then. If it was €2-3 instead and it was just going towards the upkeep of the park, well then fair enough. Although still disappointing when it was free of course!
I’ll be interested to see what happens with this development. Even though the mass crowds could be a pain, it’s a real shame for sure.
Carl recently posted…Weekly Photo Challenge: Eerie
I fell in love with this place on my last Barcelona trip, although it was very crowded I think it’s a shame they are going to start charging for entry.
Becky Padmore recently posted…10 of the most beautiful camping spots in Australia and New Zealand
I agree. Most people seem to be pretty bummed out about it. Some of it will still be free, but I wish it was all still free!