EVOLUTION OF A GENIUS. CASA VICENS, PARK GÜELL, COLONIA GÜELL, SAGRADA FAMILIA
- Personal pick-up & drop-off : time and place that suits you best
- Entrance fees and fast track to all monuments
- Luxury transport (chauffeured services)+ bottle of water
- Licensed tour guide
- Tour Length: 9 hours
- Guided visit to Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Vicens and Colonia Güell
- Kid and wheelchair friendly
Overview
Are you a Gaudi fan? Do you want discover masterpieces and hidden gems of Antoni Gaudi in one day?
This fascinating full day tour is ideal for Gaud’i’s lovers to discover exceptional works of Antoni Gaudí in a different way. During the tour you will visit not only famous Sagrada Familia and Park Guell but also we discover his first masterpiece built in Barcelona Casa Vicens and his best hidden gem Gaudi Crypt in Colonia Guell.
This tour will help you understand how the architect style evolved during his life. This tour can be done by taxi or by luxury driven car/minivan.
ITINERARY
First, we will visit Casa Vicens (1883-1888). Shortly after finishing his architecture studies, the young Gaudí was commissioned by Manuel Vicens to build a summer house for him and his wife on the land he had inherited. The building is imaginative, modern and innovative and for the first time he uses many of the structural, decorative and symbolic elements which came to define his architectural language. In the building you will see many styles that influenced all his works: japonism, islamic art and nature.
Next, we visit the Park Güell, UNESCO world heritage site, an unfinished project, commissioned this time by his best friend and patron Eusebi Güell. They together created their world famous park purely for pleasure. Although it never became the planned community that it was meant to be, but it’s now the most fairy-taleish park in Barcelona. You’ll be fascinated by the colors of its mosaic tiles, and you’ll also enjoy great views over Barcelona.
After the visit of Park Guell and free time we will continue to the breathtaking Sagrada Familia, his absolute masterpiece. Take your time admiring the stunning interior and exterior of this remarkable building, a must do highlight of any trip to Barcelona. The unfinished temple is a synthesis of its global conception of architecture. The richness of details, the work system and its meaning it is necessary to explain carefully in order to appreciate and understand this fascinating and extraordinary building in its entirety.
After lunch we will head to Colònia Güell, it has been well preserved and nowadays looks exactly as it was more than a hundred years ago when it was an industrial colony. You will see from outside the school and the houses where the workers lived, and you will compare them with the house of the managers of the factory. You will immerse yourself in the atmosphere that existed in the village at the start of the 20th century,
After strolling around the village we will go inside Cripta Güell (Güell’s Crypt), the highlight of your visit in Colònia Güell.
The main importance of the church of the Colonia Güell is that this is where Gaudi brought together for the first time all of his architectural innovations. Antoni Gaudí said that if the church had been finished it would have been a “monumental model of the Sagrada Familia”.
ADDITIONAL INFO
- Follow the dress code if you are visiting the Sagrada Familia or any other Catholic church. Avoid clothing that exposes a large amount of skin. Wear shorts and skirts that go down at least mid-thigh.
- Comfortable clothes and shoes are recommended as there is some walking involved.
- If you have reduced mobility, please contact us before booking. We do our best to welcome everyone on board, expecialy with transport availible!
- Our tours only include the towers upon request. You need to know that:It is not possible anymore to just climb the stairs: the way up is now only possible by elevator. However, the number of tickets available is restricted to just a few every hour, for an extra fee.
If there is availability, you are given a specific time to get in the line for the elevator, and after a several minute wait you finally get in the elevator that takes you to almost the top of the towers. From there you must walk down: it is not permitted to use the elevator to go down anymore. The whole process takes almost one hour. (the way down is narrow and occasionally claustrophobic, and it is definitely not for people scared of heights).
WHAT WILL YOU SEE
Park Güell Once in the neighborhood of Carmel in the upper part of the city, we will take a guided tour of Park Güell, an unfinished project by Antoni Gaudí, an English-style garden district, which was financed by Eusebi Güell. The park gathers all the characteristic features of modernity and typical of the particular vision of the architect (sinuous and organic forms, the integration of architecture with nature), monumentality and a privileged environment. The iconic postcard of Barcelona. Once enjoyed a good guided tour through the main monumental spaces and explained the environment, we will enjoy free time to take advantage of and soak up the magic of this mythical and unique place.
Casa Vicens
Proyect (1883-1885) in Barcelona, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005, stands in the quiet district of Gràcia, as an unusual oasis of oriental and Mudejar aroma, covered with spectacular green and white tiles.
In his first project he creates an innovative and original work that stylistically breaks with all that had been built previously in Catalonia. Casa Vicens is one of the first examples of the aesthetic renovation of art and architecture that took place throughout Europe at the end of the 19th century. It is the starting point of Gaudí’s artistic career and is considered one of the first masterpieces of modernism.
The reference to natural elements is not only present on the outside of the house, but through the integration of different decorative arts -forge, painting, ceramics, carpentry, mural decoration, etc.- Gaudí manages to get nature inside the house, thus creating a continuity between interior and exterior space.
If we look beyond the decoration, we can guess both the historicist Mudejar style and the forms of Indian and Japanese inspiration.
Colonia Güell
The path through the industrial Colonia captivates tourists because of its charm and the traquility this vestiges of the palpable 19th century atmosphere kept alive between its streets and buildings. Currently, an important piece of historic and artistic heritage remains in the Colonia Güell
Gaudi´s Crypt The main importance of the church of the Colonia Güell in so far as Gaudi goes is that this is where Gaudi brought together for the first time all of his architectural innovations. As Gaudi said, had the church been finished it would have been a “monumental model of the Sagrada Familia”
Exhibition Located in the Colony’s old cooperative, it offers a global vision on what the estate was, how its people lived and the works of Antoni Gaudi.
Sagrada Familia
Gaudí abandoned the Park Güell project and everything else, to dedicate himself body and soul to his masterpiece. The Sagrada Familia is a masterpiece, without comparison. The unfinished temple is a synthesis of its global conception of architecture. The richness of details, the work system and its meaning it is necessary to explain carefully in order to appreciate and understand this fascinating and extraordinary building in its entirety. The architectural complexity, the use of innovative materials, the brightness of its stained glass windows and the interior space leave you speechless. Our visit will end if you wish in Sagrada Familia to live an experience of free time with all the necessary knowledge you will never forget.
WHY GAUDÍ TOURS?
- Skip line at all top sites. No need to pre-purchase tickets yourself.
- Professional and fully licensed local guides
- Flexible
- Personalized visit adapting to your characteristics, age, condition or interests.
- Travel tips from friends: recommendations to help you plan the rest of your stay in Barcelona.
