Barcelona · Spain
Casa Batlló
A practical guide to Casa Batlló in Barcelona: which ticket to buy among Silver, Gold and Platinum, what time to go, what to see from the blue light well to the dragon rooftop and what to avoid in the line.
It's the most striking of Gaudí's houses, and the architecture justifies the high price. We bought Platinum for the flexibility; the immersive rooms aren't necessary.
Casa Batlló is the dragon house on the Passeig de Gràcia. It isn’t a new building: between 1904 and 1906 Gaudí remodeled an 1877 block and turned it, from top to bottom, into a single story, the one about Sant Jordi slaying the dragon. In Barcelona people call it the Casa dels Ossos, the house of bones.
Our visit
It was the third Gaudí building of our day, at 15:00, after La Pedrera and lunch at Cervecería Catalana. Before going in we walked past the Block of Discord, the block where Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch built houses side by side.
We picked the time for the light: at three the facade is in shade, and the trencadís shows more color than with the sun hitting it directly. We bought the Platinum ticket, the most expensive one, for the priority line, free cancellation and the option to change the date. In our research, the augmented reality and the immersive rooms got mixed reviews: some people enjoy them and some find them unnecessary. The architecture alone justifies the ticket. We gave it 90 minutes.
A little history
The textile industrialist Josep Batlló bought the building in 1903 and planned to tear it down. Gaudí convinced him to remodel it instead: he added a floor, the attic and the rooftop, redid the facade with stone, ceramics and colored glass discs, and opened up the central light well to cover it in blue tiles in a gradient. He worked with Josep Maria Jujol, the same artist behind the mosaics at Park Güell.
In 1906 the house competed for the city’s architecture prize and lost: the winner was Casa Lleó Morera, its neighbor. The Batlló family lived there until the 1950s. The current owners opened it as a museum in 2002, and since 2005 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How it fits into your day
Casa Batlló is a seven-minute walk from La Pedrera, so both fit into one afternoon. See how we combined them with Park Güell in our Gaudí day.
What to see, in order
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The facade from across the street
From the opposite sidewalk you can read the dragon: the roof is its back, the balconies are skulls, the columns are bones and the ground floor is the open mouth.
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The main floor
The Batlló family's apartment, looking out on the Passeig. Gaudí designed every handle, every door and every lamp.
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The mushroom-shaped fireplace
In the small study off the landing: a ceramic fireplace with two benches inside it, for two people.
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The light well
More than 30 shades of blue, dark at the top and light at the bottom, so the light reaches every floor evenly. Looking up, it feels like the bottom of the sea.
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The attic
60 white brick arches that form, from the inside, the dragon's spine.
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The rooftop
The dragon's back with ceramic scales, four trencadís chimneys and the tower with the cross, which is Sant Jordi's lance.
Tips we wish we’d known
Tips
- Arrive ten minutes before your slot and use the priority line if your ticket includes it.
- The augmented reality tablet is worth it in the blue light well, where it shows the fish Gaudí imagined on those walls.
- For the photo of the facade, cross the Passeig de Gràcia. On the rooftop, look for the dragon's back with the Sagrada Família on the horizon.
- The rooftop is most crowded between 12:00 and 16:00; if you go in at 15:00, you reach the top just as it starts to thin out.
Do
- Buy only at casabatllo.es.
- Sit on one of the benches in the mushroom-shaped fireplace.
- Look at the neighbors on the Block of Discord: Casa Amatller and Casa Lleó Morera are on the same block.
Don’t
- Don't buy from sellers with tablets in the line: they resell the Silver ticket at a 30–50% markup or sell fake codes.
- Don't buy the Magic Nights pass at the door as if it were an add-on to your visit: it's a separate nighttime event, and it's cheaper online.
- Don't hire the photographers who offer you pictures with the facade on your way out: they charge €15–30 per photo and have nothing to do with the house.
- Don't eat at the terraces on the Passeig de Gràcia with picture menus: they're expensive, and there are better options a few blocks away.
Frequently asked questions
Which Casa Batlló ticket is the best choice?
Silver gets you almost the whole visit for €29. Gold adds the priority line. Platinum (€53) adds immersive rooms, the Batlló family's private apartment and free cancellation; we took it for that flexibility.
How long does the visit take?
An hour and a quarter with the basic ticket and an hour and a half with Platinum.
Casa Batlló or La Pedrera?
If you can only do one and you want visual impact, Casa Batlló. If you're more interested in architecture, La Pedrera. They're a seven-minute walk apart.
What does the facade represent?
The legend of Sant Jordi, patron saint of Catalonia, slaying the dragon: the roof is its back, the cross is his lance and the bones are the victims.