La sagrada familia barcelona: Sagrada Família – Official ticket vendors

La Sagrada Familia Barcelona ~ Skip-the-line Tickets 2023

“If you’ve seen one church, you’ve seen them all,” is not a phrase that applies to Gaudi’s mighty, and still unfinished, masterpiece: La Sagrada Familia. Barcelona’s most iconic building is not only stylistically unique, but the pioneering techniques required to build it means that it ranks as one of mankind’s greatest architectural achievements.

Opening Hours | Skip-the-line Tickets | Guided Tours | Barcelona Pass | Dress Code

Epic in scale, the church’s towering spires are like something from the realm of fantasy and all around them are religious motifs in the Modernista style of the maestro himself, Antoni Gaudi.

Famously La Sagrada Familia is as yet unfinished, despite work starting in 1882, however the word is that it will be completed in time for the centenary of Gaudi’s death in 2026. The intricate nature of the job at hand, and arguments over the architect’s final intentions for the basilica have delayed proceedings, but when it is finished it will be even more visually imposing than at present, with a total of 18 towers, and a vast central spire that will make the church 172. 5 metres high – making it the tallest religious building in the world.

Barcelona’s most iconic building is not only stylistically unique, but the pioneering techniques required to build it means that it ranks as one of mankind’s greatest architectural achievements.

Don’t worry if you can’t wait until then as 3 million other visitors per year can’t either – the church is Spain’s most visited attraction, with travellers queuing around the block to get up close to, and inside, this architectural marvel.

Every inch of each of the basilica’s four exterior facades is covered with Christian allegories and intricately carved replicas of Mother Nature’s marvels, whilst on the interior magnificent white pillars soar upwards like marble tree trunks to the roof of the nave, flashes of rainbow colours from the stained glass windows reflecting off their geometrically perfect grooves.

You really have to see it to believe it.

Opening Hours

The basilica is open every day of the year, although its operational hours vary depending on the month, and are as follows:

November, December, January, February: 9am to 6pm
March: 9am to 7pm
April, May, June, July, August, September: 9am to 8pm
October: 9am to 7pm
During holidays (December 25, 26, January 1 and 6): 9am to 2pm

La Sagrada Familia Tickets

The most popular attraction in one of the world’s most popular cities, please please save yourself a tonne of time and hassle and buy your ticket online in advance! That way you get a scheduled arrival time, and you just have to turn up 10 or 15 minutes beforehand to ensure you get in smoothly.

– Skip-the-line Tickets

Buying tickets on the day is all but impossible, so your best bet is to reserve in advance via the likes of Get Your Guide. Indeed, GYG are one of the best booking portals as they offer free cancellation and downloadable audio guide.

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Recommended Guided Tours

If you prefer one of those old-fashioned flesh-and-blood guides to a pair of earphones, there are a number of tours we could recommend, starting with the Get Your Guide Original Tour. Get Your Guide Originals use official tour guides and come back with a money back guarantee if you don’t enjoy it.

Slightly cheaper is this 1.5 hour guided tour by Julia Gray Travel, which you can also book on Get Your Guide.

Otherwise survey your full range of tour options here.

The Barcelona Pass

If you’re also planning on visiting Park Guell, you might simply be best to purchase a Barcelona Pass via Tiqets.com. With one convenient purchase you can access La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, the Hop on / Hop off Tourist Bus and Montjuic Cable Car, and get 10% off scores of other attractions.

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The Towers.

Which to Ascend?

Depending on what ticket you purchased you will also have the chance to take an elevator up one of two sets of towers, those on the Nativity facade or those on the Passion facade.

Opinions differ on which are better, but they are basically much of a muchness, and you should get great views over Barcelona and the Mediterranean from both, as well as a chance to see some of the basilica’s colourful exterior decoration and motifs from a better perspective.

The Passion towers are taller however, so if you have a head for heights maybe select these, whilst the Nativity spires have a bridge between them allowing a bit more time to take in the vistas.

Bear in mind that you will have to walk down a lot of narrow spiral stairs to exit in both cases (meaning this option is not available for those with reduced mobility or children under the age of 6).

Dresscode. What (Not) to Wear!

Please note the building is a consecrated Catholic church and visitors must dress appropriately or risk not being admitted. According to the official website, appropriate clothing is as follows:

No hats are allowed except for religious or health reasons
Visitors may not enter barefoot
No see-through / transparent clothing
Shoulders must be covered
No plunging necklines or exposed backs or bellies
Shorts and skirts must come down to at least mid-thigh
No fancy dress or dress for promotional, political or performance reasons.

Cool Facts. Did you know…?

The church’s full name is Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, which in English translates to: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family.

Gaudi was not intended to be the church’s architect, however he took over the reins in 1883 (a year after construction started) when Francisco Paula de Villar resigned from the project.

When finished the planned central spire will be one metre lower than the apex of Barcelona’s coastal mountain Montjuic. Gaudi did not want to exceed God.

When asked why construction was taking so long the architect famously quipped, “My client is not in a hurry.”

During the Spanish Civil War anarchists considered blowing up the church but decided against it owing to the building’s artistic merit. One person who disagreed with the decision was English writer George Orwell who was in Spain fighting for the side of the Communists. He later penned Homage to Catalonia about his experiences, in which he describes La Sagrada Familia as “one of the most hideous buildings in the world”. It seems even the greatest minds get things wrong on occasion!

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona – Attraction

Entrance from Carrer de Sardenya or Carrer de la Marina

Our Rating

Hours
Apr–Sept daily 9am–8pm, Mar and Oct daily 9am–7pm, Nov–Feb daily 9am–6pm. Closed Dec 25–26, Jan 1, and Jan 6.
Transportation
Metro: Sagrada Família
Phone
93-208-04-14
Prices
Admission 15€ adults, 13€ students and anyone under 30, 11€ seniors, ages 10 and under free; admission to towers costs 14€ more
Web site

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

About our rating system

Architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was a profoundly religious man, and from 1912 forward he made the design of this soaring basilica his life’s work. If it is not the grandest church in all of Spain, it is certainly the grandest constructed within living memory. This “Church of the Holy Family” is a strange and wonderful structure, part retro-Gothic cathedral and part Modernista fantasy, with some bowls of fruit tossed in for color at the tops of the towers. The soaring interior really seems like a place of worship now, after decades as a construction site that stood open to the elements; the roof finally went on a few years ago, and the target date for completion—still almost a decade away—now seems within reach. The massive project was held up by some dramatic roadblocks: The original plans were burnt during the Spanish Civil war, and a grassroots attempt rose to halt the digging of a train tunnel within a few blocks of the basilica, deemed a threat despite seismic studies to the contrary. (The tunnel was dug, and the structure remained upright.) Because Gaudí left the structure unfinished at the time of his death, and his plans went missing, what you see today is a hodge-podge of guesswork by subsequent teams of architects. The west portal (the Façade of the Passion) is especially inharmonious, with clunky white protrusions that look like overgrown Lego blocks. The east façade (of the Nativity), where you will enter, is more in the spirit of Gaudí’s pious Christian view of the New Testament stories, although they appear to have been carved out of volcanic stone, cobwebs, and bat droppings. Dragons and gargoyles hang off corners, and an entire Noah’s ark of preposterous animals (rhinos! elephants!) are carved in stone. And that’s just the outside.

The central nave resembles a gleaming white sci-fi spaceship, although Gaudí’s original intent was to create the illusion of a forest of impossibly tall palm trees, which allow a maximum of light to stream through their fronds from very tall stained-glass windows. And in fact, it is that play of magical light on the walls and floors of the interior that give the Sagrada Familia a true sense of spirituality and earns Gaudí the moniker “God’s architect.” The cost of the elevator ride up the towers, where the true magnificence of Gaudí’s creation is most visible, is absolutely worth the extra euros. Construction of the church came to a near halt at the outbreak of the Civil War and languished until the late 1980s. Yet new construction techniques (and more tourist admissions) have sped up the process. Since the church was consecrated in 2010, the builders have been racing toward a much-publicized projected completion date of the 2026 centenary of Gaudí’s death. (He is buried in the Chapel of Carmel, one level down from the main church.) Buying tickets online in advance has become essential, at least in the busiest seasons, in order to avoid the wait of an hour or more.

– Will Shank

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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How to avoid the line at Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia?

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Q: I will visit Barcelona for the first time in May with my wife and son. I heard that there are long queues to get inside to see the Gaudí Cathedral. We put this attraction at the top of our list to visit. Do you have any advice on how to skip the queue so you don’t waste vacation time in line? My son is 8 years old and I don’t think he will enjoy standing in line for a long time.

Historic façade of Gaudí’s gigantic basilica.

A: It is true that there are long queues to get inside the Sagrada Família.

The only reliable way I know of to avoid the queues is to buy tickets online in advance of your visit.

Book tickets for the Sagrada Familia online to avoid the queues

Click to book tickets online for the Sagrada Familia Gaudí 9 skip the line0007

You need to print your booking voucher and bring it to the meeting point at the appointed time indicated on the voucher. You will need photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport.

If you don’t want to book tickets in advance, you can try the following ideas to reduce your waiting time in line:

Lines at the entrance to the Sagrada Familia

2. Try to arrive as early as possible in the morning, when the attraction is just opening, the queues are likely to be shorter. This attraction is popular throughout the day, however, given that most tourists only start sightseeing after breakfast, you can expect the queue to be shorter if you arrive in the morning when the attraction opens at 09:00 in the morning. However, even at this time, you will most likely be queuing if you arrive during the peak season, but the queue will be shorter. The Sagrada Família metro station is located next to the Basilica, making access to this attraction quick and easy for any city center resident.

Tickets for express entry to the Sagrada Familia are included FREE with the Barcelona City Pass. Click here to find out more.

Map showing the nearest metro station

Metro Tetouan

This map is registered and copyrighted and may not be copied.

Metro Hospital de Sant Pau

Hotel Sagrada Familia

Hotel Abalon

Medici Hotel

Acta Antibes Hotel Barcelona

Aranea Hotel Barcelona

Carlit Hesperia Hotel

Eurostars Cristal Palace Hotel

Sagrada Familia
Carrer de Mallorca, 401

Metro Sagrada Familia

Verdaguer Metropolitan

Monumental Metro

Parking lot PROMOPARC Industria 9

Car park BSM Avenida Gaudí

Car park Racina House

Car park BSM Sagrada Familia

Car park NN Valencia III

Car park NN Valencia

3. If you have some travel flexibility and choosing dates is an option, you can schedule a visit outside of the main tourist season. That is from November to March, and in combination with an early arrival at the attraction, you will most likely reduce the waiting time.

I would like to correct one point you raised in your question. The Sagrada Família is often referred to as Gaudí’s Cathedral. I have even seen it mentioned in the mainstream media, so you are not alone. However, it is actually officially known as the Basilica. There is only one cathedral in Barcelona and it is located in the Gothic Quarter (historic old town).

The Sagrada Familia is Barcelona’s #1 most visited attraction. The only way to skip the line is to book tickets in advance.

Book tickets for the Sagrada Familia online to avoid the queues

Click to book tickets online for the Sagrada Familia Basilica Skip the line Gaudi

0 Sagrada Familia (Sagrada Familia) in Barcelona

Sagrada Familia full name Basilica De La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is one of Gaudí’s greatest projects. A colossal architectural example of a unique architectural style that incorporates a combination of Gothic and curvilinear forms in the Art Nouveau style.

Sagrada Familia currently tops the list of attractions in Barcelona and is the most famous and visited place in the capital of Catalonia.

Sagrada Familia is truly the greatest building in the city, the construction of which began back in 1882, under the watchful eye of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, who owns the original project of the Sagrada. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project in an architectural and engineering sense. It was Gaudi who brought to the project that exquisite combination of strict Gothic and natural curvilinear forms, thanks to which the temple became such a unique creation, and not just another Gothic church. At 19In 14, Gaudi left all other work to focus exclusively on this single project, on which he worked until his death on June 10, 1926, as a result of a tragic accident that occurred three days before the death of the greatest architect and creator.

At the time of the death of its second founding father, the Sagrada Familia was less than a quarter completed. The date of completion of the construction of the temple is still unknown, because the church has not yet been completed. Perhaps this is the most grandiose long-term construction of the modern world.

During Gaudí’s work on the Sagrada, he had many assistants and followers who collaborated with him during his lifetime. After the death of Gaudi, it was these architects and craftsmen who continued the construction of the Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia, the work was carried out according to the plans and plaster models of Gaudi.

Despite the unfinished construction, today the Sagrada is an outstanding building in Barcelona. And, indeed, we can say with all confidence: “If you are in Barcelona, then, without even going inside, to come and see the unique work is definitely worth it.” The spiers of the Sagrada are still visible from afar, and you, like a child who was beckoned with a candy, follow their call and, as you move towards the goal, the majestic basilica opens up more and more.

In front of the main entrance to the Sagrada, there is a small park of the same name – Plaça de la Sagrada Família. Great place to relax after visiting the temple.

The facade of the Nativity of Christ and the crypt of the Church of the Redeemer of the Sagrada Familia were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. Palau Güell, Casa Milà (La Pedrera) and Park Güell were also added to the World Heritage List in 1984. The heritage site was expanded in 2005 to also include Casa Vicens and Casa Batlló in Barcelona. All these elements together make up “The Works of Antoni Gaudí” and “An Unforgettable Barcelona of Gaudí”.

Also listed by UNESCO is the crypt at Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervello.

Tickets for the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

In addition to admiring the outside, you can go inside the Sagrada. Ticket offices are located here – near the central facade. Tickets can also be purchased online, we recommend buying online, as each ticket will cost 4-6 Euros cheaper.

You can buy tickets on the official website.

As the official website says: “Your ticket helps us build the Basilica. Come join us and help us make Gaudí’s dream come true in 2026.” Making a simple conclusion, we can judge that the final completion of the construction work of Sagrada is planned for 2026)).

There are several types of tickets. For example: – visiting the temple – 15 Euro; – temple + excursion – 22 Euro; temple + audio guide + ticket to the Gaudi House Museum (in Park Güell) – 24 Euro; temple + visit to one of the towers: on the facade of the Nativity, overlooking the east side of Barcelona or on the facade of Passion overlooking the city center + audio guide – 29 Euro.

When visiting Sagrada, it is worth calculating the time, excursions last from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Tours are available in different languages, including Russian and English.

Also worth noting – the number of visitors is limited, so you may have to wait until those who have already entered come out and it’s your turn.