In our opinion no trip to Barcelona would be complete without visiting one of the most talked about landmarks, La Sagrada Familia. It might be unfinished, but it certainly doesn’t disappoint!
History of La Sagrada Familia
Designed by the world famous architect Antoni Gaudi and considered to be one of his best. The building work started in 1882 and continues to this day, with an expected completion date of 2026. La Sagrada Familia is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world, and is also a UNESCO world heritage site.
A far more detailed time line of La Sagrada Familia can be found here , I recommend you give it a read before you visit.
Where is La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia can be found at 401 Carrer de Mallorca.
Getting there
La Sagrada Familia is a short walk from many of the main tourist destinations in Barcelona. If you’re coming from further afield or just don’t fancy the walk, there is a metro station right outside. ‘Sagrada Familia’ metro lines L2 and L5 go through this station.
Opening hours and cost
La Sagrada Familia is open all year around although opening hours change throughout the year, so best checking on the official website for more information before you head off.
Ticket pricing can also be found on the official website. We opted for the ‘Sagrada Familia with towers’ option which includes an audio guide* which I fully recommend for your experience. Some places we have found can be done without one, but here it was almost essential. We would also recommend booking tickets in advance, saves the hassle of waiting in a long queue**.
*Note they won’t provide an audio guide for children under 11, which in our case caused all sorts of huffs from Megan. Mummy had to go without, but you could try to put in headphones and share the guide – good luck with that!
**They are very strict on timing, the tickets are scanned at the turnstile, too early you will be forced to wait (like us) and too late, well bad luck!
What to see and do
After security follow the directions of the staff on hand and go get yourself a headset and start your tour.
The Nativity Facade
The audio tour begins at the Nativity Facade, this facade depicts the birth of Jesus. You will see images including the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the Star of Bethlehem and the Three Wise men. This facade is overlooked by four bell tours who represent the Apostles – Matthew, Barnabas, Jude, and Simon. You may have to pause and rewind your audio at this stage, just so you can find everything it is describing.
Inside
The audio tour will go into a lot more detail than I ever could, but the moment you enter you will be in awe of your surroundings. The church has a capacity of 9,000 for mass goers with seating areas dotted all around this vast space. There is also a huge choir loft which can hold hundreds of people.
Take your time admiring the amazing stain glass windows and architecture in the building. There is so much to see and take in, you could easily just walk around for ages, most likely with your jaw dropping the entire time!
While many tourist come to take a tour of the basilica itself, it is a place of worship and hosts masses throughout the year. During our visit we noticed that even though there where hundreds of tourists everyone was very respectful of those there to worship.
Passion Facade
This facade depicts misery and the death of Jesus, we noticed how more basic in detail this facade is compared to the Nativity one and this is how Gaudi wanted it. This facade is overlooked by four bell tours who represent the Apostles – James, Thomas, Philip and Bartholomew. While this side is amazing to see we spent a lot less time here compared to the Nativity side.
Guadi Tomb and Crypt
Sadly during our visit these areas were closed off, I believe they are amazing and well worth a look. Maybe we will get another visit in 2026 when complete, to test out Megan’s Spanish lessons and visit the Tomb and Crypt.
The towers
At the time of writing two tours are open to the public. The Nativity and The Passion. Tickets for the towers aren’t included in the basic ticket, but the cost is only a few euros more. We opted for The Nativity tower – as we visited over Christmas!
An elevator whisks you up 45 m to the top of the tower. Once at the top you walk up a few more steps, before crossing onto a bridge which gives you some views from a different perspective.
Something to note is that what goes up must come down, and in this case it’s a long way down! 400 tiny winding steps that seem to go on forever! Not exactly fun if you’re afraid of heights or aren’t great on your feet. Kids under a certain age aren’t allowed to go up the tower for this very reason, which to be fair is understandable!
If the cost was anymore than a few euros I probably wouldn’t recommend as we would have been happy spending the extra time just wandering around. Apart from the amazing view we didn’t think the tower added much to the experience. If you’re not steady on your feet or not great with heights I would give it a miss.
Would we recommend La Sagrada Familia?
We have visited some amazing places of worship on our travels, we do love a Cathedral. However La Sagrada Familia takes some beating! Each of us walked around in awe and still talk about our visit. It was a thumbs up from all 3 of us, especially Megan who loved the audio guide. She took in and learnt so much from listening and finding everything that was described. They really should consider allowing little ones have an audio guide, or at least gave the option to rent one!
Top Tips
- Try and visit in the morning or evening for the sun rising or setting. The sun comes through the stain glass windows and it is absolutely amazing.
- Bring headphones to share the audio guide if you have any children
- Enjoy, it’s absolutely amazing.
Thank you for taking to the time to read our blog post about La Sagrada Familia. We hope you pay it a visit on your next visit to the wonderful Barcelona.
Thanks
The Lewis Family.