The Best of Gaudi Tour: Fast Track Sagrada Familia & Park Guell

You can book a reservation, but you can’t have a reservation…

We booked online for our preferred date and time. We then read reviews about folks not getting tickets despite having reservations. We reached out to the tour operator asking for confirmation. The operator told us there was a glitch in the system and they did not have availability for the date we selected. If we did not confirm, I think we would have been out of luck on the day of the trip. When attempting to cancel via the Trip Advisor site, the site would not allow us to cancel even though we were within the free cancelation window. I called the service number and Viator would not initially cancel either. They asked if they could reschedule for a different date. This would not work for us. After a few “no thank you’s,” they told me the reservation was canceled. Not the best experience with respect to booking through Trip Advisor.

Amazing.

A must in Barcelona! Guided tour is definitely the way to go. Make sure, however, that you request a guide who speaks your native language!

Good tour

It was a good tour. Lots of walking but it's good. Tour guide is nice and accommodating. Will recommend this tour to friends.

Do it, to do it, so you can say you did it :)

This genuinely felt like the cliche tour you do in Barcelona because...it's a famous landmark(s). We spent 20+ days in Europe and this was probably the least memorable but from my privileged position I can say I appreciate that I was able to do see/experience it. The tour of the Basilica was a bit boring, I was largely preoccupied with being pick pocketed from the outer crowded area, paranoid that I wasn't covered enough so as to piss off the Catholic church, and HOT (it was a roasting July day).

Beautiful tour

If you visit, Barcelona, you absolutely must go see the Sagrada Familia. Absolutely stunning! Park Guell was not quite what we expected but still an interesting visit.

Julia Travel is the most unreliable tour operator we ever come across

We booked “The Best of Gaudi Tour: Fast Track Sagrada Familia & Park Guell Regular tour” by Julia Travel S.L through Viator. Julia Travel is the most unreliable tour operator we ever come across in our decades of travels: we visited only ⅓ of the tour we booked. The tour consisted of 3 parts: • Sagrada Familia guided tour • Parc Guell guided tour • Passeig the Gracia walking tour as well as optional tour of Casa Mila & Casa Batllo. 2 days before the tour, we were informed that “Passeig the Gracia walking tour” as well as optional tour of Casa Mila & Casa Batllo, were cancelled and we were refunded €7/person out of €91/person we paid for the tour. Furthermore, the tour left us at Park Guell, far from metro stations. Part of the reason for us to choose this tour was that it would end at Casa Batllo which is near a metro station. The worst part was that my wife and I were left out of the Sagrada Familia guided tour due to the unprofessional conduct of the tour guide. She was unable to handle such a big tour group (28 persons) in a very crowded place at the entrance to Sagrada Familia. We could follow the tour guide to the entrance of Sagrada Familia by following the umbrella she was holding up high. Then she went to authenticate the tickets and I did not see the umbrella again. While waiting for the tour guide, I took the opportunity to take photos and videos of Sagrada Familia. Then I looked around and could not see the tour guide anymore. I looked around repeatedly and did not see the umbrella. I learnt later that she did not hold up the umbrella when entering Sagrada Familia. The tour guide was only 1.5 m tall and it was impossible to see her among the huge crowd in front of the entrance. She did not hand out tickets individually to us and did not check that all 28 of us are together before entering Sagrada Familia. So I waited and waited in vain. After the Sagrada Familia guided tour, the guide said that she had experienced visitors being left out on several occasions before, yet nothing was done to ensure this is not repeated! Even worse, Julia Travel said that I had to claim refund through Viator because we bought the tour through Viator, but Viator dismissed my claim for refund without giving me a reason. We came from Singapore which is far away, and failed to see the most iconic place in Barcelona, because of the tour guide’s carelessness and unprofessional conduct. Please note that I was claiming only the refund of entry fees, not the lost opportunity to visit Sagrada Familia after travelling so far from Singapore. The entrance fee to Sagrada Familia was €52 each. My wife and I were not refunded any money. So beware of Julia Travel, even if its tours are advertised through Tripadvisor and Viator.

good tour, slightly too much commentary by very knowlegeable guide

The tour was good overall, we just felt the guide, while clearly very knowledgeable, spent maybe just a little too much time describing just a little too much detail for us.

Day of Gaudi

Excellent experience, our guide, Sara was full of knowledge and very approachable and easygoing. The tour went longer than expected (per the website) but otherwise worth it and learning so much about Gaudi.

Gaudi Sagrada and Park Guell.

The Sagrada is amazing! Tour guide loves what he does. Gaudi garden Park Guell beautifully designed. A little bit more walking than we anticipated as the bus couldn't enter certain parts of town. Optional Batlo visit shows Gaudis interior design best, though it would be useful if cost for it was made explicit upfront so choice can clearly be made ahead of time. It went a lot longer than advertised take some water and a snack.

Pretty okay

We purchased tickets that gave us access to everything. The Sagrada Familia was great it's a must see. Our first guide was great very informative, funny, and answered everyone's questions. We were disappointed we didn't get more time to explore on our own as we had 15 minutes before we moved on. Then on to a new tour guide, the audio quality was horrible and we could hardly hear him for the rest of our tour.Then ended up having to walk several blocks until we reached the bus. Which was really misleading considering it stated we'd have transport to places. The park was nice but once again we were rushed through everything which was disappointing. When we reached the final destination, they pretty much were closing. Only three of us had tickets to the final house. We also had to rush through that where our guide had to leave 15 min in. We had lost so much time walking to find the tour bus and walking between places because of other guests we got robbed of our last location. It was still amazing to see but this definitely wasn't the best tour.

Awful. Very disappointing. Not as advertised. Should not be a Viator offer.

Only memories are bad ones. This tour was not at all as advertised. Supposed to be a skip-the-line but we still had to wait in line to enter. Was a combination of English and Spanish speaking guests so every narrative was given in 2 languages. Certainly slowed down our progress, delayed the pace and took much longer for the tour. But the absolute worst was the one mile walk to our bus to take us to part 2 of the excursion - Guell Park. We were forced to hike 1 mile1 This was certainly never mentioned in the write-up. Terrible experience.

Gaudi Combo Tour

Tour was a little disorganized, but hard not to be at such busy attractions. Make sure you know what you paid for on this tour… there are different tiers which was confusing. Book to have the bus take you back down or you might have to walk or cab back closer to your hotel. Sagrada Familia was definitely the best of the 4 attractions (SF, Park Guell, and the 2 Casas) in my opinion.

OK tour

Tour was OK. Guide wasn't all that personable, knowledgeable about everything, but kinda went through the motions. At Sangrada, we were only given 10 mins to look around, then had a 15 min walk to get the bus through the busy barcelona streets. Brought to Park Guell and again kinda just whisked through the main parts given 10 min then whisked back on the bus to be dropped off no where near where we started. Save your money book tickets on your own in advance and spend the time to see these two amazing locations.

Magical

Standing in Sagrad Familia with the sun shining through the stained glass was like standing in a rainbow!!

Would not book again

Every thing was memorable. We booked an English tour and although our guide was an awesome person his English was broken and he spoke very fast so not easy to understand. Not his fault and he went the extra mile. Very long walk between Sagrada and catching the bus. Older people had a tough time. Would have been nice to provide water on the bus after the long walk. Again our guide tried very hard to be understood but not easy for older people with hearing aids to understand

Barcelona highlight

Güell Park and its backstory were very interesting. The Sagrada Familia was astounding from the outside and breathtaking from the interior. One cannot appreciate Barcelona properly without this experience!

Good guides but too much...

Good guides but too much walking to get bus after Sagrada Familia. Did not understand why bus couldn’t pick us up closer to basilica..

Not enough tickets and no partial refund

We booked this through TripAdvisor, but when we showed up at the travel guide office (Julia Travel), they only had tickets for us to go through Sagrada Familia - not Park Gruell - even though we paid for the full tour. The travel guide office could not help us get a partial refund, so we were just "stuck". The tour through Sagrada Familia was nice - but you'd think they would have been able to fix this for us, and I can't figure out how to get a partial refund through TripAdvisor. Something is amiss.

History, history and more history - and lots of beautiful photos to be taken

Such an educational tour! Without to mention the beautiful photos and scenary that you run into when doing this tour! You will learn a lot of the Sagrada Familia history, PARK Güell and Goudi houses! A MUST do while in Barcelona! I'd recommend this tour to anyone without a doubt

Super E-Bike tour!! Highly Recommend!!

Our Guide was so knowledgeable! Really fun way to see the city! The e-bikes were perfect! Thé Gaudi Highlights were beautiful and so interesting ! We learned a lot about a Barcelona!

Great Guides. Huge Group.

Great tour guides and super valuable/interesting information about the landmarks we toured. Our group was double the size promised in the tour description though. We had 28 people in the group when there was only supposed to be a max of 12. That was a bit disappointing.

Two thirds of this tour highly recommended!

We actually found the tour a bit long for our liking, though students of Gaudi would love it all. The Sagrada Familia was great and we really enjoyed the visit to and explanation of the apartment building that Gaudi designed or influenced, but we found the visit to Parc Guell not worth the time. But that's just us. And the guide was wonderful - we discovered at the end of the tour that she was an architect, which no doubt added to the value of her commentary. Casual tourists might wish to visit just the Sagrada Familia, which is a must for anyone visiting Barcelona.

Great experience!

Excellent trip. Guides very instructive. Have already recommended using your service to a few other people we have met.

God tour with some issues...

Both tour guides Jose and Marta were great and knowledgeable. The skip the line tour took 45 min to get in. The bus for the Guell was parked really far from Sagrada. The multi language groups .. English/Spanish in this specific case, take twice the time and less comments due to it. In general the tour was good.

Mixed experience

The tour was bilingual in both Spanish and English and the guide inside the Sagrada would change languages every couple of sentences so you always had pay attention. He also talked very fast and there was almost no room for questions or to wonder around on your own. We didn’t get to go up in the tower. The guide for the 2nd half was much better. She was a former architect and much more knowledgeable. She translated in paragraphs instead of sentences, left time for questions. Also the tour was enormous (30) when we started and in the 2nd half half of the people left and by the walking tour we were down to 5 people. I would highly recommend the 2nd half and not the first.

Not what we expected

I misunderstood this experience as what I thought we were seeing and what we did were not the same. That being said I picked the English version and instead got a bilingual English/Spanish which was annoying as we waisted a lot of time hearing both. Also we had to walk quite aways to get on the tour bus which was nasty as it downpoured and lost members in the group

Two good experiences

We had two tour guides, one for Sagrada Familia & one for Park Guell. Our first guide was wonderful. She explained things with passion, humor & detail. Our guide at Park Guell was very knowledgeable but the audio was very loud.

Don’t spend the money!

Sagrada tour was good however until I asked, there was no mention of the beautiful gift store. I had 4 min to run there before our bus was leaving to park guell …very disappointing. Then, we had a very brisk walk for at least 6 blocks to get on the coach with no time to even stop for water. No time to use rest room and schedule was just too tight. This was an expensive tour and not worth the experience. Our guide for the park was hard to understand and quiet….tour there was lack luster. Heard from friends we could have entered the buildings with no mention from our guide.

This one beats them all

Seen a lot of church, to many to count. This one is unbelievable, inside is perfect. Interior design reflects the sun at different time of day.

Martha, our guide, was...

Martha, our guide, was fantastic very knowledgeable, informative, patient with both of us my wife and myself. I wish all guides were like her. She explained in details the history of Park Guell and made our visit to Barcelona unforgettable. Thanks!

Park Guell & Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Lots of walking. Taxi unable to take us to drop of point start of tour, so getting there was interesting. Park Guell was very interesting. Not enough time to enjoy Park Guell because had to takew bus to Sagrada Familia. Security at Sagrada Familia is intense. Did not get an operating headset, so was unable to hear the tour guide through the entire tour. Seemed rushed through the entire experience.

Don't waste time and money

This is the worst tour we have ever been on. It was supposed to be a small group tour and we were herded with at least 30 others. The tour was supposed to be in English and every other sentence was spoken in Spanish. The constant switch back and forth between languages made it very difficult to follow and understand what was being said. After the Sagrada Familia, we were to take a bus to Park Gaudi. We had to walk for 30 minutes to get to the park. We were told we would have free time to explore on our own but once you left the main area, you were not allowed to go back in. This was never explained to us before the tour started.

Just go on a self guided tour

It took a long time to get the tour started and it moved very slow. I’d have rather gone on a self guided tour with the pre-recorded information.

Great guides

Easy peasy; online instructions were clear and precise; guides were thorough and punctual. The tour was very informative.

Don’t miss La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell.

This was a 2 part tour, English tour of interior of La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, Familia was awesome and our guide Raul was very knowledgeable and clearly shared the information in English. Park Guell had a very knowledgeable and friendly guide but the information was shared the English and Spanish(?). This caused miscommunication of information as much of the information was provided in phrases not sentences. We paid for English. Often, questions were asked in Spanish and only answered in Spanish. What we saw and about 1/3 to 1/2 was understood in the English that we could understand. Also the tour office was not very friendly or flexible with any attendees.

Worst tour ever, please...

Worst tour ever, please save yoyr money, but more importantly your time. We were 35 people shifted between 3 guides that seemed like being with us was a fate worse than death. Giovanna was the worst. My partner said " how can anyone make such fascinating subject matter so boring??" Una and Raul were no better. By the end of the tour everyone except one other couple had abandoned it. Yes only 4 people of 35 remained. The last of three stops was a random hospital built by "a friend of Gaudi" when I asked why we were there and not seeing a third Gaudi building, Una said nastily " I dunno, I didn't design the tour." 100% useless. Messaged Julia Tours about the experience, they never replied. Complete waste of money.

Do not miss this tour!

So happy to have joined this tour, many interesting insights provided by the tour guide. Una (the tour guide is superb!)

Hitting all the major spots in one day!

I was able to check off one of my bucket list items - going to the sagrada familia. Our guide was great. Super knowledgeable. When we got there that afternoon, the sunset was shining through the stain glass windows, making the view inside the basilica super dreamy. We had a different guide at Park Guell. He was very knowledgeable and shared anecdotes about his childhood at the park. I really liked the local perspective of the area. Afterwards, he gave us recommendations of places to eat at our stopping point and helped others figure out how to get where they needed to via the metro or taxis. :)

There is no "best of Gaudi" other than one site

Generally this is an interesting tour. Not much time spent in Sagrada Familia, mostly the outside with all the details of the architecture explained. The main low point is the walk to the bus taking you to parc Guel. A 10 mins walk for a 15 mins bus ride. The parc is beautiful and worth visiting. The last stop which is a hospital and a historical site is basically a time waster as all you see is the outside and wrap up with the guide. Overall a good tour but would have passed on the last stop for sure

Interesting and fascinating sites.

My tour group was one of three other tour groups combined together. This added to confusion as to where to go. Though the latter part of the tour was a combination of Spanish and English, it seemed like the guide gave a longer discussion of the site in Spanish than English.

Visiting Barcelona

Guides were informative, however they walked too fast and had no regard for others in the group who could not keep their pace. Both were not professionally dressed…they wore t-shirts and shorts….not a good impression.

Good tour but needs improvements

Tour of Sagrada Familia and Park Guell were wonderful. Great guides. We only saw these 2 things so tour information was misleading. Walk from the church to the bus for Park Guell was very long. Would have been ugly had it been raining.

Best of the sites

La sagrada familia was an awesome church 144 years in the making. The guide (jordi) was very knowledgeable and funny😁

LaSagrada Familia and Guell Park were fabulous!

These special places were brought to life by guides Jordy and Una. Thank you to both of them for a wonderful experience!

Highlights of Gaudi

A superb tour with our guide Marc P for both Park Guell and Sagrada Familia. Marc was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of interesting information about both venues. He was also very accomplished in Spanish, English and French. This a good tour to do as it includes transport between the places of interest and give time for a lovely tapas lunch between visits. Would recommend this as a first experience of Gaudi and Barcelona.

Combo tour - Combo Guides

This tour was started with Raul who was fluent in English and Spanish. He was very informative and interesting. He kept each of us engaged with the details in and out of the Sagrada Familia. The rest of the tour was handled by Mark, but there appeared to be a short delay in connecting with Mark & had to take a 10 minute walk to get the Coach, which apparently could not meet us at the Sagrada Familia. Mark did a great job keeping everyone together & rendered aid when one of our group fell on the steps in Park Gruell. Due to the terrain in the Park, I would warn that this part of the tour can be quite challenging.

Easy access

This review is only for Sagrada as the the second part of the tour was cancelled by company due to operational reason. Awaiting refund as this point.... so, anyway, if you need an easy access to this beautiful church and a more elaborate but easy understanding of how this amazing architecture came about, this is the tour for you. The guide is very knowledgeable like a teacher, and made sure everyone are focused and interested... it was a bit raining when we went, although most of us have an umbrella, i would have loved it if they offer plastic ponchos too.

Worth every euro!

This tour was well worth it! Clara was a great tour guide. She spoke perfect English which was nice because I speak no Spanish at all! She shared lots of great information about the park and sagrada Familia. If you haven’t seen either of these places a tour guide is really nice because there’s so much to learn.

Horrible company

The tour company changed my time from 3 pm to 10 am. They did not update the voucher/departure point on their site, they sent it in an email. There was some confusion as to where to meet after they changed the time on me. I was at the departure point described on the site/voucher. I was able to tour the church (which was about half the cost of the tour). I asked for just half the money back since I only got half the tour and they would not listen to me. I would never recommend this tour company. Giving me half my money back would have been the right thing to do.

Church at this time was beautiful

Loved this tour as the time was best for the sun coming thru the stain glass. Park was length so wear walking shoes. Tour Service was excellent.