Casa Batlló
Gaudí's most fantastical house on Passeig de Gràcia, with its bone-and-scale façade and a roof evoking the dragon of Saint George. A jewel of modernisme in the heart of the Eixample.
A remodel, not a new build
Casa Batlló wasn't built from scratch: between 1904 and 1906 Gaudí reworked an 1877 building that already stood on the plot. The client was Josep Batlló, a textile industrialist who at first wanted to knock it down and in the end settled for a full overhaul. Gaudí tore out the whole ground floor, widened the light well, added a top floor for the laundry rooms and rebuilt the façade and the roof, while the Batlló family kept living on the noble floor. The result is 32 metres tall, six storeys, at number 43 of Passeig de Gràcia. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1984.
Bones, scales and a dragon on the roof
The façade is what stops everyone on the pavement. The columns and balconies are shaped like bones —which is why locals call it «la casa dels ossos», the house of bones— and the wall is clad in trencadís and ceramic discs that change tone as the sun moves, with a ripple Gaudí shaped by hand until it reminded him of the sea. The noble-floor gallery rises ten metres, with five stained-glass bays held up by eight bone-like columns. Up top, the roof is a scaled vault mimicking a dragon's back, pierced by the four-armed cross: the usual reading is the legend of Saint George driving his lance into the beast. Inside, the staircase climbs like a spine and the light well is tiled in blues that lighten from top to bottom, so the daylight reaches every floor evenly.
Price, hours and tickets
Entry is by timed ticket bought online only, with several tiers depending on what's included. The general visit with audioguide is around €29; the packages adding the rooftop, private rooms or skip-the-line access climb past €50. Children up to 12 enter free, and buying ahead is cheaper than at the door. The house opens every day from 9:00 to 22:30, with a daytime visit and also a night version in summer. Since fares and slots are adjusted by season, confirm them at casabatllo.es before you go (official site, checked in 2026).
When to go and what to pair it with
We recommend the first morning slot or the night visit: mid-afternoon is when it fills up most and it's hard to shoot photos without people in the frame. The house sits on the same side of Passeig de Gràcia as Casa Amatller, right next door, and five minutes' walk from La Pedrera, so the Eixample modernisme works well as one morning on foot; book all three with separate times, since all run on limited capacity. One honest note: the façade is free to enjoy from the street, and if you only want the photo you don't need a ticket. But the light well and the dragon roof are only seen from inside.
Frequently asked questions
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