Barcelona puts a brake on the picarooning of tourists to enter the Park Güell for free (and this is how it will affect Barcelonians)

BarcelonaLaw made, trick done. For some time now, some tourists had found a way to access Park Güell without paying an entrance fee and, moreover, during time slots theoretically reserved for Barcelonians. The key lay in the Gaudir Més program, established in 2020 to allow Barcelonians to access the park for free and during hours when it was not crowded with tourists. But soon the first websites appeared explaining to tourists step-by-step how they should get a free ticket through this program, which theoretically was supposed to benefit only Barcelonians. Now the City Council has plugged this loophole.

To prevent such cunning, starting this Friday, entrance to Park Güell will no longer be included among the benefits and discounts of the Gaudir Més program. Barcelonians who wish to continue accessing the park for free will have to follow another route. From the official Park Güell website itself, they will be able to collect a ticket – called a "green pass"– simply by entering their name and ID number. The program will automatically check if the person is registered in the city and, if so, they will be able to collect the ticket for the time slot of their choice. People not registered in Barcelona will have to buy a regular ticket.

As explained by the first deputy mayor of the Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet, out of the more than 400,000 registered users in the Gaudir Més program, only 195,000 – less than half – are registered in the Catalan capital. The socialist councilor also explained that during 2025, 240,000 tickets for the park were collected through this platform, although she admitted that there is no data on how many of these might have been used fraudulently by tourists.

Bonet, who is also a councilor for the Gràcia district, has explained that with the change the City Council seeks 'that residents once again feel the Park Güell is theirs'. Along these lines, she has recalled other measures that have been implemented during this term, such as the elimination of ticket sales at the ticket office –which aimed to reduce tourist crowds at the park entrances–; mobility restrictions in the La Salut neighborhood and on the Carmel road; reinforcement of buses going up to the area; an increase in ticket prices, and the commitment to reduce the maximum capacity by 500,000 people in two years.maximum capacity of the park.

Card for the closest residents

This year marks 100 years since the Barcelona City Council completed the purchase process of Parc Güell and opened it to the public. Over time, however, tourism gradually took it over, to the point where specific measures had to be adopted so that Barcelonians could continue to enjoy this garden city designed by Antoni Gaudí. Among them, the exclusive time slots – between 7 am and 9:30 am and between 6:30 pm and 10 pm –, during which the park does not sell tickets to visitors.

Also the exclusive pass for residents and schools in the neighborhoods adjacent to the park – la Salut, Vallcarca-Penitents, el Coll, Can Baró, el Baix Guinardó, and el Carmel –, who can access the park at any time while it is open. Bonet has also explained that this pass will now be renewed with the aim that the majority of residents registered in the area obtain it.