Entrada Sant Josep de la Muntanya Park Güell

Barcelona is a city that demands a lot from your hamstrings. It’s a vertical landscape, a series of hills that rise up from the Mediterranean like a challenge. And at the top of one of those hills sits Park Güell, Antoni Gaudí’s failed housing project turned UNESCO-listed fever dream. Most tourists, bless their hearts, follow the herd to the main entrance on Carrer d’Olot. They trudge up the steep incline, sweating through their linen shirts, arriving at the gates looking like they’ve just finished a marathon they didn't sign up for. Don't be that person.

The Entrada Sant Josep de la Muntanya is the back door, the mercy gate, the smart play. Located at the edge of the Gràcia neighborhood, this entrance is defined by one glorious, mechanical invention: the escalators of Baixada de la Glòria. These moving stairs are a godsend, whisking you up the brutal incline while you watch the laundry of ordinary Barcelonans flutter from balconies just inches away. It’s a voyeuristic, effortless ascent that offers a glimpse into the real city before you’re thrust into the curated madness of Gaudí.

When you reach the top, the Sant Josep de la Muntanya entrance greets you with a bit more dignity. You aren't immediately hit with the crush of the main gate’s gift shops and tour bus exhaust. Instead, you enter through a more wooded, serene section of the park. You get the smell of pine needles and the sound of parakeets screaming in the palms before you see the first flash of trencadís—that iconic broken-tile mosaic that Gaudí used to turn stone into something that looks like it’s melting.

Let’s be clear about the best way to enter Park Güell: even through this 'secret' door, you still need a ticket. The days of wandering freely through the Monumental Zone are long gone, sacrificed at the altar of over-tourism. If you don't have a QR code on your phone for a specific time slot, the guards at this gate will turn you away with the practiced indifference of people who have done it a thousand times today. But if you’ve planned ahead, this entrance drops you perfectly into the park’s upper levels, allowing you to walk downhill toward the famous lizard and the hypostyle room. Walking downhill is always better than walking uphill. That’s just physics, and it’s a rule to live by in this city.

Is Park Güell worth it? Despite the crowds, despite the influencers posing until their smiles crack, the answer is an unequivocal yes. There is something genuinely hallucinogenic about the architecture here. It’s a place where nature and stone have an argument and both win. From the Sant Josep de la Muntanya side, you also get some of the best views of the Tibidabo mountain and the Sagrada Família poking its cranes into the skyline. It’s a reminder that Gaudí wasn't just building a park; he was trying to create a new world.

This entrance is the bridge between the gritty, lived-in reality of Gràcia and the high-art fantasy of the park. You start at the bottom, near the Lesseps metro, surrounded by old men in flat caps and the smell of roasting coffee, and ten minutes later, you’re standing in a forest of stone columns. It’s a transition that feels earned, even if the escalators did most of the work. If you’re looking to explore the best of Gràcia, starting here and working your way down into the neighborhood’s plazas for a vermouth afterward is the only way to do it right.