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La Sagrada Familia-Which Tower do you recommend?

Hi Friends,
I'm wondering if anyone can recommend which La Sagrada Familia Tower we should climb. The Passion Tower, or the Nativity Tower? And do you think the guided tour is worthwhile? Thanks!

Posted by
870 posts

I found a May 23 thread
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/sagrada-familia-towers-179a8d35-f3bc-408b-b456-0e6da5f9aef0
You can now climb the towers which had been suspended until a couple of months ago due to covid. We will be there in October and plan to climb but with masks on, still.
I'm mainly interested in viewing the outside. The only time I was in there, it was during a driving rain. I also want to see the basement museum. So, planning to spend some time there.

Posted by
99 posts

Thanks for posting the link, Lindy. And as always, a big THANK YOU to Enric, for all the content and valuable information and insight he shares.
I agree with you, I found the Crypt of the Basilica and the museum very worthwhile and plan to revisit it this Fall.

Posted by
80 posts

We climbed the Nativity Tower back in late May. You do get to see greater detail but in my humble opinion, it is not going to make or break your experience. It is a winding, small staircase down (elevator up)...if you suffer from vertigo, skip it. It was also pretty warm and it was not hot when we were there. The 'basement museum' showing Gaudi's thought process was really interesting and well done. You can do both (we did). We used Rick's audio guide for our 'tour' and it worked great.

Posted by
2927 posts

Thanks Marti, my pleasure. The value of local knowledge has helped me to live great experiences when I travel myself so I try to give back when someone else is visiting my turf :)

Posted by
8934 posts

I did not get to go up in the towers, but did find the guided tour to be really good and am glad I did it. Went right at 09:00 when the sun was streaming in through the stained glass and because there not many people there, I got photos of stunning reflections on the floors and was able to photograph everything without people being in the way while listening to the guide.

A real guide is always going to be better than listening to Rick, because they know their subject better and you can ask them questions. You just spent 1000s of $ getting here, why skimp on a tour?

Posted by
9 posts

we are going in September, and in researching it, I discovered that the Nativity tower is better, because you go up the elevator in one tower, the go outside and walk on a balcony to the other Nativity tower, and you can see up-close the facade. Then you walk down the stairs in the other tower. They said that during the summer, you may not get to chose because of crowds, but that the Nativity Tower is the one to do.