La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
#5of 9 places to visit in BarcelonaBarcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Also known as The Quarry
Quick answer
Opening hours: 09:00–20:30 and 20:40–22:20 and 09:00–18:30 and 19:00–23:00. Entry: €29. Allow 1.5 hrs. Best time: 09:00 opening.
Updated · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 4 min read
- Opening hours
- 09:00–23:00
- 09:00–20:30 daytime (March–November), with night sessions 20:40–22:20; 09:00–18:30 daytime (November–February), with night sessions 19:00–23:00
- Entry fee
- €29
- Ticket from
- Time needed
- 1.5 hrs
- Best time of day
- 09:00 opening
- Best months
- Apr – Jun, Sep – Oct
- Address
- Passeig de Gràcia, 92, 08008 Barcelona, Spain
About La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
La Pedrera, formally Casa Milà, was built by Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1912 as an apartment building for businessman Pere Milà, and its undulating grey limestone facade earned the nickname "the quarry" from Barcelona residents who found the raw, cave-like stone surface unlike anything else on Passeig de Gràcia. The building has no load-bearing walls; a self-supporting stone and structural-iron frame allowed Gaudí to eliminate straight interior partitions almost entirely, and the floor plans could be reconfigured without touching the facade, an engineering approach decades ahead of its contemporaries. The rooftop is the building's best-known feature: 30 chimneys and two ventilation towers sculpted into helmeted, faceless warrior forms, some clad in broken glass and marble fragments (trencadís), others in bare stone finished with a broom to leave visible tool marks. Gaudí used a catenary-arch system in the attic — a sequence of parabolic brick arches forming the building's laundry and storage floor — that also functions as thermal insulation for the apartments below, a detail now displayed as the Espai Gaudí exhibition.
Best time of day: 09:00 opening. For the quietest rooftop circulation, or a booked night session for the illuminated chimney sculptures against the evening sky.
La Pedrera (Casa Milà) timings
- Opening hours
- 09:00–23:00
Mon–Sun 09:00–20:30 and 20:40–22:20 and 09:00–18:30 and 19:00–23:00 - 09:00–20:30 daytime (March–November), with night sessions 20:40–22:20; 09:00–18:30 daytime (November–February), with night sessions 19:00–23:00
- Closed on
- Open every day
Good to know: Closed for annual maintenance 12–18 January; closed 25 December.
Opening hours compiled from lapedrera.com and public records, last updated . They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides
La Pedrera (Casa Milà) ticket price
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard ticket | €29 |
| Concession (student / senior) | €12.50 |
| Children | Free |
Essential daytime ticket starts around €25–€29 online with dynamic pricing, as of 2026, cheapest when booked well ahead; juniors 12–17 pay from €12.50 and children 0–11 enter free. Night visit and premium tiers cost more. Verify current tiers at lapedrera.com.
Prices compiled from lapedrera.com and public records, last updated . They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides
Best time to visit La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
- Quiet
- Moderate
- Busy
- Very busy
09:00 – 10:30
Morning OpeningBest time to go
Rooftop chimneys are photographable without other visitors crowding the frame; queues at the ground-floor ticket desk are short.
Quiet10:30 – 14:00
Midday Peak
Tour groups concentrate on the rooftop and Espai Gaudí attic; movement through the narrower attic arches slows noticeably.
Very busy14:00 – 18:00
Afternoon
Visitor numbers remain elevated but slightly below midday; the Milà apartment floor stays comparatively quiet.
Busy20:40 – 22:20
Night Session
Seasonal ticketed night visit with capped attendance; illuminated chimneys and a quieter, curated rooftop experience.
Moderate
History of La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
Pere Milà i Camps, a businessman who had married into wealth, commissioned Gaudí in 1906 to build an apartment block combining his own residence with rental units, intending it to rival the recently completed Casa Batlló two blocks south. Construction ran from 1906 to 1912 and drew public mockery at the time — contemporary cartoonists caricatured the facade as a garage for zeppelins and the balcony ironwork as seaweed — criticism that has reversed entirely with time.
The Milà family sold the building in 1940s Barcelona, and it passed through various owners and uses, including as offices, before falling into a state of disrepair by the 1980s. Catalunya la Pedrera Foundation, backed by Catalunya Caixa savings bank, restored the building and opened it as a cultural and exhibition space in 1986, with the rooftop and Espai Gaudí attic opening to the public in the years following. UNESCO inscribed La Pedrera as part of the "Works of Antoni Gaudí" World Heritage listing in 1984.
Rules & etiquette at La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
The rooftop's sculpted chimneys sit on an uneven, sloped surface with low parapets in places; the foundation limits total visitor numbers on the roof at busy times and staff may temporarily hold groups at the stairwell exit. Wheelchair access covers the courtyard, Noble Floor apartment, and attic via lift, but the rooftop's uneven paving makes independent wheelchair access difficult — check current provisions with the foundation ahead of a visit.
Night sessions (Gaudí's Pedrera by Night, seasonal) combine the illuminated rooftop with a recorded soundtrack and drink service; tripods are permitted for the night visit specifically but not during standard daytime hours, where handheld photography only is enforced due to crowd density.
Tips for visiting La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
- 1
Booking well in advance is worthwhile given the site's dynamic pricing model, where tickets purchased weeks ahead cost noticeably less than last-minute or door purchases. The building closes entirely for maintenance every 12–18 January, a detail that catches winter visitors planning a trip around that week off guard.
- 2
The Milà apartment on the fourth floor, furnished to recreate a well-off Barcelona family's early-20th-century home, is often rushed past by visitors heading straight for the rooftop chimneys, but it gives useful context for how Gaudí's curved walls functioned as lived space rather than pure sculpture. Passeig de Gràcia between La Pedrera and Casa Batlló is a level, roughly 400-metre walk, making the two Gaudí buildings an easy pairing on foot.
How to reach La Pedrera (Casa Milà)
Passeig de Gràcia, 92, 08008 Barcelona, SpainDirections in Google Maps
From Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
14 km · 35–45 min
€10.20 Aerobús plus €2.55 single metro fare
From Barcelona Sants railway station
4 km · 15–18 min
€2.55 single metro ticket
From Casa Batlló
0.4 km · 5–7 min
Free (on foot)
Nearest airport
From Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
14 km, approximately 30–40 minutes by taxi or Aerobús plus metro.
Nearest station
From Diagonal metro station (L3/L5)
directly outside the building.
La Pedrera (Casa Milà) FAQs
What is the difference between La Pedrera and Casa Milà?
They are the same building. Casa Milà is the formal name, commissioned by Pere Milà, while La Pedrera ("the quarry") is the nickname Barcelona residents gave it for its raw stone facade. Both names are used interchangeably on signage and tickets today.
Is the rooftop included in the standard La Pedrera ticket?
Yes. The Essential ticket, priced from around €25–€29 as of 2026, includes the rooftop chimneys, the Espai Gaudí attic exhibition, and the fourth-floor Milà apartment. Night visits are a separate, additional ticket.
Why does La Pedrera close every January?
The building closes annually from 12 to 18 January for scheduled maintenance, as confirmed on the official site. Visitors planning a trip during that specific week should check current dates before booking, since the closure recurs yearly.
How far apart are La Pedrera and Casa Batlló?
About 400 metres, a level 5-to-7-minute walk along Passeig de Gràcia. Both Gaudí buildings sit on the same avenue, making them straightforward to visit in a single outing.
Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated . How we rank and check places
