Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia to host two free open days this month

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is set to host two free open days for thousands of visitors this February.

It’s the fifth consecutive year the cathedral has invited people in to celebrate Santa Eulàlia in Barcelona.

Festa Santa Eulàlia – the Catalonian capital’s winter festival – celebrates Barcelona’s co-patron saint with parades, “human towers” and fire runs.

The basilica’s website says: “On the occasion of the festivities of Santa Eulàlia, the Sagrada Família invites citizens to visit the Basilica for free with two Open Days.”

Visitors can enter without paying on 14 February from 3pm to 5.30pm and 15 February from 3pm to 6pm.

Prospective visitors can register for the draw between 2 and 8 February, with winners announced next Monday.

The Unesco World Heritage site will finally be completed next year, some 144 years after work first started in 1882.

Tickets to visit the Roman Catholic basilica start around €26 (£22) for basic entry and increase to €40 (£35) with tower access or a guided tour.

Gaudí’s masterpiece was only 15 per cent built when he died in 1926.

Barcelona residents who are unlucky in the draw can also access 50 per cent off entry tickets in 2026 to celebrate the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s passing.

To mark the occasion, the Sagrada Familia has programmed a series of events from autumn 2025 to Christmas 2026.

The programme of celebration and remembrance comes after The Gaudí Council, an advisory body to the Catalan Ministry of Culture, agreed to make 2026 “Gaudí Year” to make the public more “aware of the works of one of the most universal Catalan architects.”

The church said that “this anniversary is not only an architectural milestone, it is also a celebration, a remembrance, and a collective tribute.”

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