Getting Lost in the Parc del Laberint

Up a hill on the north side of Barcelona’s outskirts lies a hidden gem of a park: Parc del Laberint d’Horta. Hidden to me at least, I hadn’t heard of it once in my time here in Catalonia! I came upon it on Instagram of all places, looking at other Barcelona photos people had posted, and decided it was somewhere I needed to go.

I love these kinds of places, they bring me back to books I read as a kid (Secret Garden) and the grounds of British manors my brother and I used to explore when we lived in England back in 1990.

I love the serpentine look of the hedges arches:

Click the panorama below to see a larger view:

The park is more than just the maze though; the grounds hold multiple old buildings, fountains, ponds and stretches of quiet woods. Here’s an old but lovely but creepy building:

The fountain below was made up of a huge tree, the water output was at the top and then the water would filter through the tree and fall into the pond in a big dripping arc, I loved it:

A professional photoshoot was going on while I was there, a girl in a wedding dress, although I didn’t catch her here:

In case you were thinking of swimming in this foot-deep dirty body of water, they have these little green “no swimming” signs. Bummer, it looks so refreshing!

I recommend visiting if you go to Barcelona! From May until September it’s open from 10h – 21h every day. Certain days and times it is free, so be sure to check the schedule to make a plan. It was free for me and I’m not sure why because I didn’t go on either of their noted “free days”…

Here are more photos:

Self-portrait, chopped head: