Barcelona audio guide that talks as you walk
Barcelona has two faces: the medieval lanes of the old town running down to the sea, and the broad avenues of the Eixample, where Gaudí and his contemporaries left some of the most extraordinary buildings in Europe. With AI TourMate you don't need a pre-booked tour. Switch on GPS auto mode, start walking, and the app tells you the story of each place as you reach it — in your own language.
Have a listen
This is how the app tells the story when you arrive: Sagrada Família · 0:48
In the app, every story is created on the spot, so each one is a little different. This is a pre-made example in the same voice the app uses.
Read the story
Stand by the pond in the square across the street and look up at the cluster of spires. Work on a modest neo-Gothic church began here in 1882, and a year later the young Antoni Gaudí took over and turned it into his life's work. In his last months he even slept in his workshop on site, and after a tram struck him in 1926 he was laid to rest in the crypt. He planned eighteen towers: twelve for the apostles, four for the evangelists, one for Mary and the tallest for Jesus. Funded by donations and visitors' tickets, the church is still being built, yet in 2010 Pope Benedict the Sixteenth consecrated it as a basilica. Now find the two turtles carrying the columns of the Nativity facade: one from the sea, one from the land.
How many places can the app talk about?
AI TourMate finds its stories in OpenStreetMap. Within the city limits of Barcelona, that means more than 1,400 named places, for example:
- 705 historic sites and monuments
- 213 churches and places of worship
- 124 museums and galleries
- 488 sights, viewpoints and artworks
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors, counted on October 8, 2026.
From Casa Milà to the Columbus Monument
From Gaudí's houses in the Eixample through the medieval old town and down La Rambla to the sea. The app narrates as you go — and keeps telling stories in the side streets too.
5.3 km · about 70 min walking · 8 stops
Tap a pin or a card to see the place.
What the app tells you about
In the app, each of these is a 2–3 minute story that starts as you arrive — your first one is free.
Photo: Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0 1Sagrada Família
Gaudí took over this church in 1883, a year after construction began, and worked on it until his death in 1926; he is buried in its crypt. Funded by donations and visitors' tickets, it is still under construction, and in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it as a basilica.
Photo: essetefano, CC BY 3.0 2Park Güell
In 1900 Eusebi Güell commissioned Gaudí to design an exclusive garden city on this hillside, but only two houses were built, and the estate opened as a public park in 1926. Its mosaic salamander on the main stairway and the long serpentine bench covered in broken-tile mosaic look out over the city towards the sea.
Photo: Thomas Ledl, CC BY-SA 4.0 3Casa Milà (La Pedrera)
Gaudí built this apartment building on Passeig de Gràcia between 1906 and 1912 for Pere Milà and his wife Roser Segimon. Its undulating stone façade earned it the nickname La Pedrera, 'the stone quarry', and its rooftop is guarded by sculpted chimneys that look like helmeted warriors.
Photo: ChristianSchd, CC BY-SA 3.0 4Casa Batlló
Between 1904 and 1906 Gaudí completely remodelled an existing house for the textile industrialist Josep Batlló. With its scaly, dragon-like roof, bone-like columns and mask-shaped balconies, locals nicknamed it the 'House of Bones'. It stands on the so-called Block of Discord, next to modernista houses by Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch.
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Palau de la Música Catalana
Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed this concert hall for the Orfeó Català choral society, and it opened in 1908. Its auditorium is crowned by a stained-glass skylight shaped like an inverted dome, and the building has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997.
Photo: Fernando, CC BY-SA 4.0 6Barcelona Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia was built mostly between the late 13th and the 15th centuries, while its ornate neo-Gothic façade was only completed at the end of the 19th century. Thirteen white geese live in its cloister — by tradition, one for each year of Saint Eulalia, the young martyr who is the city's co-patron.
Photo: Llull, CC BY-SA 2.0 7Gothic Quarter
The oldest part of Barcelona stands on the site of the Roman town of Barcino, and stretches of its walls and the columns of a Roman temple still survive among the medieval lanes. Not everything is as old as it looks: the carved bridge over Carrer del Bisbe was built in 1928.
Photo: Kent Wang, CC BY-SA 4.0 8Santa Maria del Mar
This church in the Ribera district was built between 1329 and 1383 — remarkably fast for its time, which gives it a rare unity of style and makes it a pure example of Catalan Gothic. Dockworkers carried its stones on their backs from the quarries of Montjuïc, a story retold in Ildefonso Falcones' novel Cathedral of the Sea.
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 9La Boqueria Market
Barcelona's most famous market stands just off La Rambla on the site of a former convent of Saint Joseph, which is why its official name is Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. Under its metal roof, added in 1914, stalls sell fruit, seafood, ham and tapas.
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La Rambla
This tree-lined promenade, about 1.2 kilometres long, runs from Plaça de Catalunya down to the old port, following the bed of a stream that once flowed outside the medieval city walls. Along the way are the Liceu opera house, opened in 1847, and a pavement mosaic by Joan Miró; legend says that whoever drinks from the Canaletes fountain at its top will return to Barcelona.
Photo: RayAdvait, CC BY-SA 4.0 11Columbus Monument
This tall column was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition in honour of Christopher Columbus, who came to Barcelona in 1493 to report to the Catholic Monarchs on his first voyage to the Americas. His statue at the top points out to sea, and a lift inside the column takes visitors up to a viewing platform.
Photo: Fabio Alessandro Locati, CC BY-SA 3.0 12Montjuïc
The hill above the port, crowned by a castle, was the stage for two great events: the 1929 International Exposition, which left behind the Palau Nacional and the Magic Fountain, and the 1992 Olympic Games. Today it is a green area of gardens, museums and viewpoints, including the Joan Miró Foundation.
Day trips from Barcelona
The mountain monastery of Montserrat, the medieval old town of Girona and the beaches of Sitges are easy trips from the city. The app works there too, and on a road trip it narrates the towns you pass if you turn on GPS auto mode before you drive.
More about road tripsFrequently asked questions
Is there a Barcelona audio guide in my language?
AI TourMate narrates Barcelona in 14 languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Hungarian, Japanese and Chinese. Everyone in a group can listen in their own language on their own phone.
Is it a ticket for the Sagrada Família or Park Güell?
No. The app tells you the story of the places around you as you walk. For the Sagrada Família, Park Güell, Casa Batlló and other sites with an entrance, you still need a ticket from the site.
Does it work inside buildings?
The app follows your location by GPS, so it works best outdoors — around the sites and in the streets. Inside large buildings, GPS can be inaccurate.
How much does it cost?
The app is free to download and your first story is free. After that you pay only for what you listen to, with credit packs — there is no subscription.
Explore Barcelona at your own pace
Free to download · first story free · no subscription