Has Barcelona gone loco in its battle against tourists?

In a bid to mitigate the effects of overtourism, the Catalan city has hit on a novel idea: a bus route used by those heading to the magnificent Parc Güell has been deleted from visitor maps and apps – with instant results. But, says Paul Clements, that still leaves it with one big problem

To deter visitors to Barcelona’s Parc Güell, the 116 bus route has been ‘hidden’ from tourist maps (Getty/iStock)

There’s something about Parc Güell that makes locals go loco – or boig, as they prefer we say when in Catalonia. Barcelonans are rightly proud and protective of their green lung, a vast, forested wonderland on a ridge overlooking the city that’s full of mind-bending, mosaic-tiled design touches, all inspired by nature: a giant, snaking bench, a colonnade shaped to look like tree trunks, a grand flight of steps in the form of a salamander…

Kitted out in spectacular Catalan art nouveau by Antoni Gaudí, the renowned architect who gave art-loving Barcelona its most recognisable landmarks, Parc Güell has in recent years become a flashpoint for concerns about overtourism – and what exactly can be done to limit it.

Alarmed by the 40-acre public space having hit nine million visitors a year, wardens of the city’s second most-visited attraction have tried introducing increasingly draconian measures to limit that number and the damage they can do to a fragile and unimprovable Unesco world heritage site.