INTRODUCTION TO TOUR GUIDES IN SPAIN / BARCELONA

This is some helpful information to make the best of your trip if you are thinking of joining a tour or hiring a private tour guide.

In Spain each region or autonomous community runs their own exams to license official tourguides and those who pass it get a yellow badge. The difference between official and non-official tour guides is that only official yellow badge tour guides are entitled to explain inside certain museums and sites so, if you want to visit these sites with a guide, you would need an official tour guide. If, on the other hand, you don't want to visit the interior of these sites or prefer to do it on your own time, you can choose among a much bigger variety of tour guides.

These are some of the most popular sites and museums where an official tour guide is required:

• Sagrada Familia
• Casa Batlló
• Casa Milà
• Picasso Museum
• Cathedral
• Santa Maria del Mar
• Hospital de Sant Pau
  

Just a few exceptions in Barcelona where tour guides (and anyone else) can't give explanations:

• Cathedral: tour guide clients must pay the entrance to the Choir if they want their guide to be allowed to give explanations inside the Cathedral. Also, on Sundays and during services no tours can be conducted.
• Picasso Museum: on Open Doors days (first Sunday of every month, and every Sunday afternoon) tours are forbidden in the museum.

ONE NOTE ON THE SAGRADA FAMILIA CHURCH:

Since 2012 there are new rules for guiding in the Sagrada Familia Church. Only official tour guides and teachers with their students are allowed to explain inside. However, there are a few limitations now:

- Tour guides are given a red or green sticker at the entrance when accessing through the Groups Entrance:

• Groups under 8 people can enter without previous reservation. The guide is given a green sticker that allows them to access all the area of the enclosure open for visitors.
  
• Groups between 8 and 30 people absolutely need to book and pre-pay the tickets in advance. The guide is given a green sticker that allows them to access all the area of the enclosure open for visitors.
• Groups between 30 and 40 people also need to book and pre-pay the tickets in advance.The guide is given a red sticker that means she won't be allowed to enter the museum with her group. The guide can show them the façades and the interior of the church, but the group won't be able to see the museum with the plaster models with their tourguide.

Some tour guides (official and non-official) may try by buying tickets online and accessing through the Servicaixa turnstiles (beside the normal entrance where individual visitors line up, in Sardenya st.). In that case, the guide will not be given any sticker, and they won't be allowed to explain. Any person caught giving explanations without the red or green sticker will be immediately expulsed from the enclosure.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE A LICENSED CATALONIA TOUR GUIDE?

To pass the official exam, applicants must have obtained a college degree (Tourism or any other license degree), must be able to communicate fluently enough in both local official languages (Spanish and Catalan), and must past a multiple-choice and an oral exam including subjects such as:

• Local history, art, sites and museums and heritage.
• Local cooking, traditions and festivities. 
• Some basic background on local politics, economy, linguistics...
• Some basic group psychology, communication skills, leadership dynamics and tourism basics.

As for their work languages, each applicant is examined separately for each language he/she wishes to give tours in. 

Private academies and tourism schools organise preparation courses for the exam. Courses last for approximately 100 hours.

HOW TO KNOW THAT YOU BOOKED AN OFFICIAL TOUR GUIDE

As mentioned before, official tour guides have a yellow badge issued by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government), and most of them sport it somewhere visible. If you are entering certain sites and museums, the entrance staff will be asking to see it and will note down name and license number for their own records.

Only official tour guides have the right to skip lines to enter museums and sites, as long as their groups aren't bigger than 10 people (otherwise, a reservation is needed in most places). 

Just two places where official tour guides can't skip lines:

• The Sagrada Familia elevators (tickets for a specific time slot must be bought at the entrance, and you'd still have to wait in line there).
• The access to the Black Madonna shrine in the Montserrat Monastery.
  

If you are planning to book a step-in tour (run regularly, you join any other people that shows up), it will probably be run by a company, not an independent tour guide. If you are looking for a tour where you will be visiting the interior of certain sites (like the Sagrada Familia or the Picasso Museum, for instance) you would need an official tour guide. Ask the company beforehand to avoid misunderstandings.

As for private guides, if you need an official tour guide, most of them have authorised the Catalan Government to publish their contact data in the following listing. Or you can go here and open the "Directory de Guies Habilitats" PDF file.