Salvador Dalí House-Museum visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Platja de Portlligat s/n, Cadaqués

Groups

Up to eight people, every 10 minutes

Ticket pickup

At the beach ticket office, 30 minutes before your slot

Visit length

About an hour, half of it accompanied

Season

Closed 7 January to 11 February

Access

Not wheelchair accessible

Bags

No backpacks, luggage or pushchairs inside

Where the house is

The Salvador Dalí House-Museum stands above the small beach of Portlligat, at Platja de Portlligat s/n, 17488 Cadaqués, in the province of Girona. Portlligat is a cove on the Cap de Creus peninsula, just north of Cadaqués and separated from it by a low hill. The house is the long run of whitewashed cubes rising from the shore, with white eggs on the roofline and cypresses beside the stairs.

Cadaqués itself sits at the end of a single winding road over the hills, which is part of its charm and part of the planning. The bus station in Cadaqués is about 2 km from the house. From the village you walk or drive over the rise to the cove; the ticket office is on the beach beside the house, and the left-luggage office is on the ground floor, opposite the entrance.

How the groups of eight work

Dalí's house was built from fishermen's huts, and the rooms are small. To keep them that way the museum lets visitors in by appointment only, in groups of up to eight people, with a new group starting every ten minutes from opening time. Every ticket is for one date and one entry time, and booking ahead is required for every visitor, whatever their fare.

Inside, a member of museum staff walks your group through the private rooms and the studio. It is not a commentary tour, and other guided tours need the museum's permission, but you are never left to find your own way through the passages. Expect about thirty minutes inside, then the outdoor spaces at your own pace, about an hour in all. Because the groups are so small, places go quickly: online tickets are not sold for the same day, and the next few days are often gone in autumn.

Collect your ticket 30 minutes before your slot

This is the rule that catches people out. The museum asks every visitor to collect their ticket at the ticket office 30 minutes before the entry time on the day of the visit. If you have not collected it by then, the purchase is cancelled, the ticket is lost without a refund, and you can only go in later if a group happens to have space.

So the time that matters is not your slot, it is half an hour before it. If your slot is 12:00, plan to be at the ticket office on the beach by 11:30, and to have parked or walked over the hill from Cadaqués before that. We put the pickup time on your booking email, and we are glad to help you choose a slot you can comfortably reach from wherever you are staying.

What you see inside

The house is laid out in three parts. The private rooms, where Dalí and Gala lived, make up most of the route, with the studio, where he painted looking out over the bay, in the middle of it. The third part is outside: the Olive Grove and the courtyards, the spaces of their public life, with the pool and its terraces.

Inside, the rooms are joined by narrow corridors and stairs at uneven levels, the way the huts were bought and knocked together over forty years. A life-size stuffed polar bear greets you at the entrance. In the bedroom a mirror was placed so the couple could see the sea from bed, and Dalí liked to say he was the first person in Spain to see the sun rise. Everything faces the water. The house is kept much as they left it in 1982.

The Olive Grove and courtyards

After the accompanied route you come out into the Olive Grove and the courtyards, which you walk at your own pace. These outdoor spaces opened to visitors in 2009 and are part of every house ticket. They are where the couple received guests, and they hold the pool and terraces as well as the olive trees on the slope above the cove.

Give yourself time here. The views from the grove over the bay and the islet of Portlligat are worth lingering for. There is no café or restaurant at the museum, so bring water on hot days. The ground is uneven and partly stepped, so wear shoes with some grip. When you are done, the beach and the fishing boats are right below you.

Opening hours through the year

The house keeps seasonal hours. From 15 June to 13 September it opens every day from 9:30 to 20:00. From 1 April to 14 June and from 14 September to 31 October it opens every day from 10:30 to 18:00. In November and December, and from 12 February to 31 March, it opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 to 18:00, so Mondays are closed then apart from a few published Monday openings.

The house closes completely from 7 January to 11 February, and on 1 January and 25 December. On 24 December the last admission is at 13:30. On every day, entry to the museum and the ticket office ends 40 minutes before closing time, and the rooms close 15 minutes before it. Our date picker only offers days the house is open.

Which fare to choose

There are four fares, each for the same date, slot and route through the house and Olive Grove. The general fare is for adults aged 18 and over. The student fare is for students aged 18 or over with a valid student card. The senior fare is for visitors aged 65 and over, with photo ID showing their age. The ages 9 to 17 fare is for young visitors in that range.

The museum checks proof for every reduced fare when you collect the ticket, and the same discounts apply to visitors from outside the EU. Bring the card or ID the fare rests on, or the ticket may not be honoured. Children aged 0 to 8 go free. They still need a ticket and still take one of the eight places in the group, so tell us their ages and we add them to your booking at no charge.

Visiting with children

Children are welcome, with two things to know. Visitors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult, so book them into the same slot as the adult they are with. And every child needs a ticket, even the free ones aged 0 to 8, because each child counts towards the group of eight. That matters when a slot has only a few places left.

Pushchairs are not allowed inside, and neither are backpacks worn on the back, so bring a baby carrier for little ones or leave the pushchair at the left-luggage office opposite the entrance. The stairs inside are narrow and irregular. Children who like small spaces, odd objects and a polar bear in the hall tend to enjoy the house; very young ones may find thirty minutes in a quiet group long.

Bags, photographs and house rules

Medium and large bags, luggage, bulky items, backpacks or bags worn on the back and pushchairs are not allowed in. Bags are checked at the entrance. Leave anything large at the left-luggage office on the ground floor, opposite the entrance; it does not take bulky items or valuables, so the simplest plan is to arrive with a small bag only.

Photography without flash is allowed. Flash, tripods, selfie sticks and professional equipment are not, and staff may hold a camera until the end of the visit if the rules are broken. Publishing images taken inside needs a licence and a rights payment to the Foundation. There is no eating, drinking or smoking inside, and no pets except guide dogs. Follow the staff, who set the pace through the rooms.

Accessibility

The house grew out of fishermen's huts and has narrow, irregular staircases throughout. It is not accessible to wheelchair users, and the museum describes it as difficult for visitors with reduced mobility because of its architecture and the natural terrain around it. The Olive Grove is on a slope with uneven ground.

If anyone in your party uses a stick, finds steep steps tiring or needs to sit down often, think carefully before booking, and write to us first if you are unsure. The museum is part of a network that supports groups with accessibility needs, and it publishes a separate accessibility page. Adapted toilets are available. We would rather you knew all this before paying than found out on the beach.

Getting there and timing the road

By car, take the AP-7 to exit 4 at Figueres towards Roses, then the C-260 and the GI-614 over the hills to Cadaqués. The last stretch is a winding mountain road, so allow at least an hour from Figueres once you count parking and the final walk, and more on summer weekends. Parking near the cove is limited; the Foundation publishes a car-park map. By coach, the Moventis line from Barcelona's Estació del Nord takes about two to three hours, and there are services from Girona and from Figueres.

From the bus station in Cadaqués the house is about 2 km, a walk over the hill to the cove. Boats also run from Roses to Cadaqués and Portlligat. Whatever you choose, work backwards from the pickup time, 30 minutes before your slot, and add a margin. If you are coming from Barcelona for the day, a late-morning or afternoon slot is kinder than an early one.

Frequently asked questions