Visitors are again using the escalator exit at Sagrada Família Metro station, at the junction of Mallorca and Marina streets, to record social-media videos framed by Antoni Gaudí's basilica, according to reporting published on 30 July 2026. For commuters and other Metro users, people stopping at the top of the escalator can obstruct the exit at a point where a stumble or a delayed step may put following passengers at risk.

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the city’s public transport operator, had installed signs asking passengers not to take photographs or videos while travelling on the escalator. The practice requires users to turn around near the final moving step to capture the view of the Nativity Façade, and some place a phone on an escalator step before retrieving it.

“Risk of entrapment.”

That was the warning displayed by TMB at the station, as reported by 3CatInfo on 29 March 2024, in an article updated on 31 March 2024.

Signs and intermittent closures have not ended filming

Reporting by El Periódico says the trend has resumed despite the signs and intermittent shutdowns of the escalators. It described dozens of visitors an hour pausing in the station concourse, preparing for the shot and turning as they reach the surface.

During the Easter holiday period in 2024, 3CatInfo reported that the escalators had been stopped one Friday afternoon. Passengers then had to use the stairs or the lift, while social-media users complained that filming was causing congestion at the exit.

What passengers should do at the Mallorca and Marina exit

  • Keep moving when leaving the escalator and follow TMB’s safety signs.
  • Do not film, take photographs or place a phone on the moving steps.
  • Use the stairs or lift if the escalators are not operating.

The view used in the videos is available at the station exit on the Mallorca and Marina junction, where the basilica appears behind passengers as they reach street level.

Reported by Source Text Link, 3CatInfo, Carles Cols, Jordi Subirana, David León Himelfarb, Serena Tara, rac1.cat, Anna Cabeza, Danielle Canagasuriam, Mónica Millán Valera, Liv Kelly, lavanguardia.com, Marina León Manovel, Manu Mitru, Regió 7.