Montserrat Day Trips from Barcelona

To the northwest of Barcelona, shortly after leaving the city behind, you can see the Montserrat massif. Hidden among the gigantic rocks and its abrupt relief is one of the most important places of worship in the region, the Monastery of Montserrat.

An ideal option

Montserrat Monastery Day Trip from Barcelona

Enjoy a 4 and a half hour excursion to Montserrat

This excursion includes the round trip transfer, the rack railway ticket and also access to the Monastery of Montserrat, all accompanied by a professional guide. All accompanied by a professional guide. Are you up for it?

From $62 at Hellotickets

With this excursion to the Monastery of Montserrat, which lasts about 4 hours and a half, you can go comfortably from Barcelona with a professional guide who will tell you all the details of the visit. In addition, you will have access to the interior of the Monastery, taste the liqueurs made by the monks and see the wood carving of Our Lady of Montserrat.

Recommended if... You are going to spend several days in Barcelona and want to know one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in Spain.

The most complete option

Montserrat Monastery Day Trip from Barcelona with Wine Tour

Visit the Monastery of Montserrat on this day trip and taste the wines of the area.

This excursion to the Monastery of Montserrat from Barcelona includes round-trip transfers by air-conditioned bus, as well as the accompaniment of a professional guide and a visit to a winery located in a 10th century castle.

From $87 at Hellotickets

With this excursion to the Monastery of Montserrat with a visit to a winery you can enjoy a different plan in your trip to Barcelona and discover the beautiful Monastery of Montserrat in an excursion of approximately 7 hours. Included is the round trip transfer by air-conditioned bus, the visit to the Monastery and also the visit to a winery located in a 10th century castle where you will taste a really authentic wine and try some snacks.

A tour guide will accompany you during the tour and will explain the inside of the Monastery. But you will also have free time to wander around the village, an ideal plan for your trip to Barcelona!

Recommended if... You are looking for the most complete experience possible.

Taking a trip to Montserrat from Barcelona is a perfect way to leave the tourist bustle of the city and I assure you that the monastery has an environment that is worth visiting.

• Excursion to the Monastery of Montserrat from Barcelona - from $62
• Excursion to Montserrat Monastery from Barcelona with a visit to a winery - from $87.

For a more complete visit to Montserrat, I recommend taking the guided excursion to Montserrat from Barcelona. In this experience you go by air-conditioned bus to the foot of the mountain, where you take the rack railway to the top of the mountain, with spectacular views along the way. Upon arrival, your specialized guide tells you about the history of Montserrat and you see how erosion has created the unique rock formations, while you enjoy the views of Barcelona from the top.

Afterwards, you are taken to discover the Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, next to the monastery, where the famous Moreneta, a wooden carving of the Virgin of Montserrat, is located. You will be able to explore the area at your leisure and you will be offered liqueurs of the region to taste.

• Duration: 4 hours 30 minutes
• Recommended: If you want to enjoy the full Montserrat experience with a guide who will tell you the history of everything you see on the tour.

If in addition to visiting the Monastery of Montserrat for a little more money you want to take advantage of the full day to get to know part of the winemaking tradition of the area, you have this other option of the guided excursion to Montserrat from Barcelona with a visit to a winery.

In a tour inside the Monastery with the historical explanations of a specialized guide, this route takes you through the beautiful village in which this enclave is located. To, in turn, enjoy a guided visit to an authentic winery.

During this excursion you will have the opportunity to taste three of the wines from the harvest of this winery located in a castle dating from the tenth century. And the tasting will be accompanied by a tasting of typical tapas and appetizers.

• Duration: 7 hours
• Recommended: If you do not want to miss the typical wines of the area while you know the beautiful village that hosts the Monastery of Montserrat.

In case you like to organize your own excursion and explore at your own pace, you can choose a transfer to Montserrat from Barcelona, which will leave early in the morning and pick you up approximately five hours later.

This is the most basic option to visit Montserrat, but you can add a museum ticket or join a small group tour if you like. Either way, it is a good option to visit Montserrat without having to worry about arranging transportation, which can be difficult without a rental car if you are visiting Barcelona on vacation.

• Duration: 5 hours
• Recommended: If you prefer to organize the excursion to Montserrat on your own and do not want to be part of a group tour.

This experience is more focused on walking through a part of the natural park of Montserrat, which extends beyond the monastery and the mountain. You start the day by visiting the Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat to see the Moreneta, and then take the San Juan funicular up to the route where the hiking begins in the company of an expert guide as you discover the fauna and flora of the area.

I recommend that you do this excursion if you are interested in a combination of sightseeing and a day in the mountains. Although the route will not be enough for you if you go to the mountain a lot, it is a good way to explore Montserrat away from the more touristy area.

• Duration: 5 hours 30 minutes
• Recommended: If you can't resist a walk in the mountains or if you want to do an excursion to Montserrat in a small group.

This complete excursion to Montserrat with tour of Barcelona and Montjuïc has it all included: a tour of the main sights of Barcelona, a cable car excursion to Montjuïc, Barcelona's mountain, and a complete excursion to Montserrat with a visit to the Moreneta.

The great advantage of this experience is that you will see almost everything that Barcelona and its surroundings have to offer in a single day, for a price that will definitely be worth it if you were planning to do each visit separately. These types of tours are usually ideal for when you have just arrived in the city as they give you a complete overview of everything you can visit, and you can explore on your own the places you liked the most at another time during your trip.

• Duration: 10 hours 45 minutes
• Recommended: If you are going to be in Barcelona for a short time or if you were planning to do each visit included in the experience separately.

Take note of all there is to see in Montserrat, as for its historical and religious importance it is more than just a mountain and worth exploring in depth.

• Monastery of Montserrat: The Benedictine Abbey located at the top of Montserrat was built in the 11th century using an old hermitage as a base. Dedicated to the cult of the Virgin of Montserrat since its earliest days, the Monastery of Montserrat is today one of the few churches in Spain where the choir choir, one of the oldest children's choirs in Europe, performs. If you are lucky, you will be able to listen to the choir during the singing and witness a spectacle that gives a unique aura to the monastery and the mountain.
• Museu de Montserrat:: This is the museum of the Monastery of Montserrat, which houses works of art by Caravaggio, El Greco, Brueghel the Elder, and Pedro Berruguete, as well as a collection of 19th and 20th century art with paintings by Dalí, Picasso, Olga Sacharoff, Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, and Fortuny. I recommend that you do not miss the museum as its collection is quite interesting and will certainly enrich your trip.
• La Moreneta: The Virgin of Montserrat is popularly known as La Moreneta, and is a carving made in the twelfth century in dark wood (hence its name). According to legend, the Virgin appeared to some shepherds in the year 880 and as a result the cult of the Virgin of Montserrat began in the hermitage before the construction of the monastery.
• Cross of Sant Miquel: The Cross of Sant Miquel is located in a viewpoint at the end of a path that starts near the Monastery of Montserrat. From there, there are beautiful views of the Pyrenees, the Llobregat delta and in my opinion the most impressive thing is to see the whole set of religious buildings of Montserrat in its surroundings.

Here are some tips to make the most of your trip to Montserrat:

One day or several days?

It is possible to visit everything worth seeing in Montserrat in one day, in fact, most excursions to the mountain last half a day, around 4 or 5 hours. If you don't do any hiking and only visit the Monastery, I would even say that 2 or 3 hours is enough.

Montserrat rack railway

All excursions to Montserrat include tickets for the rack railway that climbs to the top of Montserrat (unless specifically indicated that they are not included). The train takes 15 minutes to travel up the mountainside and as you know the views along the way are spectacular, making the experience highly recommended.

The rack railway timetable varies depending on the time of year. The first trains leave around 8:30 am, and the last trains down are between 6:15 pm and 8:45 pm. If you are visiting Montserrat on your own, check the timetables on the official website to make sure.

Timetables of La Moreneta

The Monastery of Montserrat is open daily from 7:30 am to 8:00 pm, and you can visit La Moreneta from 8:00 am to 10:30 am and from 12:00 pm to 6:15 pm. Keep this in mind to get organized and visit the monastery early in the morning or from 12:00 noon onwards.

The Monastery of Montserrat is open every day of the week, so the only thing that might make you want to visit the mountain one day and not another is the fact that the children of the Escolania de Montserrat sing from Monday to Friday at 13:00. Also, from Monday to Thursday they sing the Salve Montserratina at 18:45.

For this reason and to avoid crowds on weekends, I recommend that you go up to Montserrat from Monday to Friday.

From January to December, the weather in Montserrat is pleasant and there is less rain. It is usually about 8 or 9 degrees in Montserrat, and if you are lucky to climb on a sunny day you will have spectacular views and a very pleasant temperate climate, between the coolness of the mountain and the warmth of the sun.

None of the excursions to Montserrat usually include food (if anything, a sandwich), so if you want to eat at Montserrat your options are to carry food in your backpack or book at one of the two restaurants near the monastery. Both the Abat Cisneros Restaurant and the Montserrat Restaurant have spectacular views from the top of the mountain, and the food, especially at the Hostal Abat Cisneros is great, although the menus are not exactly cheap (around 30€ per person).

In any case, keep in mind that most excursions end before lunchtime, so you can be back in Barcelona by lunchtime.

I would say that the only thing you really need is sunscreen, as there are few shady spots at the top of the mountain and you will appreciate not burning your face for the rest of your trip to Barcelona. I would also take a camera (especially if you are going to visit the Mirador de la Cruz de Sant Miquel) and comfortable shoes for walking on the mountain.

If you are considering a trip from Barcelona, in addition to this excursion to Montserrat there are a number of other places worth visiting from Barcelona. Here is a guide to Day Trips and Excursions from Barcelona

I also recommend that you find out about the excursion to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona, as Figueras is one of the places that is really worth visiting as it is so close. Especially if you visit the city with children or if you are passionate about the art of the Catalan genius, this experience will be something you will remember. I leave you here all the information: Figueres and Salvador Dalí Museum Day Trips from Barcelona.