938 350 005, 
aeridemontserrat.com. Departures around every 15min, Mar–Oct daily 9.40am–7pm; Nov–Feb daily 10.10am–5.45pm, weekends and hols 9.40am–6.15pm.The mountain of Montserrat, with its rock crags, vast monastery and hermitage caves, stands just 40km northwest of Barcelona. It’s the most popular day-trip from the city, reached in around ninety minutes by train and then cable car or rack railway for a thrilling ride up to the monastery. Once there, you can visit the basilica and monastery buildings and complete your day with a walk around the woods and crags, using the two funicular railways that depart from the complex. There are cafés and restaurants at the monastery, but they are relatively pricey and none too inspiring – you may wish to take a picnic instead.
Montserrat Aeri 938 350 005, aeridemontserrat.com. Departures around every 15min, Mar–Oct daily 9.40am–7pm; Nov–Feb daily 10.10am–5.45pm, weekends and hols 9.40am–6.15pm.
For the cable car service, get off the train from Barcelona at Montserrat Aeri station (52min). You may have to wait in line fifteen minutes or so, but then it’s only a five-minute swoop up the sheer mountainside to a terrace just below the monastery – probably the most exhilarating ride in Catalunya. Returning to Barcelona, the line R5 trains depart hourly from Montserrat Aeri (from 9.37am).
Monistrol de Montserrat 932 051 515, cremallerademontserrat.com. Departures every hour, daily 8.48am–5.38/7.38pm (later services at weekends Apr–Oct, plus daily Jul–Sep).
The alternative approach to the monastery is by the Montserrat rack railway, which departs from Monistrol de Montserrat station (the next stop after Montserrat Aeri, another 4min), and takes twenty minutes to complete the climb. The original rack railway on Montserrat ran between 1892 and 1957, and this modern replacement re-creates the majestic engineering that allows the train to climb 550m in 4km. Returning to Barcelona, the line R5 trains depart at least hourly from Monistrol de Montserrat (from 9.21am).
Visitor centre 938 777 701, montserratvisita.com. Daily 9am–5.30pm (Sat, Sun & July–Sept until 6.45pm). Walking maps and accommodation advice available.
Monestir de Montserrat
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Legends hang easily upon the monastery of Montserrat. Fifty years after the birth of Christ, St Peter is said to have deposited an image of the Virgin (known as La Moreneta), carved by St Luke, in one of the mountain caves. The icon was lost in the early eighth century after being hidden during the Moorish invasion, but reappeared in 880, accompanied by the customary visions and celestial music. A chapel was built to house it, and in 976 this was superseded by a Benedictine monastery, set at an altitude of nearly 1000m. Miracles abounded and the Virgin of Montserrat soon became the chief cult image of Catalunya and a pilgrimage centre second in Spain only to Santiago de Compostela – the main pilgrimages to Montserrat take place on April 27 and September 8.
Getting to Montserrat
To reach the Montserrat cable car/rack railway stations, take the FGC train (line R5, direction Manresa), which leaves daily from Plaça d’Espanya (
Espanya) at hourly intervals from 8.36am. All fare options are detailed at Plaça d’Espanya, including return through-tickets from Barcelona (around €20) either for the train/cable car or train/rack railway. There are also two combination tickets available: the Trans Montserrat (€27.50), which includes all transport services, including unlimited use of the mountain funiculars, and the audiovisual show; and the Tot Montserrat (€43.70), which includes the same, plus monastery museum and a cafeteria lunch. Both tickets are also available at the Plaça de Catalunya tourist office.
The monastery’s various outbuildings – including hotel, post office, souvenir shop and bar – fan out around an open square, and there are extraordinary mountain views from the terrace. The best restaurant is inside the Hotel Abat Cisneros (meals around €40), though the finest views are from the cliff-edge Restaurant de Montserrat (around €25) – the self-service cafeteria, one floor up, is where you eat with the all-inclusive Tot Montserrat ticket.
Basílica daily 7.30am–8pm. Access to La Moreneta 8–10.30am & noon–6.30pm (mid-July to Sept also 7.30–8pm). Free.
Of the religious buildings, only the Renaissance basilica, dating largely from 1560 to 1592, is open to the public. La Moreneta stands above the high altar – reached from behind, by way of an entrance to the right of the basilica’s main entrance. The approach to this beautiful icon reveals the enormous wealth of the monastery, as you queue along a corridor leading through the back of the basilica’s rich side-chapels. Signs at head height command “SILENCE” in various languages, but nothing quietens the line which waits to kiss the image’s hands and feet.
The best time to be here is when Montserrat’s world-famous boys’ choir sings (Mon–Fri 1pm, Sun noon; performance times may vary during school holidays at Christmas/New Year and from late June to mid-Aug). The boys belong to the Escolania, a choral school established in the thirteenth century and unchanged in musical style since its foundation.
938 777 745, museudemontserrat.com. Daily 10am–5.45pm, summer and weekends 10am–6.45pm. €7.
The monastery museum presents a few archeological finds brought back by travelling monks, together with valuable painting and sculpture dating from the thirteenth century onwards, including works by Old Masters, French Impressionists and Catalan modernistas. There’s also a collection of Byzantine icons, though other religious items are in surprisingly short supply, as most of the monastery’s valuables were carried off by Napoleon’s troops who sacked the complex in 1811. For more on the history, and to learn something of the life of a Benedictine community, visit the Espai Audiovisual (Mon–Fri 9am–5.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6.45pm; €5), near the information office.
Basílica, Monestir de Montserrat
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Funicular, Montserrat
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Funicular departures vary by season, but mostly every 20min, daily 10am–6pm, weekends only Oct–March. Santa Cova €3.50 return, Sant Joan €9 return, combination ticket €10.
Following the mountain tracks to the caves and hermitages, you can contemplate Goethe's observation of 1816: “Nowhere but in his own Montserrat will a man find happiness and peace.” The going is pretty good on all the tracks and the signposting is clear, but you do need to remember that you are on a mountain. Take water if you’re hiking far and keep away from the edges.
Two separate funiculars run from points close to the cable car station. One drops to the path for Santa Cova, a seventeenth-century chapel built where the Moreneta icon is said to have been found. It’s an easy walk of less than an hour there and back. The other funicular rises steeply to the hermitage of Sant Joan, from where it’s a tougher 45 minutes’ walk to the Sant Jeroni hermitage, and another 15 minutes to the Sant Jeroni summit at 1236m. Several other walks are also possible from the Sant Joan funicular, perhaps the nicest being the 45-minute circuit around the ridge that leads all the way back down to the monastery.