While there’s a lot to see in Barcelona, Spain there’s also a lot to do outside this beautiful city. We were only in Barcelona for three days and decided to spend one of those three days visiting the famous monastery of Montserrat, known as Santa Maria de Montserrat.
There are various ways to get to Montserrat, you can take a train from Barcelona, drive a car, hike up the steep hills (as pilgrims have done for centuries), or take a tour. We decided to take the easy route by joining a day-tour from Barcelona. We made our reservation at a tour kiosk on the beautiful Las Ramblas street in Barcelona. The tour bus drove us up to the head of the valley right below Montserrat and then we took a steep train ride (Cremallera Rack Railway) the rest of the way up the mountain.
On the return, our tour bus met us at the bus parking area next to the Monastery and we drove all the way back down to Barcelona. The bus ride was about one hour each way. I think we had about 3 1/2 hours to visit the monastery, which was enough time to visit the Basilica where the Black Madonna is housed, visit the various shops, walk up to the St. Michael’s Cross overlook/viewpoint (fairly steep but paved most of the way), take the Sant Joan funicular (super steep!) behind the monastery to a spectacular viewpoint and access point for the hiking trails high above the monastery, and to be back to the Basilica in time enough to get in line to (hopefully) see the Boys Choir perform. Reservations are now required to see the Boys Choir and our tour did not include those reservations – our tour guide warned us of that fact when we got on the bus. However, we waited in a line in front of the Basilica shortly before the afternoon performance and we were able to get in and find seats at the last minute.
One of the best features of the monastery is its striking setting in the Montserrat mountains. It was originally founded in 1025, and I can see why it was founded here – a protected site that is not easy to get to and pretty easy to defend! The Monastery has a long and famous history, it’s been a pilgrimage site for a thousand years because of the Black Madonna, housed prominently in the Basilica.
More about Montserrat’s history can be found here. In addition to a day trip, you can stay overnight at the hotel on the Monastery’s grounds if you wish.
Montserrat Monastery is home to one of the oldest boys’ choirs and music schools in Europe, dating back to the 14th century. It’s called Escolania de Montserrat. More information on the choir can be found here. We were so glad that we were able to see them perform. We visited in October and they were doing a couple of performances that day, and luckily we were able to get into the Basilica for their afternoon performance, in perfect timing with our tour visit.
Sant Joan Funicular
You can buy a ticket to take the steep funicular ride up the hill behind the Monastery. I highly recommend this if you have time. The views are incredible, and you can hike all around the tops of these mountains.
St. Michael’s Cross Viewpoint
Visiting Santa Maria de Montserrat is a great way to spend a day in the Barcelona region. If time allows, definitely make the visit!