Best trip to Montserrat

You can go to Montserrat on your own. You can buy a combo ticket (including transportation) at the Placa Espanya rail station (it's underground, as I recall). You'll need to choose between making the last part of the trip by rack railway or cable car. This is one source of information:

https://www.montserrat-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/barcelona-to-montserrat-train.html

Agree… just take the train from Plaça España to the Aeri Montserrat station, ride the gondola up, enjoy your visit, take the cog loco back down and return via the train to Barcelona

Enjoy your own pace

I agree doing it on your own will let you do exactly what you want when you want. But if you want someone to do all the planning for you or maybe want to add something else, I used this company last year. https://weareworldexperience.com/barcelona/premium-small-group-tours/bcn-premium-montserrat-monastery-and-lunch/
My friend and I did a version with this company that included horseback riding in a place you simply can’t book on your own and it was pretty phenomenal. As a result we definitely had less time at Montserrat than I would have liked, but it was a tradeoff for an additional experience.

All depends on what you are looking for.

I wrote this a while ago, but it's still valid, see if it helps: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/a-visit-to-montserrat-the-holy-mountain-near-barcelona-in-catalonia

Do it on your own and GO EARLY. We took the train from Plaza Espana and got to Monserrat before the tourist hordes came. It was great.

Enric, that's a really great article. Nice job.

I'd suggest one edit..

Problem: The train back to Barcelona often gets crowded in the late afternoon as everyone heads back at the same time. This means you might not be able to sit together with your family or even get a seat at all for the first part of the journey until people filter off the train.

Solution: Since the train back to Barcelona stops first at the Cog Loco station, those folks get on the train before the Gondola station folks. So my advice is to Take the Gondola up in the morning and take the Cog Loco back down in the afternoon.

I think the combo ticket sold at Placa Espanya covers round-trip transportation using the same method in both directions. I don't know whether there's an alternative ticket you can buy that would allow you to use different transportation methods of the last leg of the trip without buying a second ticket. Then again, the extra ticket might not cost much.

I think the combo ticket sold at Placa Espanya covers round-trip transportation using the same method in both directions. I don't know whether there's an alternative ticket you can buy that would allow you to use different transportation methods of the last leg of the trip without buying a second ticket. Then again, the extra ticket might not cost much.

No, I don’t think so either. There’s lots of ways to chop up the purchase. I’m not sure how much a combo ticket saves you.

Depending on your combo ticket, the cog rail is included free. But anyways, a cog rail ticket is only €4. That’s worth getting a seat in the train even if you’ve already bought round trip combo ticket.

Since the train back to Barcelona stops first at the Cog Loco station, those folks get on the train before the Gondola station folks. So my advice is to Take the Gondola up in the morning and take the Cog Loco back down in the afternoon.

A bit lost here @Chris, what the heck is the "Cog Loco station"? and the "Gondola station"? I am not following you :))... maybe there's a bit of 'lost in translation' here. The stations are either Aeri de Montserrat (for the cable car) or Monistrol de Montserrat (for the rack train).

Also, know that @acraven is right in her sentence:

The combo ticket sold at Placa Espanya covers round-trip transportation using the same method in both directions

Obviously, one can purchase separate tickets instead of the combo, and then you can indeed choose to ascend using one method and descend using the other, thus ending up at different train stations... but it's more expensive this way.

The combo ticket, called Transmontserrat, costs 45€ (as of nov23) and includes:

• Round trip metro ticket from Barcelona to Montserrat (plaça Espanya).
• Round trip train ticket from Barcelona to Monistrol de Montserrat or Aeri de Montserrat cable car.
• Round trip ticket on the Cremallera or Montserrat cable car.
• Unlimited use of the Sant Joan. Santa Cova funicular included if it's working.
• Admission to the shrine of the Virgin and basilica.
• Entrance to the audiovisual exhibit "Montserrat behind closed doors".

As per 'getting crowded'... that might well be, albeit I've never experienced it -I mean, full yes, packed no- but again, maybe I've been lucky when I've used this line. If fellow visitors want to play it safe, and still purchase a Transmontserrat travel card, perhaps it's best to choose ascending and descending via the rack train since, on your way back to Barcelona, it departs from the 'first' (farthest) station (Monistrol de Montserrat) while the visitors descending via the cable car will arrive to the 'second' station (Aeri de Montserrat). It's more likely you'll be able to sit if catching the train at the first station.

They’re just synonyms. Gondola is just another word for an enclosed ski lift like the Aeri . A “cog loco” and a “rack rail” are the same thing. A cog loco has a drive gear in the bottom that fits the teeth in on a rack rail. The Cremallera is a cog loco.

The other advantage of taking one method up and the other down, is just that you get to experience both things.

As to crowds on the train back…In our car, a few people had to stand until daily commuters filtered off as we approached the outskirts of Barcelona. This was middle May