Can you do Montserrat in half of a day?

Montserrat was one of the Barcelona-area sights I did not see in 2016 despite spending 10 nights in the city (and 3 more in Girona), so I cannot speak from the experience of having made that trip. It would make me nervous to go out of town when I needed to be back at El Prat by (I assume) 3:10 PM. I don't even know for sure that 3:10 will be early enough. I returned to the US from Barcelona in 2016, and I was in line at the airline check-in counter for almost a full hour.

I'm having issues with my computer at the moment and cannot get the Rome2Rio.com website to display properly. You can try using it to see whether there's a faster way from Montserrat to El Prat than going back to Barcelona. However, that would require you to cart your luggage around if there isn't some sort of left-luggage operation at Montserrat--which would surprise me, but who knows? You can try Googling that.

It sounds as if you are an experienced traveler and know that--though it will be difficult--you can actually accomplish something on your arrival day. I cannot function on Day 1, so everything you have on Thursday would be on Sunday for me. The tourist office has a good Barri Gotic walking tour; I don't know that it runs every day of the week.

Places not mentioned on your itinerary that I especially enjoyed include:

Sant Pau modernista site: Much less touristy than the spots you mention. Large. Requires at least 2 hours I think, and I wanted more.

Palau de la Musica Catalana: Another gorgeous building. Tour required; takes a bit less than an hour.

Casa Vicens: Newly opened Gaudi house. I haven't seen it, but photos look promising.

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya: Really interesting and large museum. In addition to paintings and sculptures, there's a modernism collection (furniture and decorative arts) and a lot of frescoes from churches in the Pyrenees.

The city has many other museums. A review of TripAdvisor's Things To Do List (or a good guidebook) will acquaint you with the options. Be aware that the Picasso Museum can be unbelievably packed. The Miro is much nicer to visit.

I spent almost a whole day at Montserrat. It does take a while to get there and return. It's a wonderful place, but I don't know that you will do it justice in a half day. Also, for me, I'd be nervous the whole time about missing a train, or some kind of transportation malfunction, etc.

I wouldn't attempt it....

• Montserrat is much more than the monastery itself and its museums, it's also (and very much!) about nature, strolling the paths to see the monuments and the views and seeing the other sites in the mountain... therefore, "half a day" is rather short, especially noting that the train journey from/to Barcelona to the base of the mountain takes already nearly an hour each way (then add to that the ascend to the mountain). Done it myself plenty of times and I'd say it's well worth investing "most of a day".
• There's no direct transportation between the airport and Montserrat. The train to/from Monserrat departs from Espanya station in Barcelona.
• In all, you'll be taking about six means of transportation that day (to Montserrat: train, then cable car or rack train to ascend, same to descend plus train back to Barcelona, bus/metro to the hotel/apt to pick up luggage, and finally either bus or train (or taxi) to the airport. I find it quite risky assuming an incident can't happen in one of them... even an accumulation of very small delays can add up to you missing your plane.
• Still, if interested, I wrote a detailed post about Montserrat: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/a-visit-to-montserrat-the-holy-mountain-near-barcelona-in-catalonia

Enjoy!

Is there something missing from my itinerary that you consider essential viewing?

I wouldn't know where to start.... tons you're missing, but again, your time is limited anyway.

Visiting Barcelona, no matter how long you assign to this visit, always involves "choosing" and being aware you'll just scratch the surface. The amount of things to do and see -beyond architecture I must say- is enormous.

For one, when planning, many do miss to check whether it's going to be any heritage festival during his/her visit. Catalonia -like other parts of Europe- has a very long history and heritage and lots of traditions. Many festivals are celebrated during the year in its towns and cities. In Barcelona, for example (and among many other), we have the Festes de Santa Eulalia and also Carnival in February, Easter in April, Sant Joan in June, Revolta de la Quinta of 1870 in Gràcia in June, Festes de Gràcia and Festes de Sants in August, La Mercè in September, Christmas celebrations as well (obviously)... but also in other main cities, Temps de Flors in Girona in May, and Sant Narcís in October, Santa Tecla in September in Tarragona, Festival d'Havaneres in June in Calella de Palafrugell... literally hundreds more, covering each town and city.

Then other festivals and gatherings, namely large musical events, sports competitions, art exhibitions, concerts... which would 'cater' the preferences of most visitors, no matter how excentric..

In short, and I'm not trying to brag (well, a little perhaps, lol!), aside from "buildings, museums and stones", there are lots more to do and see.

We spent half a day at Monserrat and saw all we wanted to including hiking. BUT, we had nothing going on in the evening. We missed our train at Monserrat and had to wait an hour for another train to go to the actual train station-at certain times trains don't run as often.

I would not even attempted to do this the last day-too many unknowns. Perhaps you could switch Parc Guell or Montjuic until Sunday and then do Monserrat on Saturday.

.... not the same, of course, one of Montserrat's appeals is the surroundings... but if a monastery is what you'd like to see, you could visit el Monestir de Pedralbes, which is "in" the city, in the northern part, hence reachable by bus.

Enjoy!

I think you can do this in half (or three-quarters) of a day. But, personally, I wouldn't. For me, the best thing about going to the buildings part was the journey there and the walks nearby. Montserrat, wasn't hugely interesting in itself. And so far as "buildings on a hill" go, you will see a massively better version when you get to Granada!

Again personally, I don't think you have allowed enough time for Barcelona and, I suspect, when you get there you will find you spend longer visiting places near & wandering around the sights you name and will use day 4 to "catch up".

And the match is an evening one, so you might want to stay out that night celebrating Sevilla's victory rather than have to get up early on Sunday.

Hello again,

Thank you all for the helpful, informative responses.

I think it’s best if I save Montserrat for a Catalonia-centric trip for the future. I simply underestimated how many incredible there are to see in this part of the world. I’d love to return one day to visit Montserrat, Girona, Cadaques and more.

I’ll most likely use that final half-day taking a tour of Palau de la Musica Catalana, which I’ve heard is essential viewing.

If Sevilla does manage to pull off an upset at the Camp Nou, I doubt many Barcelona fans will be in the mood to celebrate! I know Barcelona has been struggling, but Sevilla winning would be quite the upset ;)