Best trips on Get my guide to cover Montserrat - Monastery, Black Madonna and Cogswheel train and the Funicular. Are the guided ones a must do? Thanks!
Posted by
Walnut Creek, CA
704 posts
Guided bus tours are never a must do, especially to Montserrat Monastery. Also, some of those bus tours are just transportation and then they let you wander by yourself for 2 hours, then back on the bus.
Assuming you can get yourself to the Plaça Espanya train station and If you are comfortable buying your own train tickets and walking from the train platform at Monistrol de Montserrat to the rack railway, I recommend doing it yourself. That's what we did. By doing it yourself, you can spend as much time there as you want, including any short hikes after taking the Funicular de Sant Joan to the top. We spent over 4 hours there, so with the transport time, it was an all day affair.
Here is a website that explains how to DIY:
https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/train-journey-barcelona-to-montserrat.html
Posted by
Ohio
106 posts
We did a day trip to Montserrat on our own many years ago when we were newbies to traveling in Europe and it’s one of our best days ever. We took a picnic and enjoyed it while doing some hiking. It would have been stressful to have to be back on a bus at a certain time. Instead we had a relaxing day at a very interesting place.
Posted by
Barcelona (Catalonia)
3181 posts
Old post of mine, perfectly valid still: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/a-visit-to-montserrat-the-holy-mountain-near-barcelona-in-catalonia
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10993 posts
One of my regrets was going on an organized tour to Montserrat. My bff was visiting Barcelona from the States, so we took the train from France to meet them. Her husband wanted to do a bus tour to Montserrat because a farm lunch was included. In my opinion, we skimmed the surface of Montserrat; my biggest memory is buying a bottle of the liquor made there. The farmhouse lunch was forgettable.
DIY and the journey up and around there becomes part of the experience.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Thank you for your tips!
Posted by
Jacksonville, Florida
137 posts
We did a self-guided trip to Montserrat a year ago. We enjoyed it tremendously.
Personally, I don't like guided tours anyway. I don't like having to follow anyone around. I prefer the freedom of a self-guided trip, where when I reach a corner, turning left, right or going straight is my decision.