In Vilanova i la Geltrú now. Thanks to everyone’s previous advice ....... sightseeing and travel has been wonderful. Would like to go to Montserrat tomorrow but not finding consistency on how to get there. I feel like I read something( can’t find link again) about taking Rodalie and not having to go back into Barcelona and travel to metro to the line that takes you to Montserrat. I think it said there is a stop south of Barcelona and it made it sound like you can transfer directly to line that takes you to Montserrat. Can anybody confirm this? Otherwise is our best option to get to Barcelona and get to Plaça d’espanya? If so which stop is closest when we travel from ViG? Lastly can anyone provide a brief itinerary once at Montserrat. Is there a particular order to see the sights the most efficiently? Are the all inclusive train tickets the best route to go? Did I read correctly that taking the rack train back down will get us on the train back to Barcelona before the cable car does? Thank you. Doing detailed research for our trip tomorrow so any suggestions are welcomed
Posted by
Barcelona (Catalonia)
3071 posts
No, you want to go to Barcelona. IMHO from Vilanova is the best and fastest way moreover if you take one of the commuting trains that skips some stations along the way. So, a Rodalies train to Sants, then metro (green line L3) to Pl Espanya (2 stations away) -or walk, it's barely 15' (http://bit.ly/2J0fFyU), or just walking down Tarragona St. Once there look for this sign -that's the train station of the FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya), which is the train line which will take you to Montserrat. Buy the TransMonserrat combined ticket there.
Easy peasy.
No, to the racktrain/cablecar question.... both end up IN THE SAME train line, one at Monistrol de Montserrat station and the other at the next station so you'll end up taking the same exact train. In any case, it's a commuting line, so there are plenty of trains. What you might have read is that the cable car journey down takes 5' and the rack train a bit more... but it's negligible!
Remember that when purchasing the combined ticket mentioned above, you'll have to choose which way you want to ascend/descend from Montserrat, either by cable car or by rack train and then, depending on your choice, you'll need to get off the train in one station or the next. It's not possible, with this combined ticket, to mix cable car and rack train.
For info on what to do in Montserrat, read this old post of mine: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/a-visit-to-montserrat-the-holy-mountain-near-barcelona-in-catalonia
Posted by
OP
22 posts
Thank you....... especially appreciate the visual of the sign to look for!
Posted by
Barcelona
64 posts
If you catch a stopping commuter train, get off at Bellvitge and change there to FGC railways Gornal station. Note you must look at the timetables and get it right, that is a bit hard.