When I was putting a piece together about awesome day hikes in Europe, hiking Montserrat was one of the contributions. I feel like Montserrat is one of those places I’ve heard of before, but had no idea where it was.
On closer inspection, this became a must do given I’d be spending a full month in Barcelona.
After a night of partying on Sant Joan I met an Irish lad, Steve, who was keen to explore the Montserrat hiking trails too. He found a useful link about all the details of getting to Montserrat from Barcelona with pricing etc.
It took roughly 90 minutes from Barcelona to the start of the hiking trails all up.
Quick tip: you might want to consider proximity to Espanya Station (the station that goes to Montserrat) when choosing where to stay in Barcelona.
The cable car has some epic views to get you started!
When we arrived, I was instantly taken back to Siberia and their impressive stolbys as we trundled up the in the cable car. You could walk, but your time is better spent hiking up on top of Montserrat. You could also take the funicular to the top, but I talked to an American couple who said there was no wow factor involved with that (and it’s more expensive).
Pro Tip: Take a photo of cable car timetable when you get off the train.
Instant reminders of Stolby National Park in Siberia
When we got to the top, I certainly didn’t expect a whole village, complete with a small (high prices) supermarket. Without much prior research other than getting there and knowing we had one peak, Sant Jeroni, that was a must visit, it was quite overwhelming.
Quick Facts About Montserrat:
1.Massive religous site
2. Sant Jeroni evelation: 1236 metres
3. The Montserrat library has over 300,000 books inside
4. Montserrat means “Jagged or serrated mountain”
5. If you want more gritty history info, check out this post from Barcelona-Life
6. There are some highly rated day tours to Montserrat you can book online
We decided we’d spend more or less the whole day hiking so set off on a bit of a loop. It didn’t take long until we realised we’d made a bad turn and found ourselves walking back down towards the cable car (Yay for Maps.me).
One of the views early on. The epicness starts right away
By this stage, we had noticed a few rock climbers on the fairy castles. Wholly shit that rock climbing looked epic. I’m not sure on how to do this, but if you’re into rock climbing at all, put some research into this.
Classic tourist pose
Now that we were back on track, I noticed the usual human trait was true. Most people are lazy and are happy enough staying on the predefined tourist trail or taking a half day tour focused on the sites. We felt like we were the only ones on the mountain with no noise or humans in sight. This certainly wasn’t true as we got back on the tourist path a couple hours later.
We beelined for one of the peaks that had ant-like humans on top.
A selfie with the PIxter Fisheye lens from the lunch spot
After a quick lunch break, with a view, we headed towards the most popular hiking spot, Sant Jeroni.
If this is all you want to do, the trail to Sant Jeroni is around 3-4 hours return for the most casual of hikers (you can do it a lot faster). The peak is pretty awesome with 360-degree views of the fairy castles & the flat land surrounded Montserrat.
Panoramic views of Montserrat and the surrounds
It was time to head back, we wondered on back and after a little walk around the village we were back on the train to hit up a pub crawl in Barcelona.
The village
What To Pack For Montserrat
One of the views from Sant Jeroni
It’s just a day trip really (you could stay out overnight I suppose), so just bring plenty of water and some snacks/trail food. There are plenty of places serving food in the village, though I’m guessing it’s like the supermarket and a bit expensive.
Another Must Visit Attraction In Montserrat
We missed out on the stairway to heaven! I never knew this existed until seeing it somewhere on Instagram a few days after the fact. It’s close to the top of the cable cart too. Damn, would have been a sweet photo. #FirstWorldProblems
Is Montserrat Worth Visiting?
The answer is yes.
Heck yea! I’m just a lover for a good day hike, but I can see why Natasha decided this was not just one of the best hikes near Barcelona, but all of Europe.
If you have two days in Barcelona, stick to exploring the city. If you’ve got three full days or more, I have started recommending this Barcelona day trip to Montserrat.
How To Get To Montserrat From Barcelona
Can’t get enough of Montserrat!
As mentioned, follow all the details here and an awesome day of hiking near Barcelona awaits.
IF YOU PREFER ADVANCED PLANS: BOOK YOUR TRAIN AND MUSEUM TICKETS ONLINE
Hiking Montserrat lived up to my expectations! I highly recommend you put this on your Spain bucket list.
More Posts About Barcelona:
- The Human Towers In Barcelona
- A Sports Fans Guide To Barcelona
- Is Barcelona Worth It?
- Visiting Camp Nou For The Tour
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Hey Jub,
Great blog bud! I am celebrating my 50th birthday and wanting to plan a 3 day hike with a few friends (all older than me). I was wondering would you recommend extending the hike up Montserrat to two or three days?
Thanks,
Mark
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the kind words. I would say two days would be more than enough time for your crew 🙂
Congrats on reaching the half century!
Cheers,
Jub
Really interesting post about Montserrat. I went hiking to Sant Jeroni ,the top of Sant Jeroni, a really beautiful hike also in Montserrat!!
that would have been stunning! love it so much
Cheers for reading Andres