Friend and I have rebooked our do-over trip to Spain, the first having been crushed to smithereens by COVID in March 2020.

I very much want to visit Monserrat and am trying to work out the logistics.

It looks as if one can book a tour that basically includes bus transport and English commentary, or one can book the TransMonserrat Card, an all-included transportation card which covers train from Barcelona, cog wheel, and unlimited use of the funicular, which isn't included in the tour with bus transport.

I'm leaning towards the latter, but will need to take a look at train times, etc.

How much time does one need at Montserrat? How extensive are the hiking trails at the top? Is this something I need to book well in advance, or is it possible to wait and see what the weather will be like a few days out?

Below a link to our visit in Montserrat in 2015. We took an early train to Aeri de Montserrat. Since our time in Barcelona was running out we only spent the morning here. You could easily do a few more hours after the abbey by taking a hike. There's also a funicular up, however it was not running the day we went. Personally, I'd go with Option 2 on your own.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/cha...rrat-montjuic/

Thanks Tom, that helps.

I would definitely take the train and funicular but I am not sure if getting that card saves you any money. What time of year are you going?

There is a lot to do up there - a very good art museum, an interactive exhibit, visit to the monastery, walking around.. and hiking if you are into that sort of thing. If you have a bit of flexibility, you could consider staying overnight which is a completely different experience. I love it up there after all the people go away and I love getting up to see the sunrise and you can visit the black Madonna in the morning with no other people, which is pretty fantastic. The famous boys choir also sings in the evening to a much smaller crowd than during the day (except Fridays and Saturdays, I think.)

If you do not want to stay overnight you can still visit later in the day and miss the giant bus tours. I would avoid being on one of those big buses going up the mountain, it totally takes away from the special energy of the mountain, IMO.

We're going end of October. I'll compare price of card to point-to-point. Thanks for the tip on the Boy's choir.

End of October is not high season. I don’t think you need to reserve ahead for that period.

We went last November. We took the train from Barcelona and then rode the funicular to the top. A day there was good for us. Note that the train leaves from the Espana Station. We mistakenly went to the other train station first. Oops. It wasn't busy at all in November and we booked our tickets day of.

Thank you

another one who went on the train and the funicular. we spent a day there .Did the walk around to the cave to see where all the people had prayed to the madonna , queued for the Black Madonna, listened to the choir , bought a great Cd of its music. we were there in January -busy but not too crowded.