Is this a worthwhile day trip from Barcelona??

Yes.

It has got religion, and a cable-car, and spectacular views, and rack-and-pinion railways. Easily doable on the train for a long half-day from Barcelona.

I very much enjoyed this part of my trip to Barcelona a few years back. The views are beuatiful and the cable car is a fun ride...

Google the website .to see what time the Choir sings.

Twas a highlight of my Barcelona trip a few years back

even the long wait to glimpse the venerated Black Madonna was worth it

and the monks there brew up some potent booze they sell in the souvenir shop

Definitely, we spent the night and left reluctantly the next morning. Enjoy.

If your able, hike all the way to the top.

...once you get up to the monastery. Not the whole mountain, that would be some hike.

we will be in Barcelona next month and are trying to figure out how to schedule out Montserrat. Is it pretty much a full day excursion? Does anyone have a recommended timetable for this sidetrip?

It's about an hour all told from Barcelona each way and once there a few hours - though you may have to wait in long lines, esp on weekends if you want to glimpse the holy Black Madonna - why pilgrims flock here

otherwise there is a path of the Cross, etc but not much else to do - you will need a good half day but not much more IMO

Suburban trains take you from Barcelona to the mountain climbing train station that swoops you up to the pinnacle top shrine

I'd certainly schedule your trip so that you can hear the choir.

Is it better to go on a "package" or just buy a ticket to go?

I'll be there end of next month on my own and did some reading on how to go etc but would appreciate some invaluable advice from travellers!

ps: I'm on budget!

Some guidebooks will tell you NOT to go on an organized tour.

You can reach it through a combination of Barcelona Metro and suburban rail links (to the cable car station)...if you go that route make sure you know where to change from the Metro to the rail line.

Definitely worth the trip;there is also a small art museum at the monastery you may find interesting. I wasn't all that impressed with the Black Madonna but overall gld we made the trip.

Just last week I did a tour with the Bus Turistic that included Torres Winery, Montserrat, and Sitges. They gave us 4 hours to explore Montserrat, which seemed a tad long for me, but we didn't wait in LONG line to see Madonna. While it is absolutely worth the visit, I'd wait until you're in Barcelona and check the weather forecast before you pick a day. Our day was chilly and drizzly. Fortunately we could still take the funicular up to hike around, but I think the views and pictures would have been much better on a clear day.

and that potent elixir the monks or nuns or whatever religious types who run the place produce and sell in the gift shop.

I was just reading up on Montserrat and we'd like to take a day trip here to. However, I am terrified of the funicular, how is the rack train? What is that like? I'm not even sure I know what that is. I'm just afraid the funicular is going to break on it's own or that something is going to come a long and break it while I'm in it, I know it's irrational, but I just have that fear. I don't think I would enjoy myself during the ride. I read this list and horrified myself, I know my husband will want to do it...I know it's not a terrible track record, but still enough to freak me out. Is the train a better idea for me?

August 15, 1960: between Castellammare di Stabia and the Monte Faito, near Naples, Italy.

August 29, 1961: A military plane splits the hauling cable of a cabin railway on the Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif: six people killed.

1963: Cabin of the renovated PKB crashes at the valley station, one person killed, several injured.

December 25, 1965: Power failure on the aerial ropeway at Puy de Sancy in central France causes abrupt cabin halt, cabin wall breaks. 17 people fall, seven killed.

July 9, 1966: A cable breaks on a cabin railway at Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif: three cabins fall, four people killed.

December 6, 1970: Five people killed at Merano, Italy.

July 13, 1972: 13 killed at the crash of a cab in Bettmeralp, Switzerland.

October 26, 1972: During a test at an aerial tramway at Les Deux Alpes in France, two cabs collide, nine people killed.

July 9, 1974: Hauling cable breaks on the aerial tramway at Ulriken, Norway. One cabin fell, four people killed.

March 9, 1976: In the Italian Dolomites at Cavalese, a cab falls after a rope break, killing 42. (See Cavalese cable-car disaster
(1976))

March 26, 1976: Damage to the carrying rope leads to crash of multiple cabs of the aerial tramway at Vail, Colorado, USA. Four people killed, five injured.

April 15, 1978: In a storm, two carrying ropes of the Squaw Valley Aerial Tramway in California fall from the aerial tramway support tower. One of the ropes partly destroys the cabin. four killed, 32 injured.

February 13, 1983: Two cabs collide in Champoluc, near Aosta (Italy), 11 dead.

January 13, 1989: Eight people killed during a test of the French aerial tramway Vaujany in the Alpe D'Huez area.

June 1, 1990: 15 people killed after a rope break in Tbilisi, Georgia.

1995: Operator error causes the cabin of Muttereralmbahn near Innsbruck, Austria, to crash. No casualties or injuries.

February 3, 1998: U.S. military aircraft severs the cable of an aerial ropeway in Cavalese, Italy, killing 20 people. (See Cavalese cable-car disaster)

July 1, 1999: 20 people killed at the crash of an aerial tramway at the Bure observatory in the French alps.

July 6, 2000: Entering the middle station of Nebelhornbahn, a cabin fails to brake. 23 people injured.

October 19, 2003: Four were killed and 11 injured when three cars slipped off the cable of the Darjeeling Ropeway.

October 9, 2004: Crash of a cabin of the Grünberg aerial tramway in Gmunden, Austria. Many hurt.

November 14, 2004: Empty cabin of tramway in Sölden, Austria, falls after becoming entangled with rope. No casualties, 113 people rescued from other cabins

April 18, 2006: New York's Roosevelt Island Tramway experiences a power failure, leaving 69 passengers in two trams stranded over the East River for approximately seven hours, just eight months after a similar incident in which trams were stranded for 90 minutes. No injuries or fatalities occurred in either incident.

October 31, 2007: The Flaine lift Les Grands Platieres or DMC broke down for six hours and was evacuated.

I am glad I didn't see that list before I went on it last month! I can be a big wimp, but it didn't frighten me at all, and I think its worth a visit. I was on an organized tour, and the bus dropped us off at the main train to get up the mountain. From the main part of Montserrat is where you can choose (and pay extra) to take a funicular up or down, but you can still visit the monastary and enjoy the views without getting on a funicular. We took the up option to hike around, and to me it felt like a train/elevator hybrid up the mountain.

the old conveyance from the Cernias train station was an aerial cable way but this was replaced i think by a rack railway - meaning not much off the ground if any i think - but i have not seen pictures of it

but no aerial cable way as the accidents you mention seem to be

and there are about 7 million stairs in case you want to walk up and down

>>>but no aerial cable way as the accidents you mention seem to be
<<<

I'm confused, there's no cable car? What about the funicular? Or did I just misunderstand you?

Absolutely go, but only if the weather is clear. We went in September of 2007 and it was clear in the morning, but by the time we got ready to leave, you couldn't see very far due to some fog that had rolled in. It was beautiful though.

It was so worth the trip for us. You would still have the late afternoon and evening in Barcelona...just check the return times of the train.

The funicular and the cable car weren't bad at all and I'm not too fond of things like that.

From my Barcelona trip report:

Day 7 (Thursday, March 15). I could tell by the way we were enjoying Barcelona itself that we weren't going to be able to fit in two day trips out of twon, but we did want to get to Montserrat, so today was the day. I had pages and pages of information about how to get to Montserrat, but it's interesting that when you actually need to use the information, something always seems to be missing.

We took the metro to Placa Espanya and looked for the Tourist Information booth, where I was told we would buy tickets. We went above ground, but the TI booth was closed tight. We went back underground to the train station, and there was a manned TI. We told the guy we wanted the Trans Montserrat tickets (which we had decided upon after studying all the options carefully.) He wrote out a slip and directed us to a guy who would buy them from the machine for us. Duh...none of the books mentioned that one can just go to the darned ticket machine and buy your own tickets. Anyway, we gave the guy our money and he bought them for us and we headed off in the direction of the platform. The trains come every hour on the :36. I don't know if that is always the case, but that is when they came that day. (I never could find the schedule on line.)

As we sat on the platform, I noticed that nothing in our materials or on our tickets mentioned the cable car-only the rack train. But, we had three sources of information that said that the Trans Montserrat tickets included both options. When we got off at the cable car stop, about half of us who got off only had the tickets that included the rack train, so we had to buy one way tickets on the cable car. The guy at the cable car place said that they are two different companies. We then figured out that the guy working at the TI obviously works for the company that does the rack train packages. Also, we were none too pleased that he sold us mere train tickets for the girls, which did not include all the things that the package tickets did. I think we did end up saving a total of 2 euro, but it was a pain to keep having to buy separate tickets for them. I really think that if we would have known to just buy from the ticket machines ourselves, we would have made better choices than being steered by the TI guy.

Anyway, we arrived and promptly went down the Santa Cova funicular. Note that, although the entry and basillica area of Montserrat are packed with people, very few people take the funiculars to do any actual hiking. The hike to the Sacred Cave had a few tough uphill points, but it is a short walk. We returned, keeping an eye on the clock so we could get back to hear the choir sing. (Note that the funicular operators also take Siesta, so if you don't time it right, you could have to wait 90 minutes or so for a funicular.)

We went inside the Basillica and sat for about 15 minutes waiting for the boys' choir to sing. We took turns walking around while waiting. We didn't stand in line to touch the Black Madonna, as we are Prsebyterian-type Christians and thought we'd leave that experience for those to whom it would mean more. (Note that by about 3:30 pm, the place was very quiet and I'm sure the line would be very short.) The boys' choir sounded great, but the incessant laughing and talking of the teens around us was quite distracting. I was glad that we weren't true religious pilgrims-I think that the lady sitting next to me was really counting on a prayerful religious experience and the boys next to her were very rude.

We had this great plan to have lunch at one of the Mirador restaurants the minute the choir was finished singing, so we headed out quickly and raced to the Mirador, only to find that the building was closed for renovation. One would think that a simple sign would be posted somewhere to prevent folks from walking all the way out there, but alas, it wasn't. By the time we got to the other cafeteria, it was packed. This was the only truly bad food we had on the trip and that is because ice cold calimari is nasty. The problem is that the beverages were amidst the coffee and beer line. One guy was getting 8 cups of beer and it took about 12 minutes for that to happen. Also, the person serving the coffee and beer would disappear for minutes at a time, making the line screech to a halt. I think that if we'd been in a place where we all spoke the same language, folks would have felt comfortable weaving in and out of line, but as it was, it took forever.

After lunch, we took the Sant Joan funicular and walked to the chapel. The view was terrific-a few wild flowers had already appeared-and almost no one was up there.

Upon our return, we looked in a few shops and got on the rack railroad for our trip back to Barcelona. Although most of the sources say that the cable car is more fun, I enjoyed the rack railroad more as it clung to the side of the mountain.

I have very mixed feelings about Montserrat. It is obvious that it was developed centuries ago as a place of seclusion and contemplation; it seems ridiculous to have it so packed with tourists. Also, it was rather stressful, having to remember when to catch the rack railroad or cable car to get to the train you want on time (because the trains only run once an hour); then you have to guage your hiking time so you don't get stuck during sieta, etc. Too many schedules and clocks to watch. If you want to do serious hiking, or if you are going for religious reasons, I would implore you to spend the night and enjoy your time in a less crowded, less time pressured manner.