There seems to be quite a few monasteries in both Spain and Portugal. What are the favorites? Monserrat, San Lorenzo de El Escorial and also there is one Tomar, Portugal (that may not be the correct town but close by. During our 5 weekd trip we will vist Basque region, Barcelona, Madrid, Andlucia, Evora, Lisbon and Tomar area.Thanks for your thoughts..

There are 2 in Maljorca both of which are good to stay in but only one has a good restaurant (the one in the NW corner)

The area I live in is famous for it's Monasteries. The name Ribeira Sacrá translated means Sacred River Banks. There are more religious buildings per square km then any other part of Spain. It is just a shame you are not coming this way!

The monastery in Ripoll, might be a 2 or 3 hour drive from Barcelona.

Also, when you are in Barcelona, go to Girona, which is a lovely city & has a beautiful Gothic Cathedral.

While youre in Barcelona I'd suggest you visit the "Monestir de Pedralbes" Its a Romanic style building with a large collection of Religious art ( Donated to the monastery over the years by the wealthy families of nuns ). One thing that makes it unusual is that it was in use untill comparatively recently and you can see some of the nuns living areas and the kitchens.

I second ritch2010's suggestion about Monestir de Pedralbes. We just returned from Barcelona & points north, and we had lunch at a fabulous restaurant right across the street from the monastery. The monastery closes at 2PM so we were unable to visit inside but it looks lovely. After your visit, you can have lunch where we ate, I think the name is Mato de Pedralbes. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Another vote for Pedralbes.
Two more are a bit inland near Reus/Tarragona, close to the motorway to/from Lleida: Poblet, which I have visited and found very interesting. It's on the Unesco World Heritage list (if that is a important or not might be another discussion).
And another near Poblet whose name I always forget (and obviously have not visited yet).

Don't miss Tomar. You can wander around it freely, get to see the refectory and the residence areas of the monks. It offers more of a suggestion of life in a monastery than others where one is limited to seeing the "public" spaces.

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