This is a sample itinerary for our Private Montserrat & Barcelona Tour.
Final itinerary and timings might vary due to many factors (location and pace, traffic, staying for the Escolania choir or not, your chosen city sights and their availability…)
9.30AM
- TOUR STARTS
DRIVE TO MONTSERRAT
Meet your guide & driver
- Drive
Your tour guide and your driver will pick you up at your location and drive you along the Llobregat river. You’ll start learning about our land from what you see on your way: industry, farming, local history… And as you approach Montserrat you’ll also start learning about its history and geology.
10.15AM
- Up the mountain
CABLE CAR, RACK TRAIN OR DRIVE
Your choice
Once you get to the foot of Montserrat, you can choose to take the cable car up to the Monastery or continue 15 minutes by car up the winding road (we don’t recommend the cog wheel train so much because lines are long and guides can’t skip them).
10.30AM
- Walk
MONASTERY AREA
Things to do in Montserrat
Around 2 hours
- Walk
Once in the monastery area, you can decide with your guide what you feel like doing:
- Funicular to St. Joan and hike down (2 hours)
- Art Museum (1.5 hours)
- Audiovisual Show & Exhibit on the monastery (30 minutes to 1 hour)
- Stroll in nature along the Holy Cross Path (30 minutes)
- Shopping (gift shop, farmers market)
- Coffee Break
PLEASE NOTE that departing Barcelona at 9.30 you won’t arrive early enough to get to see the Black Madonna from close, touch her and make a wish as it’s traditional (but departing earlier would mean either missing the Choir or having one hour less for Barcelona).
- Continue Walking
ENTER THE BASILICA
Waiting for the Choir
12.30PM
ESCOLANIA CHOIR
Oldest Boy Choir in Europe
1PM
Hearing the Escolania Choir is a highlight of this tour. But because it’s so popular, there’s not enough room in the Royal Basilica of Montserrat for everyone that wants to attend (even if the Basilica isn’t precisely small…). That’s why we recommend to head there 30 minutes earlier in order to get a good spot standing as close as possible (if you want to be seated, then you should arrive 1 hour earlier).
The Escolania sings 3 songs: the Our Father prayer, the Salve (an anthem in honor of the Virgin Mary), and the Virolai (the hymn of the Black Madonna), and it lasts 15 minutes. They sing every day at 1PM, except Sundays when they sing at noon right after mass, and Saturday when they have their day off and don’t sing at all.
1.15PM
- Get back to the car
After the Choir it’s time to head back to the car. There’ll be no time for toilet or shopping as we need to live quickly to avoid the horrendous traffic jams that happen at that time, so make sure everything is done before hearing the Choir.
DRIVE BACK TO BARCELONA
Down the mountain road
1.30PM
- Drive
TAPAS LUNCH
Time to Eat!
2.30PM
3.30PM
- Your choice: walking/taxi or chauffeured
BARCELONA SIGHTSEEING
Your favorite sites
Around 3 hours
The afternoon is a custom itinerary with your favorite sites. We recommend to discuss it with us in advance, to make sure your expectations can really be done in that time. Also, if you wish to go inside Sagrada Familia or Park Guell we need to know as tickets must be purchased in advance because they sell out.
If you’ve booked a full day chauffeured tour, you’ll continue using the driver to move around. Otherwise, you’ll take taxis or walk to get to the sites as necessary.
6.30PM
- TOUR ENDS
SEE SITES ON MAP
