Montserrat Monastery and easy mountain hermitage walking route

About Easy Montserrat Walking Route

This route is ideal for People that want to spend two hours exploring the Montserrat Monastery before completing a 7Km EASY Montserrat hiking route starting and finishing at Montserrat Monastery.

For a guide of what to do and see in Montserrat Monastery, This page gives detailed information.

Allow 3 to 4 hours to complete this route.

For a more challenging route to the top of Montserrat mountain try Sant Jeroni from Montserrat Monastery.

EASY Montserrat Mountain Hiking Route Description

The route starts at Montserrat Monastery which can be visited before starting the hike from Plaza de Abat where you will find a large drinking water fountain. This is the only place to find drinking water along the route so I highly recommend taking at least two litres of water.

Follow the steps behind the fountain up to a statue in an alcove and turn left crossing the bridge onto pas de francoeses. This path follows the Santa Maria River valley passing via concrete steps through a mountain cutting before getting to Santa Anna hermitage, a ruin with views looking down the valley towards the Montserrat monastery.

From Santa Anna the route follows a forestall trail towards Sant Joan Funicular upper station passing via anta Ana Cova vella, a series of small hermit caves.

When you reach Sant Joan funicular it is worth going inside to the upper floor which has an outside patio viewpoint. Also there is a vending machine that sells drinks and snacks.

Take the Right gravel and concrete road towards Sant Joan Capella (chappel) which is a a gradual incline. You can follow the Gravel road around and up some stairs to what are Santa Onofre and Sant Joan hermitages ruins built on the side of a cliff face. At the end of the hermitage ruins the path takes steps down to the concreta and gravel road where you came from.

Retun back to Sant Joan Funicular upper station and follow the trail round to the right into Cami de las hermitages via a gravel and concrete rural road. Follow the rural road up the small incline followed by a gradual decline down to Sant Miquel chapel. Note that to the right of the gravel road there is a footpath that goes along the top of the ridge and gives great views down the mountain towards Colbato. You can take this path rather than the gravel road.

At Capella de Sant Miquel the trail continues on down the mountain. A little past the chapel there is a narrow track of about 100 metres on the right that leads to the Creu de Sant Miquel Iron cross monument which has spectacular views of the monastery complex. This is an unmissable part of the route and I advise not to skip it even if you are tired.

Return to the main trail and continue following it down via various monuments back to the monastery.

The trails are well marked although there is a possibility of taking a wrong turn in a few areas so I recommend following the Wikiloc hiking trail map that you can find bellow.

Image Gallery for Easy Montserrat Walking Route

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Visiting Easy Montserrat Walking Route

I recommend getting to the monastery around 10h because it gets really busy. It is best to visit the monastery first and if you want you can visit the Black Madona statue behind the altar. To visit the Black Madona you have to use an access door to the right of the basilica and pay a small fee of 2 euros.

It is extremely dry in Montserrat mountain range, the rivers only fill up with water briefly after a heavy rain storm.

Do not throw cigarettes on the ground. it is prohibited to start fires i.e. for cooking or other purposes.

Take plenty of water, minimum 2 litres and use sun cream.

Where to Eat in Montserrat

leaving the main square by the descending ramped street with the orange trees goes down through a gate into Plaza Abat Oliba where you will find Queviures supermarket that sells sandwiches, drinks, and food gifts like honey. Opposite is another cafeteria.

In Plaza Abat Oliba there is also a drinking water fountain.

Opposite the Cremallera Station is the Montserrat Buffet Restaurant. This is a cafeteria style restaurant that offers meals of traditional Catalan food as well as sandwiches, cakes and drinks.

Where to stay overnight in Montserrat

• Montserrat Abat Marcet
• Hotel Abat Cisneros
• Apartamentos Montserrat Abat Marcet
• Area Esportiva i d'Acampada de Montserrat Is a simple and cheap campsite (3.5 Euros per tent + 4 Euros per adult) about 10 minutes walk from the Monastery via the Sant Miquel path towards Creu de Sant Miquel. Only open in the summer months and can be booked by calling (+34) 93 77 77 77. Popular with mountain Climbers.

Accessibility, mobility & Clothing for Easy Montserrat Walking Route

This is an easy walking route. I always do it with a small rucksack of the essentials including optional Emergency waterproof jacket depending on the weather forecast.

Take 2 litres of water because there is nowhere to top up water bottle along the route.



Small 30L Hiking Rucksack

Includes high visibility fog and rain waterproof cover in zip compartment at bottom of rucksack.





Compact First Aid Kit

Small lightweight first aid kit





Emergency Rain jacket

Small pouch lightweight Waterproof jacket for emergencies





Convertible Trousers

Lightweight convertible trousers that zip down to shorts





Gore-Tex Hiking boots

I prefer ankle high boots on mountain trails for the ankle support and increased stability over rocky trails.





warm Wool socks

With toe and heel reinforcements that give good padding.





Fleece jacket or Jersey

Light weight warm fleece





Phone Case for watersports

IPX8 waterproof floating and submersible case & Lanyard. Permits photos and touchscreen use.





Emergency Rain jacket

Small pouch lightweight Waterproof jacket for emergencies





Mid layer Top

Light weight cotton quick dry T-shirt





High Factor Sun Cream

factor 50 non-polluting sun-cream to protect the oceans, lakes and rivers.

Getting to Easy Montserrat Walking Route

Address: Monestir de Montserrat, Monistrol de Montserrat. 08199

The quickest way is to get the FGC train From Plaza Espana to Aeri de Montserrat and transfer onto the Aeri de Montserrat cable car. This is my recommended route as it offers the most scenic views and has a journey time of 6 minutes.

However there is also a slower and less scenic Montserrat cremallera rack railway train for people that suffer from vertigo and cannot use the cable car. The Cremallera departs from Monistrol de Montserrat and arrives at Montserrat monastery via Monistrol vila with a journey time of 30 minutes.

Both Aire de Montserrat and Monistrol De Montserrat stations are on the FGC LLobregat Anoia R5 and R50 lines.

Documents for Easy Montserrat Walking Route

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