Girona/Costa Brava vs. Montserrat Day Tour

[CruisingGiants]

My husband and I are thinking about doing either Girona and Costa Brava or Montserrat as a pre-cruise tour with Barcelona Day tours. Does anyone have any experience with either of these tours? If you had to choose, which one would you pick?

 

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

[mskaufman]

It's really a tough call. Depends on what you like. If you like old villages and photographic cityscapes, then the Girona tour is for you. If you like mountain scenery or seeing the monestary in the mountains, then Montserrat is for you. We did Girona precruise and Montserrat post cruise. If you have an afternoon flight postcruise, then RCI has a Montserrat with airport transfer tour for less than $60. While the tour is probably not as good as a DIY it is a great use of time and it would cost you something to get to the airport anyway. That is how we were able to do both.

 

Here is a link to my Girona pictures.

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/362

 

And, my Montserrat pictures

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/450

[CruisingGiants]

Thanks for the pictures! I hope you don't mind I looked through your other pictures -- looks like a fun trip. I'm still not sure which we'll choose -- unfortunately we can only pick one. Hopefully we'll make it back again one day to do the other :)

[KirkNC]

It's really a tough call. Depends on what you like. If you like old villages and photographic cityscapes, then the Girona tour is for you. If you like mountain scenery or seeing the monestary in the mountains, then Montserrat is for you. We did Girona precruise and Montserrat post cruise. If you have an afternoon flight postcruise, then RCI has a Montserrat with airport transfer tour for less than $60. While the tour is probably not as good as a DIY it is a great use of time and it would cost you something to get to the airport anyway. That is how we were able to do both.

 

Here is a link to my Girona pictures.

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/362

 

And, my Montserrat pictures

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/450

 

Thanks for the nice pics!

[mskaufman]

Glad you liked the pics. Don't know which to recommend. I liked Girona. It was an easy train ride from Sants. It was very interesting being in the old streets of the Call. As you can see from the pictures it was not as crowded as other tourist places so it was a very different feel from the Barcelona Gothic Quarter. I really enjoyed being able to take the pictures without crowds of people. On the other hand my DW would recommend Montserrat in a minute. She thought there was something special about the saw tooth mountains and the monestary in the mountains.

 

Wherever you go you should enjoy,

[explore4ever]

We did not do Girona. My husband and i went to Montserrat DIY, in 2008. We started early in the day, no crowd. It was a magical place to be experienced. It was a highlight of our trip. Hope you will experience it, if not this trip, maybe a later trip.

[mskaufman]

The way we were able to do both was to buy into the RCI tour on the day we got back from the cruise. They took us straight from the ship to Montserrat and then to either the airport or your hotel. Was a great time saver and was how we were able to do both places.

[4774Papa]

My husband and I are thinking about doing either Girona and Costa Brava or Montserrat as a pre-cruise tour with Barcelona Day tours. Does anyone have any experience with either of these tours? If you had to choose, which one would you pick?

 

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

We used BDT for a tour of the city, but did Monserrat on our own. It is easy to do.

Here is a post that I found on cc and followed when we went to Monserrat:

 

If you have a full day to do Montserrat I would propose the following schedule in order to always be one step ahead of the crowds:

Take the 7:36 train to Montserrat-Monistrol

Catch the 8:48 rack rail up to the monastery, arriving about 9:08

View the monastery, including Black Madonna (probably takes about 45 minutes to see all the monastery at a leisurely pace)

View the audiovisual presentation and displays (allow about 30 minutes)

Take the Sant Joan funicular up, see the nature center, and hike a bit if able to see the impressive views (head right out of the funicular for a good hike about 45 minutes round-trip) - this funicular is more popular so do it first before the lines get long

Take the Santa Cova funicular down, and walk the remaining Holy Grotto Path which is lined with beautiful artistic monuments - about 45 minutes round-trip from the base of the funicular and is fairly steep

Return to the monastery to hear the boys' choir

Lunch and perhaps sample the honeys and cheese for sale in the stands just past the cafeteria

Museum

Any additional hiking, if of interest - there are tons of trails and the tourist stand can provide maps of the trails

Return downward by cable car (or rack rail) and then train to Barcelona

When you return to Barcelona, nap a bit before dinner since you had an early morning!!

 

Tour buses started dropping people off around 10 which is when things started to get busy. By noon, the place was crazy! But almost everyone followed the order I presented above, so if you start earlier than everyone else then you will always be ahead of the crowds.

 

Total cost is about 42 euro, including everything, even your lunch and the extra charge for one-way rack rail/one-way cable car:) Of course, if you're not interested in seeing everything or if you don't have time for everything, you can skip parts and it might be cheaper.

 

You can book your Montserrat trip a number of different ways. To go one-way on the cable car, simply buy a separate one-way cable car ticket from the top - should be 5€. If you want to go up on the rail and down on the cable car, it may be cheaper to buy things a la carte; not sure since I didn't do the math :o

 

There are two combo tickets (prices as of April 2009):

1. "Trans Montserrat" (22,50€) which includes
   
   • 2 Metro rides (can be used anytime, not necessarily in conjunction with your trip to Montserrat)
     
   • Round-trip ticket on the train from Pl. Espanya
     
   • Round-trip rack railway OR round-trip cable car
     
   • Sant Joan Funicular (unlimited rides, but one round-trip is probably plenty ;))
     
   • Santa Cova Funicular (unlimited rides)
     
   • Audiovisual entrance
     

 

[*]"Tot Montserrat" 36,95€ which includes all of the above AND

• Lunch at their cafeteria
  
• Museum entry
  

Alternatively, you can buy everything a la carte. The monastery itself, all hiking trails, and the nature center are free.

• Metro rides (to/from Pl. Espanya for example) are 1,35€ per trip
  
• Train from Pl. Espanya to Montserrat to catch rack rail/cable car is 3,80€ one-way or 7,60€ round-trip
  
• Rack railway is 5,05€ one-way or 8€ round-trip
  
• Cable car is 5,40€ one-way or 8,40€ round-trip
  
• Sant Joan Funicular is 4,35€ one-way or 6,90€ round-trip
  
• Santa Cova Funicular is 1,75€ one-way or 2,80€ round-trip (if you plan on doing both funiculars and purchasing a la carte you can get round-trip on BOTH for a discounted price of 7,75€)
  
• Audiovisual exhibit is 2€
  
• Museum is 6,50€
  
• Lunch obviously varies depending on what you get but is fairly reasonable
  

If you aren't interested in seeing everything, add up what you want to do and see if it's cheaper to buy a la carte or to buy the combo ticket even without using some portions of it.

 

Also, something I didn't think to try until AFTER I left Barcelona was to get to Montserrat from Plaza Espanya using the T-10 transportation ticket I had already purchased for the rest of our trip; it's valid on metro, RENFE cercania trains such as the train from the airport, and the FGC trains such as you take to Montserrat - 7,70€ for 10 rides and can be shared by multiple people! According to the Barcelona transport website it will work, but I have no personal experience to confirm. If you have a T-10 anyway (which it's a great value if you will be in Barcelona for a day or more and plan on using the metro anyway), try it at the Plaza Espanya train station. I am 99% positive it will allow you entry to the train, but make sure you're there early enough to buy alternative tickets just in case. If it works, once you arrive at the Montserrat-Monistrol or Montserrat-Aeri station, you can buy the combination ticket listed above WITHOUT the train portion. The cost is 14,90€ for the smaller combo ticket or 31€ for the larger ticket.

 

The train to/from Barcelona leaves only once per hour. The first train leaves Pl. Espanya (in direction: Manresa) at 7:36, and then every hour after that - always on the :36. If you take the rack rail up, get off at station Monistrol de Montserrat (arriving at 8:44) where you will catch the rack rail up to the monastery area. The rack rail leaves at 8:48am. You will see a little green train - that's where you are heading for the transfer If you want to take the cable car up, the first train from Barcelona you can take is the 8:36 train (getting you to the cable car about an hour later) - the cable car does not start running until 9:40am so if you want an early start, you HAVE to take the rack rail. The cable car leaves from a different train stop: Montserrat Aeri. Make sure you get off at the right stop!!

 

Coming back, the train departs the Monistrol de Montserrat station at the bottom of the mountain on the :44 past the hour. That means, if you are taking the rack rail down, you must take the rack rail that leaves the top of the mountain on the :15 past the hour. If you are taking the cable car down (just purchase a one-way ticket if you took the rack rail up), you need to catch the train to Barcelona from the Montserrat Aeri station, which leaves on the :48 past the hour. It is just a 5 minute ride down, so you could take the cable car down on the :30. However, since there is limited capacity on the cable car, if it looks like it's busy that day, I would aim for the :15 cable car just in case you have to wait for the next one. Is this clear as mud??

 

It's unfortunate the trains don't run as often because it really puts a damper on your flexibility.

 

I can't speak for the cable car, but the rack rail station is in the same place as the train to Barcelona. The transfer simply involves walking off one train and onto the other. At the top of the mountain, both the train and the cable car will drop you off near the cafeteria, gift shop, and audiovisual area. Within a 5 minute walk, you can hit either funicular, the monastery, some farmers' stands, the museum, the post office, a little cafe...nothing is very far, unless of course you want to hike! There are an endless amount of trails, but the ones that start from where the funicular drops you off are the most popular (for good reason) and also of reasonable length - about 45 minutes each.

 

One last thought (and sorry for the long reply): You can buy the combo tickets from either the Plaza Espanya train station or the Montserrat station (note the price differences above since from Pl. Espanya it will automatically include your train fare). Both stations, if you pay via the automated machine - which is easy and has an English option - you can pay with credit card, debit card, or cash. If you pay by credit card, you will need to enter your credit card PIN. This is the PIN you would need if you wanted to use your credit card for a cash advance at an ATM, for example. I don't normally need that number, so make sure you know it before you leave. Also, neither my credit card or my debit card was approved by the machines at any subway/train station in Barcelona, but we had no problems elsewhere. You can certainly try to pay by card, but have cash as a backup just in case...we needed it. For a family of 5, that may add up to a lot of cash so be prepared!

[browneyes7]

My husband and I are thinking about doing either Girona and Costa Brava or Montserrat as a pre-cruise tour with Barcelona Day tours. Does anyone have any experience with either of these tours? If you had to choose, which one would you pick?

 

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

 

We have been to both of these places on our own. Of the two, Montserrat is harder to do on your own. Of course, you are taking a tour, so that wouldn't be a factor. I would do Montserrat on the tour, because Girona is fairly easy to do on your own.

[KirkNC]

We used BDT for a tour of the city, but did Monserrat on our own. It is easy to do.

Here is a post that I found on cc and followed when we went to Monserrat:

 

If you have a full day to do Montserrat I would propose the following schedule in order to always be one step ahead of the crowds:

Take the 7:36 train to Montserrat-Monistrol

Catch the 8:48 rack rail up to the monastery, arriving about 9:08

View the monastery, including Black Madonna (probably takes about 45 minutes to see all the monastery at a leisurely pace)

View the audiovisual presentation and displays (allow about 30 minutes)

Take the Sant Joan funicular up, see the nature center, and hike a bit if able to see the impressive views (head right out of the funicular for a good hike about 45 minutes round-trip) - this funicular is more popular so do it first before the lines get long

Take the Santa Cova funicular down, and walk the remaining Holy Grotto Path which is lined with beautiful artistic monuments - about 45 minutes round-trip from the base of the funicular and is fairly steep

Return to the monastery to hear the boys' choir

Lunch and perhaps sample the honeys and cheese for sale in the stands just past the cafeteria

Museum

Any additional hiking, if of interest - there are tons of trails and the tourist stand can provide maps of the trails

Return downward by cable car (or rack rail) and then train to Barcelona

When you return to Barcelona, nap a bit before dinner since you had an early morning!!

 

Tour buses started dropping people off around 10 which is when things started to get busy. By noon, the place was crazy! But almost everyone followed the order I presented above, so if you start earlier than everyone else then you will always be ahead of the crowds.

 

Total cost is about 42 euro, including everything, even your lunch and the extra charge for one-way rack rail/one-way cable car:) Of course, if you're not interested in seeing everything or if you don't have time for everything, you can skip parts and it might be cheaper.

 

You can book your Montserrat trip a number of different ways. To go one-way on the cable car, simply buy a separate one-way cable car ticket from the top - should be 5€. If you want to go up on the rail and down on the cable car, it may be cheaper to buy things a la carte; not sure since I didn't do the math :o

 

There are two combo tickets (prices as of April 2009):

1. "Trans Montserrat" (22,50€) which includes
   
   • 2 Metro rides (can be used anytime, not necessarily in conjunction with your trip to Montserrat)
     
   • Round-trip ticket on the train from Pl. Espanya
     
   • Round-trip rack railway OR round-trip cable car
     
   • Sant Joan Funicular (unlimited rides, but one round-trip is probably plenty ;))
     
   • Santa Cova Funicular (unlimited rides)
     
   • Audiovisual entrance
     

 

[*]"Tot Montserrat" 36,95€ which includes all of the above AND

• Lunch at their cafeteria
  
• Museum entry
  

Alternatively, you can buy everything a la carte. The monastery itself, all hiking trails, and the nature center are free.

• Metro rides (to/from Pl. Espanya for example) are 1,35€ per trip
  
• Train from Pl. Espanya to Montserrat to catch rack rail/cable car is 3,80€ one-way or 7,60€ round-trip
  
• Rack railway is 5,05€ one-way or 8€ round-trip
  
• Cable car is 5,40€ one-way or 8,40€ round-trip
  
• Sant Joan Funicular is 4,35€ one-way or 6,90€ round-trip
  
• Santa Cova Funicular is 1,75€ one-way or 2,80€ round-trip (if you plan on doing both funiculars and purchasing a la carte you can get round-trip on BOTH for a discounted price of 7,75€)
  
• Audiovisual exhibit is 2€
  
• Museum is 6,50€
  
• Lunch obviously varies depending on what you get but is fairly reasonable
  

If you aren't interested in seeing everything, add up what you want to do and see if it's cheaper to buy a la carte or to buy the combo ticket even without using some portions of it.

 

Also, something I didn't think to try until AFTER I left Barcelona was to get to Montserrat from Plaza Espanya using the T-10 transportation ticket I had already purchased for the rest of our trip; it's valid on metro, RENFE cercania trains such as the train from the airport, and the FGC trains such as you take to Montserrat - 7,70€ for 10 rides and can be shared by multiple people! According to the Barcelona transport website it will work, but I have no personal experience to confirm. If you have a T-10 anyway (which it's a great value if you will be in Barcelona for a day or more and plan on using the metro anyway), try it at the Plaza Espanya train station. I am 99% positive it will allow you entry to the train, but make sure you're there early enough to buy alternative tickets just in case. If it works, once you arrive at the Montserrat-Monistrol or Montserrat-Aeri station, you can buy the combination ticket listed above WITHOUT the train portion. The cost is 14,90€ for the smaller combo ticket or 31€ for the larger ticket.

 

The train to/from Barcelona leaves only once per hour. The first train leaves Pl. Espanya (in direction: Manresa) at 7:36, and then every hour after that - always on the :36. If you take the rack rail up, get off at station Monistrol de Montserrat (arriving at 8:44) where you will catch the rack rail up to the monastery area. The rack rail leaves at 8:48am. You will see a little green train - that's where you are heading for the transfer If you want to take the cable car up, the first train from Barcelona you can take is the 8:36 train (getting you to the cable car about an hour later) - the cable car does not start running until 9:40am so if you want an early start, you HAVE to take the rack rail. The cable car leaves from a different train stop: Montserrat Aeri. Make sure you get off at the right stop!!

 

Coming back, the train departs the Monistrol de Montserrat station at the bottom of the mountain on the :44 past the hour. That means, if you are taking the rack rail down, you must take the rack rail that leaves the top of the mountain on the :15 past the hour. If you are taking the cable car down (just purchase a one-way ticket if you took the rack rail up), you need to catch the train to Barcelona from the Montserrat Aeri station, which leaves on the :48 past the hour. It is just a 5 minute ride down, so you could take the cable car down on the :30. However, since there is limited capacity on the cable car, if it looks like it's busy that day, I would aim for the :15 cable car just in case you have to wait for the next one. Is this clear as mud??

 

It's unfortunate the trains don't run as often because it really puts a damper on your flexibility.

 

I can't speak for the cable car, but the rack rail station is in the same place as the train to Barcelona. The transfer simply involves walking off one train and onto the other. At the top of the mountain, both the train and the cable car will drop you off near the cafeteria, gift shop, and audiovisual area. Within a 5 minute walk, you can hit either funicular, the monastery, some farmers' stands, the museum, the post office, a little cafe...nothing is very far, unless of course you want to hike! There are an endless amount of trails, but the ones that start from where the funicular drops you off are the most popular (for good reason) and also of reasonable length - about 45 minutes each.

 

One last thought (and sorry for the long reply): You can buy the combo tickets from either the Plaza Espanya train station or the Montserrat station (note the price differences above since from Pl. Espanya it will automatically include your train fare). Both stations, if you pay via the automated machine - which is easy and has an English option - you can pay with credit card, debit card, or cash. If you pay by credit card, you will need to enter your credit card PIN. This is the PIN you would need if you wanted to use your credit card for a cash advance at an ATM, for example. I don't normally need that number, so make sure you know it before you leave. Also, neither my credit card or my debit card was approved by the machines at any subway/train station in Barcelona, but we had no problems elsewhere. You can certainly try to pay by card, but have cash as a backup just in case...we needed it. For a family of 5, that may add up to a lot of cash so be prepared!

 

Wow, this is great, I bookmarked it for our visit next year, thanks.