The Montserrat Monastery opening hours are 7:00 am to 8:00 pm for the Basilica, every day, per the official timetable, and the boys’ choir sings at 1 pm on weekdays. Most other spaces keep shorter hours, and the Throne of Our Lady only opens in two windows. This guide covers the Montserrat Monastery opening hours by space, the best time to go, how to get there from Barcelona and what to know at the gate. When you are ready to book, my comparison of Montserrat Monastery tickets lists all 9 options with prices.
Montserrat Monastery Opening Hours
Today, Saturday 7 November 2026, the abbey is open from 7 am to 8 pm per Google Maps. The week looks like this:
| Day |
Hours per Google Maps |
| Monday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Tuesday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Wednesday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Thursday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Friday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Saturday |
7 am to 8 pm |
| Sunday |
7 am to 8 pm |
The official timetable breaks the Montserrat Monastery opening hours down by space, and it is the source I trust over Google Maps:
| Space |
Official hours |
| Basilica |
7:00 am to 8:00 pm |
| Throne of Our Lady |
8:00 to 10:30 am, then from midday to 6:25 pm |
| Museum of Montserrat |
10:00 am to 5:45 pm |
| Audiovisual Space |
Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 5:45 pm; weekends and holidays 9:00 am to 6:45 pm |
| Tourist Information |
Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 5:30 pm; weekends and holidays 9:00 am to 6:45 pm |
| Holy Grotto |
10:30 am to 5:00 pm |
Read together, the Montserrat Monastery opening hours leave a clear window: the Basilica and the Throne overlap from midday to 6:25 pm, and the museum and information desk are open through the afternoon, so a visit between 11 am and 5 pm can include everything on this list except the first Throne window. The page does not say which season these hours apply to, so I read them as the hours listed on 7 November 2026. The timetable page lists no closing days for the Basilica, but check the page again before a December or Easter trip.
Montserrat Monastery Official Website
There are two official sites, and they do different jobs. montserratvisita.com is the visitor site: timetables, how to get there and the tourist tickets. The abbey’s own site handles reservations for residents, and the monastery says the two are separate. For non-residents, the visitor site is where Montserrat Monastery tickets and their combinations are sold.
Since May 2023 the monastery charges non-residents a tourist ticket for the Atrium, Basilica and Camarín chapel. The exceptions, per the official tourist ticket page, are people attending religious services, residents of Catalonia, the rest of Spain and the EU (except groups and organised trips), and guests of accommodation on the mountain. I did not read a price, so I can’t say what it costs.
Is Montserrat Worth Visiting
The opening hours of Montserrat Monastery shape the answer. I think Montserrat is worth visiting if you can match them to the choir. The monastery was founded in 1025 and about 70 monks live there, per Wikipedia. A visit combines the Basilica, the museum and the mountain trails. If you only have a morning, the Basilica and the Throne of Our Lady are the part to prioritise, and both close within the Montserrat Monastery opening hours listed above.
Best Time to Visit Montserrat Monastery
For the Escolania, plan your day around 1 pm. The choir’s own calendar shows the Salve and Virolai at 13:00 from Monday to Friday in November 2026, with a second short performance after Vespers at 19:15 on most weekdays, and the Sunday Conventual Mass at 11:00. Reservation is required for the weekday singing and the Sunday Mass. The calendar shows no Escolania singing on Saturday 7 and 14 November. The official FAQ adds that the choir is on holiday after St John’s Day until the end of August, after Christmas and during Easter Week, so a summer trip misses it.
Quiet times are not published for Montserrat Monastery, and the opening hours say nothing about crowds, so I will only say what the data shows. The day tours I compared all leave Barcelona at 8:00 am or 8:30 am and arrive before the choir, and one reviewer says the timing let them miss the large crowds. The entry ticket with the choir notes that the slot chosen is the 1 pm one, and a reviewer says they arrived 20 minutes early and sat about halfway back.
Montserrat Monastery Weather
Weather decides how much of the Montserrat Monastery opening hours you can use on the upper trails. This is the monthly record for the abbey’s coordinates, from Open-Meteo, 2025 data. On 7 November 2026 the official site showed a forecast of 8 to 14 degrees.
| Month |
Sunrise |
Sunset |
Sunshine hours per day |
Rainy days |
| January |
8:16 |
5:47 pm |
8.1 |
2 |
| April |
7:12 |
8:33 pm |
11.0 |
10 |
| June |
6:18 |
9:28 pm |
13.4 |
1 |
| August |
7:01 |
8:52 pm |
12.5 |
7 |
| October |
8:04 |
7:11 pm |
9.4 |
8 |
| November |
7:41 |
5:32 pm |
8.2 |
4 |
| December |
8:12 |
5:23 pm |
6.2 |
9 |
In winter the sun sets around 5:30 pm, so a hike has to finish early even though the Basilica stays open until 8 pm. In June the light lasts until about 9:30 pm. The record is one year, so use it as a pattern rather than a forecast. The official site lists a separate climate page and a webcam, which I’d check on the morning.
How to Get to Montserrat Monastery
Montserrat is a mountain, and my Google Maps data for this page holds no train or bus stops near it. The Barcelona sights in that data are 33 to 37 km away in a straight line, so I can’t give you walking times from a station, and I won’t estimate distances I can’t check. Here is what the official sources say instead.
- Rack railway: the only transport that reaches the heart of the Sanctuary, per Turistren, which lists 1 hour 30 minutes from Barcelona by public transport. The monastery’s FAQ says rack-railway trains leaving Montserrat at quarter past every hour connect with the R5 line to Barcelona.
- Cable car: the Aeri de Montserrat runs every 15 minutes, with 2026 adult fares of 10 euros one way and 15 round trip, per its fares page.
- Coach or van: the day tours start in Barcelona and drive about an hour. They meet on Passeig de Gràcia (numbers 26, 29, 69 or 95) at about 8:00 am, with one starting at a station on Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, so you only need to get to the meeting point.
- On foot: the monastery site describes pilgrim paths up from Monistrol de Montserrat and Collbató, with an ascent of over 525 metres on the shorter Monistrol path.
Packages that include the train from Barcelona must be collected at the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat station at Plaça Espanya, open from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, so don’t leave it until later. The last descent depends on the season, and the operators publish their own timetables.
Mont Escape Tours
Montserrat Monastery, Easy Hike, Cable Car
- ★ 4.9 (1,352 reviews)
- 6 hours
- Free cancellation
My pick: If you want the transport and the opening hours handled for you: $78, 6 hours, 4.9 from 1,352 reviews, leaving Barcelona at 8:00 AM.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
- ✓ Small group tour
- ✓ Qualified and government-certified guide
- ✓ Cable car ride
- ✓ Transport in an air-conditioned van
- ✓ Accident and civil liability insurance
- ✓ Parking fees
Not included / not suitable
Meeting point: The meeting point is at 8:00 AM at Paseo de Gracia, 69, 08008 Barcelona, España. Paseo de Gracia, 69, 08008 Barcelona, España
Languages: Spanish, Catalan, English
Duration: 6 hours
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“One of the can’t miss experiences of Spain. The small group tour was the best way to experience it with a knowledgeable and engaging guide.” – GetYourGuide review
What to Know Before You Go
The Basilica is a working church. The monastery says the tourist ticket protects the atmosphere of prayer, and that people attending services are exempt. I found no dress code or bag rule on the pages I read, so check the official site before you go. The funicular timetables belong to Turistren, and the Santa Cova funicular page I read, which dates from 2025, said it was out of service for maintenance, so check whether it runs on your day.
From the product listings: the entry ticket excludes transport to and from Barcelona, the Mont Escape tour excludes food and hotel pick-up, and most hikes list walking poles or a water refill. Wear shoes you can walk in, since the tours mix the monastery with paths, and remember that the Throne of Our Lady and the museum close earlier than the Basilica, so the evening part of the Montserrat Monastery opening hours is for the church only. Once you know the Montserrat Monastery opening hours, the next choice is the ticket. Every Montserrat Monastery ticket I compared is explained there, and the home page lists the other attractions I cover.
