Montserrat, Spain: How to Shoot the Monastery Without the Crowds

Montserrat is one of those places that looks fake the first time you see it — a thousand-year-old Benedictine monastery glued to the side of a mountain made of pinkish, finger-like rock formations, an hour outside Barcelona. The tourist buses figured it out a long time ago. Here's how to work around them.

Getting there matters for the photo

Most visitors take the R5 train from Plaça Espanya in Barcelona and then transfer to either the cremallera (rack railway) or the aeri(cable car). Photographers should always pick the cable car. It's older, smaller, and gives you a 5-minute scenic ride that climbs the cliff face. The light through the windows on the way up is unbelievable on a clear morning, and you get one of the rare establishing shots of the monastery from the side rather than from in front.

The rack railway is more comfortable and runs more often, but it approaches from behind a ridge and you arrive without ever seeing what you came to see.

The two-hour window

Tour buses start arriving around 10:30am and the monastery courtyard is packed by 11. They leave by 5pm. If you can be on the first cable car of the day (check the schedule — it changes seasonally), you get the courtyard nearly to yourself for about 90 minutes. Same in reverse at sunset.

The single best shot of the basilica facade is taken from the lower square looking up, with the mountain spires rising behind. At sunrise the sun is behind the mountain so the facade is in soft shadow — exactly the flat, even light a 16th century stone wall needs. At noon the contrast is brutal and every photo looks like a real-estate listing.

Go up. Always go up.

The monastery is the postcard, but the real photographs are above it. Take the Funicular de Sant Joan another 250 meters up the cliff. From the top, two trails:

• Sant Joan loop (45 min). Easy, paved in places, with several lookouts back down onto the monastery from above. This is the iconic aerial-style shot you've seen on Instagram, taken from the ground.
• Sant Jeroni (2.5 hours round trip). The summit of the massif at 1,236m. The trail is well-marked and not technical, but bring water — there's none on the way. On a clear day you can see the Mediterranean to the east and the Pyrenees on the northern horizon.

What to photograph beyond the obvious

1. The rock formations themselves. Montserrat means "serrated mountain" in Catalan. Get close. The conglomerate texture — pebbles cemented into a vertical wall — is its own subject.
2. The Escolania boys' choir. One of the oldest in Europe, they sing in the basilica around 1pm most days. Photography during the performance is restricted, but the procession into and out of the church is a strong portrait opportunity if you ask permission politely.
3. The candlelit votive room. Adjacent to the Black Madonna chapel. Hundreds of candles, deep shadows, and almost always empty for a few minutes at a time. Push your ISO; resist the flash.

Drone reality check

Montserrat is a protected natural park. Recreational drone flights are prohibited across the entire massif without an explicit permit from the Parc Natural de la Muntanya de Montserrat. The aerials you see online were either shot before enforcement tightened, by licensed operators with a permit, or — quite often — illegally. Don't add to that list. The ground-based vantage points are good enough that you won't miss the bird's-eye view.

A note on respect

Montserrat is a working monastery. Monks live there. The basilica is a place of worship before it is a backdrop. Keep your shutter quiet inside, don't aim a camera at someone's face during prayer, and skip the courtyard shoot when there's a service ending. The photos you do come away with will be better for it.

Looking for the rest of the Spain set? My Costa del Sol drone route covers the coastal half of the same trip. For licensing or commissioned coverage of Catalunya, the contact page is the fastest way to reach me.