Inland Catalonia: Montserrat to the Garrotxa volcanoes

Route description

Leave Barcelona on the A-2 and turn off to Montserrat, the jagged mountain with a Benedictine monastery and its Black Madonna. The road up is busy and parking is paid; the alternative is to leave the car at Monistrol and take the rack railway. Walk up to Sant Jeroni or the hermitages for the best views.

Continue north to Cardona, where a castle on one hill faces a mountain of salt on the other; guided tours take you into the old mine galleries. The C-25 then runs east across the Catalan interior to Vic, whose arcaded Plaça Major fills with a big market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings; try the local fuet sausage.

From Vic the C-37 tunnels through to Olot, the centre of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone, with some forty extinct cones covered in beech and oak. Walk into the crater of Santa Margarida, with its tiny chapel, and the beech wood of La Fageda d’en Jordà nearby, then see Castellfollit de la Roca perched on its basalt cliff.

End via Besalú, a medieval town entered over a fortified bridge, and the C-66 to Girona. Spring and autumn are best, when the woods are green or turning; the Garrotxa is also cooler than the coast in summer. Montserrat at weekends is very crowded, so go on a weekday morning.