The Penedès, kilometres of cava beneath Sant Sadurní and vineyards forty minutes from Barcelona.

The Penedès is the wine district closest to Barcelona: it starts forty minutes from the city, between the Montserrat massif and the sea, and can be toured on the same commuter train that reaches Plaça de Catalunya. It has two capitals that share the role: Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, where the cavas, beneath the village floor, keep the bottles while the bubbles form, and Vilafranca del Penedès, the town of still wine, with its museum and its rambla. This route joins them without needing a car.

Three white grapes and a second fermentation

Cava is a traditional-method sparkling wine: the base wine is bottled with yeast and sugar and undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, which is what gives the bubble. Its appellation was registered in Europe in 1986, and its main grapes are three whites, macabeo, xarel·lo and parellada, with chardonnay, pinot noir and malvasía as a complement; garnacha, monastrell or bonicaire go into the rosés. Time in the bottle marks the label: at least nine months for a cava de guarda, 18 to 30 months for a reserva and over 30 for a gran reserva.

In the Codorníu cellar, in Sant Sadurní, Josep Raventós made in 1872 the first cava by the traditional method with those three grapes. Around it, the Penedès also makes still wines under its own appellation.

Sant Sadurní: underground

The great houses receive visitors daily and by booking. At Codorníu, the Modernista cellars by Puig i Cadafalch are toured on an underground train on the Heritage Tour, 75 minutes with two cavas, from €25. Freixenet, opposite the station, does its 90-minute visit with two cavas for €21.50; its Freixetren, for €20, includes the return train from Barcelona. To understand the whole before choosing, the Cava Centre, in an old distillery in the centre, tells the story of cava in an hour with audiovisuals and a tasting for €6.

Vilafranca and still wine

Near Vilafranca, in Pacs del Penedès, Familia Torres opens Mas La Plana, its best-known vineyard, with vineyard and winery visits for €26 to €37, with cheeses or tapas. From the Vilafranca tourist office leaves the Camí del Vi, a flat 3.5 km path among vines with eight stations about wine, free. And in the town, the Vinseum, the museum of Catalonia's wine cultures, sets out the history of the district.

Eating among cavas

On the Codorníu estate, La Torre de Codorníu opens every day from 9:30 to 17:00 in a Modernista tower, with a visit-and-menu package. In Vilafranca, El Cigró d'Or, a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2023, 2024 and 2025, serves Catalan cooking with Penedès produce at midday every day. On the outskirts of Sant Sadurní, Castelo de Pedregosa is a family cava winery with a wine bar and restaurant among vineyards.

Sleeping inside a cava winery

The Cava & Hotel Mastinell is the district's wine hotel: five stars inside a cava winery, with a building that imitates bottles stacked in a rima, rooms with views of the vines, the En Rima restaurant and a visit to the cellar for €32, a kilometre on foot from the centre of Vilafranca. Smaller and among olive trees and vines, the Hotel Font de la Canya, in Avinyonet del Penedès, has eight rooms with views of Montserrat. In the centre of Vilafranca, the Mercer Casa Torner i Güell occupies a Modernista building from 1884 beside the Vinseum and the train.

Underground, any month

All year, because the cavas are underground and open daily. In September, the harvest sets the vineyards in motion; in spring the countryside is green and the Camí del Vi can be walked without heat. In midsummer, walk among the vines early.

By train and on foot

It can be done well without a car: Rodalies line R4 stops at Sant Sadurní, with Freixenet in front of the station, and at Vilafranca, a short walk from the Vinseum, the Camí del Vi and Hotel Mastinell; the R2 also reaches Vilafranca. For Mas La Plana and Castelo de Pedregosa you need a car or taxi. The R4 has had stoppages for works: check the state of the service before leaving.

To organise it, there are two nights at the Cava & Hotel Mastinell by train, the Sunday in Sant Sadurní with Codorníu by train and the Sunday with a cava winery visit and a table among the vines.