41.76° N · 2.40° E
The highest massif of the pre-coastal range, a natural park and biosphere reserve, with beech and fir forests an hour and a half from Barcelona. Santa Fe is the best-known gateway.
Part of Unusual places to stay in SpainHorse riding routes in Spain
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
A free walk around the Santa Fe reservoir, at 1,080 m in the Montseny, among beeches that turn golden in autumn. Free parking on the BV-5114.
A signposted 11.5 km route of about 5 h from Can Casades, in Santa Fe, to the two highest summits of the Montseny: the Turó de l'Home (1,706 m) and Les Agudes.
A 3.6 km climb each way with about 550 m of ascent from the Collformic car park to the summit of Matagalls (1,697 m), with the cross and views over Osona.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
October and November, with the beech forest in colour: it is also when most people come up, and the park regulates access at weekends. May and June, with the forest green and fewer cars. In winter it can snow on the summits.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
The car is the natural way to get around the Montseny: the mountain roads link the Vallès side, via Sant Celoni and Montseny, with the Osona side, via Viladrau and El Brull. In autumn, at weekends, leave the car at the Fogars welcome point.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
The Montseny works with children if you choose short walks and something to do at the end: the reservoir, a small summit or a castle.
For a teenager, the challenge is getting to the top: the Turó de l'Home, Les Agudes or Matagalls, with the coast and the Pyrenees in sight.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Sixteen cabins hung from trees in Sant Hilari Sacalm, facing the Montseny, with no electricity, a dry toilet, a fireplace and breakfast hoisted up in a basket.
Why we like it: A 17th-century farmhouse turned hotel at the entrance to the village of Montseny, with a pool and restaurant: doubles from €150, a family suite and an apartment for four.
Why we like it: An early 19th-century farmhouse beside the Can Vila riding club, on the Montseny road: nine rooms, breakfast at €10 and dogs for €20 a night.
Why we like it: A small hotel with a chestnut restaurant in Viladrau, on the Osona side of the Montseny: wooden doubles, a suite with a freestanding bath, a family room and massages from €35.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: Something from the holm-oak grill or, in autumn, the seasonal mushrooms; the desserts are made in the house.
What to order: from the grill, the Viladrau chestnut butifarra or the Montseny lamb; the Menú del Montseny serves it with ganxet beans.
What to order: The onion and chestnut soup, the wild boar civet with chestnuts or the chestnut butifarra with mushrooms; for dessert, the chestnut baba.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
At Fogars de Montclús parking is free and the Bus Parc takes you up to the beech forest without fighting for a space.
The driver doesn't accept cards.
At a thousand metres, in the shade of the beeches, the temperature drops a lot, and on the summits the wind blows.
In autumn the park asks for respect for the fauna, the flora and the people who live and work on the mountain: park only where it is permitted.
If you want the autumn colour with fewer people, go on a weekday: the regulation and the crowds are a weekend and public holiday thing.
It is the hour and day when the road and the car park jam. Arrive first thing or use the welcome point.
The Montseny is the highest massif of the Catalan pre-coastal range: more than 31,000 hectares of natural park spread over eighteen municipalities in Osona, La Selva and the Vallès Oriental. Three groups make up the mountain: the ridge of Turó de l'Home (1,706 m) and Les Agudes (1,703 m), the Matagalls (1,697 m) and the plain of La Calma. Between them, the upper basin of the Tordera. Because of the altitude and the humidity, Mediterranean landscapes and Central European-type forests such as the beech woods live side by side: a mosaic that has earned it biosphere reserve status.
The best-known entrance is Santa Fe del Montseny, in the upper Tordera valley, at about a thousand metres: a reservoir surrounded by beech trees and the old grand hotel that the publisher Ramon de Montaner had built between 1912 and 1914 next to the chapel. You get there by the BV-5114 from Sant Celoni, a mountain road with many bends. Other gateways are Viladrau and El Brull on the Osona side, and Montseny and Tagamanent on the Vallès side.
Yes, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays all year except Christmas and New Year. The Rodalies R2 reaches Sant Celoni and there connects with the Bus Parc, Sagalés line 573 to Santa Fe. The special ticket costs €2.65, is valid all day with unlimited trips up and down and is free up to age 12; you pay in cash. There is a combined Renfe plus Bus Parc ticket. On the Osona side, from Vic lines 436 to Viladrau and 484 to Collformic run, and the R3 has a stop at Balenyà.
Between 10 October and 8 December 2026, at weekends and on public holidays, the park sets up welcome points because Santa Fe, Fontmartina and Collformic get swamped by cars. At the one in Fogars de Montclús you park for free and take the Bus Parc up to Santa Fe or Fontmartina, with information, workshops and guided outings. In those weeks the bus timetables are extended and line 572 from Sant Celoni to Fontmartina runs. Using it is not compulsory, but it is the way to avoid spending the morning looking for a spot on the verge.
Questions
An hour and a half by car to Santa Fe, via the AP-7 to Sant Celoni and then the BV-5114. To Viladrau or El Brull, via the C-17 and Vic.
€2.65 for the special all-day ticket, free for under-12s. It runs at weekends and on public holidays all year except Christmas and New Year.
Turó de l'Home, at 1,706 m, followed by Les Agudes, at 1,703 m, and the Matagalls, at 1,697 m.
At Masia Mariona, in Mosqueroles (Fogars de Montclús), BV-5119 road, km 2.5: open Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 15:30 and with the Univers Patxot exhibition space. Telephone 938 475 102.
The Museu Etnològic del Montseny, La Gabella, on Carrer Major in Arbúcies.
In farmhouses and small hotels scattered around the massif: Can Barrina, in the municipality of Montseny; the Hotel Rural Can Vila, on the Montseny road in Sant Esteve de Palautordera, and the Xalet La Coromina, in Viladrau. All three need a car.
Yes. The walk beside the Santa Fe reservoir is short and the Bus Parc is free up to age 12. Bring warm clothes: it is cool in the forest.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/catalonia/montseny
