Hostal Abat Cisneros

The Hostal Abat Cisneros is the hotel of the Montserrat sanctuary, a three-star in the Plaça de l'Abat Oliba, a few steps from the basilica. Its building has put up pilgrims since 1563; it became a guesthouse in the late 1950s and was modernised afterwards. Many rooms look onto the mountain or the square, and beyond it, the Llobregat valley. Sleeping here is the way to see Montserrat at sunset and first thing in the morning, when the sanctuary empties of coaches and day visitors.

Eighty-two rooms, nearly all with twin beds

There are 82 rooms for 153 guests: 17 singles, 55 doubles and 4 with a sitting room; 12 are connecting, handy for a family who want two rooms side by side. Most of them, 58, have two beds, and 24 have a double bed: if you want one, ask when you book. 62 face the mountain or the square. All have a bath or shower, satellite television, telephone, parquet floors and heating.

The hotel has a lift and step-free access for guests with disabilities, a bar and restaurant, meeting rooms, a reading room, safes and a children's play area. Groups can request a porter service with advance booking. Payment is by AMEX or VISA card, and animals are not allowed.

The sanctuary's listing does not publish prices or check-in and check-out times: these come from the Montserrat Visita booking engine or the reception, on 938 777 701 and at [email protected]. Members of Amics de Montserrat get a discount.

The rack railway is included if you book on their website

If you book on the Montserrat Visita website, the rate includes the rack railway ticket for every day of your stay. You collect it at the ticket office at Monistrol-Vila station, where parking is free, and you go up without a car. If you would rather drive all the way up, the sanctuary car park is paid, with a public fee set every year, and has limited spaces. As a guest, you enter the basilica and the Virgin's camarín without paying the tourist entrance fee.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner in the old stables

The restaurant of the Hostal Abat Cisneros occupies the 16th-century stables, with a stone vault and the rock of the mountain as a wall. It serves lunch from 13:00 to 15:00, and its booking system also opens breakfast sittings, from 8:00 to 10:00, and a buffet dinner, from 19:30 to 21:00; book on 607 243 305. The other options on the site close in the afternoon: the buffet at 16:00 and the cafeteria at 17:30, or 18:30 at weekends. For a quick breakfast, the Montserrat Cafeteria opens at 8:45.

The basilica on the same square

The basilica and the Escolania are on the same square: the choir sings Monday to Friday at 13:00 and on Sundays at 12:00, and the basilica opens at 7:00, before the first rack train goes up. A few minutes' walk away, the Camí de les Ermites and the Els Degotalls path begin, and the Sant Joan funicular climbs towards Sant Jeroni.