41.43° N · 1.79° E
Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, the capital of cava, and Vilafranca del Penedès, the capital of wine, less than an hour from Barcelona by car or train. Cellars, vineyards and a museum.
Part of Cava and Wines of the Penedès
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Sant Sadurní's cava centre, in a former distillery: an hour of audiovisuals and a tasting for €6, and combined visits with cellars in the town.
75-minute Heritage Tour of the Puig i Cadafalch modernista cellars in Sant Sadurní, with an underground train ride and a tasting of two cavas. From €25.
A flat 3.5 km path through vineyards, from Vilafranca tourist office to the Torre de les Aigües, with eight stations about wine. Free.
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
May and June, with the vines green, and September and October, with the harvest and the Sant Sadurní Cavatast in the second week of October. In July and August, walk only first thing: there is no shade between the vines.
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.
A car opens up the wineries on the outskirts, such as Codorníu, Torres at Mas La Plana or Castelo de Pedregosa, which have no train nearby. In return, someone does not taste: or you sleep here and spread the visits over two days.
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 Penedès seems like an adult thing, but the cava cellars have trains and the vineyards have level paths. With children, one cellar visit and one walk are enough for the day.
The Penedès is easy to enjoy with friends and without your own car: Vilafranca and Sant Sadurní are well connected by train, the cava cellars are visited in the afternoon and there are tables with room for everyone. The Penedès is enjoyed over a long day or a night: in the morning, a visit to a cava cellar in Sant Sadurní, lunch at a winery or in Vilafranca and, in the afternoon, a walk among the vines to work off the meal. If you stay overnight, Vilafranca is a walk from the train and lets you arrive or leave without a car. Almost everything is booked a few days ahead.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Five-star hotel in the Mastinell cava winery, a 1 km walk from the centre of Vilafranca: rooms with vineyard views, the En Rima restaurant and a cava cellar tour.
Why we like it: Eight-room hotel among olive trees and vines in Avinyonet del Penedès, with a garden and views of Montserrat, on an Iberian site linked to the origin of wine in Catalonia.
Why we like it: Four-star hotel in an 1884 modernista building on Vilafranca del Penedès's rambla: 14 rooms and 3 suites a few steps from the Vinseum and the train.
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: a tasting of its cavas at the cellar, by reservation.
What to order: On weekdays, the menu of the day or the Menú del Cigró; at the weekend, the seasonal à la carte with Penedès wine.
© CodorníuWhat to order: The La Torre menu, which you can book together with the cellar visit; pair it with one of the house cavas.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
Visit slots fill up on Saturdays and Sundays. Check too whether the winery offers food or snacks: many don't.
The R4 drops you in the centre of Sant Sadurní and Vilafranca. That way nobody has to give up a glass.
Morning in Sant Sadurní with the Cava Centre and a cellar, afternoon in Vilafranca with the Vinseum and a stroll around the old town.
In the second week of October, Sant Sadurní holds the Cava Week with the Cavatast fair, with winery stalls in the street.
Bring a small cool box in the boot: if you buy bottles at the winery in summer, they won't heat up on the way home.
The vines give no shade and the Penedès sun is fierce from June to September. Do your walks before eleven or leave the countryside for the evening.
The Penedès is the plain of vineyards between the coastal range and Montserrat, halfway between Barcelona and Tarragona. For a day, two villages are enough and they complement each other. Sant Sadurní d'Anoia is the capital of cava: beneath its streets and estates are the cellars where the wine undergoes its second fermentation in the bottle. Vilafranca del Penedès, a quarter of an hour away, is the capital of wine: an old town with a Gothic basilica, the wine museum of Catalonia and the strongest castell (human tower) tradition in the district.
If you only have a morning, stay in Sant Sadurní: the Cava Centre explains in an hour what is behind the bubbles and, from there, the wineries on the outskirts welcome you with a reservation. If you prefer still wine or history, Vilafranca: the Vinseum, Plaça de Jaume I and the Camí del Vi, a flat walk that leaves from the tourist office and winds between the vines.
By car it is about 45 minutes to Sant Sadurní and a little under an hour to Vilafranca; from Tarragona, more or less the same. The access roads are the AP-7, C-15, C-32 and N-340.
Without a car, the train is the best option: Rodalies line R4, from Manresa to Sant Vicenç de Calders, stops at Sant Sadurní and Vilafranca. The Cava Centre is in the centre of Sant Sadurní; the wineries on the outskirts, such as those on the BP-2151 road, need a taxi or car. The R2 Sud takes you to the Penedès along the coast, via Sant Vicenç de Calders.
Almost all wineries work by reservation and fixed times, especially at weekends. A typical visit lasts between an hour and an hour and a half: vineyard or cellar, an explanation of how the traditional method is done and a tasting at the end. The Sant Sadurní Cava Centre sells combined visits with wineries in the town, which saves organising two reservations. Whoever is driving should bear in mind that the tasting is part of the plan.
What suits children best is the Camí del Vi in Vilafranca, with a downloadable game for them, and the Cava Centre, which is audiovisual. At the Cava Centre, under-16s go in with an adult, and the free entry on the first Sunday of the month does not include the tasting.
Questions
€6 per person, with discounts for pensioners, children, students and large families. On the first Sunday of each month entry is free, but without the tasting.
Slots Tuesday to Friday at 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 16:30; Saturdays at 11:00, 12:30 and 16:30, and Sundays at 11:00 and 12:30. You book via the town council's website or on 93 891 31 88.
Yes, by reservation. Its Modernista cellars, by Josep Puig i Cadafalch between 1902 and 1915, are a site of national cultural interest. Check price and times on the winery's website.
Yes: the R4 stops at Sant Sadurní d'Anoia and Vilafranca del Penedès. From Barcelona it is the most convenient option if you are tasting.
The Basilica of Santa Maria, with visits to the bell tower and the roof; the Vinseum, museum of the wine cultures of Catalonia, with the Petjades del Vi urban route; the Palau Baltà and the Sant Francesc cloister. If it coincides, a castellers performance in the square.
The Heritage Tour, 75 minutes with a train through the cellars and a tasting of two cavas, costs €25 per adult in 2026; under-8s don't pay. You book on the Codorníu website.
In Vilafranca, the Mercer Casa Torner i Güell, in a Modernista building on the rambla. Among the vines, the Hotel Boutique Font de la Canya, in Avinyonet del Penedès.
In Sant Sadurní, at the Fassina de Can Guineu, Carrer de l'Hospital 23 (93 891 31 88, the same site as the Cava Centre). In Vilafranca, at Carrer Hermenegild Clascar 2 (93 818 12 54).
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/catalonia/penedes
