41.22° N · 0.80° E
Wineries with tours in Escaladei and Gratallops, the first charterhouse on the peninsula, olive oil and hotels among the vines, an hour from Tarragona.
Part of Priorat wines
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Old 17th-century cellar beside the Escaladei charterhouse, with four wines · 90 min · €25 · In Spanish at 13:30 and 16:00
Ruins of the 12th-century charterhouse beneath the Montsant cliffs: cloisters, church and a reconstructed cell · €7 · €11 with a guide · closed on Mondays
Winery high on the T-740 with a vineyard and winery visit, three wines and a local aperitif · 1 h 30 to 2 h 30 · from €35 · By reservation
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
Spring and autumn. September and October bring the grape harvest and golden vines; in winter the charterhouse and wineries stay open and the new oil comes out in December. In July and August, take walks among the vines early in the day.
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.
Priorat is a wine weekend for friends who prefer small wineries and unhurried tastings: tiny villages like Gratallops and Escaladei, slate vineyards and wines you taste with the people who make them. A weekend fits two visits a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and long dinners in Gratallops or Escaladei. The wineries are small and several ask for a reservation and a minimum number of people, so it is worth writing to them in advance and confirming the exact number. The views from the terrace at Cal Llop and the slate vineyards do the rest.
Where to stay
Why we like it: Adults-only hotel in the old farm of the Escaladei charterhouse, with 26 rooms, its own winery, 22 ha of organic vineyard, a spa among olive trees and a pool.
Why we like it: Three outward-facing rooms with a terrace over the vines inside a Priorat winery, one of them a suite-apartment with a kitchen, with a restaurant and a welcome bottle.
Why we like it: Charming ten-room hotel on Carrer de Dalt in Gratallops, with a terrace over the vineyards, a wine bar serving Priorat wines and packages with winery visits.
Areas, for any way of travelling
| Area | Who it's for | Average night |
|---|---|---|
| Escaladei | The charterhouse, Cellers de Scala Dei and Terra Dominicata, beneath the Montsant | |
| Gratallops | A winemaking village above the Siurana river: Devinssi, Buil & Giné and Cal Llop | |
| Porrera and Falset | Ferrer Bobet on the T-740, between the two towns | |
| La Bisbal | The cooperative's oil mill, to the north |
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 rice dish or a dish from the surf and turf menu, and ask the dining-room team for a wine from another Priorat village to compare with the house ones
What to order: the seasonal menu with the house wines, after the tasting and the Baño de Viñas
What to order: a glass of a Gratallops wine with a platter of Cal Centre artisan charcuterie
Map
Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
It is a small, mountainous district in inland Tarragona, with the crags of the Montsant range to the north and terraced vineyard slopes falling towards the Siurana and Montsant rivers. Its name comes from the priory of the Escaladei charterhouse, founded in the 12th century, the first Carthusian house on the peninsula: the monks planted vines, and the district kept their name and their wine. Today Priorat wine holds the highest denomination category in Catalonia, the DOQ, and the DO Montsant surrounds it.
Start with Escaladei: the charterhouse ruins explain the rest, and a short walk away are Cellers de Scala Dei, the winery that presents itself as the oldest in the district, and Terra Dominicata, a hotel and winery on the monks' former farm. Then head down to Gratallops, a winemaking village perched above the Siurana, and the road from Falset to Porrera.
Almost all by reservation, and almost all small. These have published tours with prices:
To see the terraces from the inside without driving, Montsant Natura runs 4x4 routes among the vines from Cornudella, with a tasting, and hires out electric bikes. And in harvest season, the La Bisbal cooperative shows visitors its oil mill for €8.
The Priorat has few hotels and almost all are small; book well ahead in autumn. Terra Dominicata is the district's wine hotel: 26 adults-only rooms, its own winery, a spa among olive trees and its restaurant, Mater Terrae, with over 300 wines from the Priorat and Montsant. At Buil & Giné you sleep inside the winery, in three rooms with a terrace, and eat at Amics, at the top of the building. In the old centre of Gratallops, the Hotel Cal Llop has ten rooms and the wine bar La Boca del Llop, with a list of Priorat wines only.
There is no practical public transport between the wineries. There are three honest solutions: sleep at a winery or next to one, so that the tasting is the last stop of the day; book a guided route, such as the 4x4 from Cornudella; or have someone who does not drink do the driving. The roads are narrow and twisty. Between Terra Dominicata and the charterhouse you can walk, about 40 minutes through the vines.
Siurana, the village on the crag, is about 40 minutes by car from Escaladei and rounds off a day of wineries well.
Charterhouse first thing, tasting at midday and lunch a short walk away.
The charterhouse is closed on Mondays that are not public holidays.
Questions
The Escaladei charterhouse, a winery with a tasting in Escaladei or Gratallops and, if there is time, Siurana.
From €15 for the four-wine tasting alone at Scala Dei; the tour with tasting is €25, and those at other wineries run from €20 to €50.
At Terra Dominicata, in Escaladei, or in the rooms at the Buil & Giné winery, near Gratallops.
Hardly: there is no practical public transport between wineries. The sensible thing is to sleep at a winery and get around on a guided route.
In spring and autumn; in September and October, during the grape harvest.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/catalonia/priorat
