Ripoll and Sant Joan de les Abadesses: the Romanesque of the counts.

The Ripollès is where the Catalonia of the counts begins. In Ripoll, Guifré el Pilós founded the monastery of Santa Maria around 879, with the most famous Romanesque portal in the country; eleven kilometres away, in Sant Joan de les Abadesses, his daughter Emma was the first abbess of another. A Sunday is enough for both, a long lunch and a flat walk along the old mining railway line. The condition is an early start: on Sundays both monasteries close at midday. From Manresa it is an hour; from Barcelona, an hour and a half.

The Day, Hour by Hour

8:45 · Departure. From Manresa, take the C-25 to Vic and the C-17 to Ripoll, an hour; from Barcelona, the whole C-17, an hour and a half. From Girona, via Olot and the C-26, a little over an hour and a quarter. Continue eleven more kilometres to Sant Joan de les Abadesses.

10:00 · Sant Joan de les Abadesses. The Romanesque church was consecrated in 1150. What you come to see is the Santíssim Misteri, a wooden Descent from the Cross of 1251, with seven almost life-size figures around Christ. On Sundays it opens from 10:00 to 13:00, and from September to May it closes on Thursdays. It is a parish church, with Mass on Sundays at 12:00: arrive first thing to see it without interrupting. Admission costs €5 and is free for under-12s. An hour is enough for the church and the Gothic cloister.

11:40 · Santa Maria de Ripoll. Return to Ripoll and park outside the centre. The monastery founded by Guifré has the 12th-century Romanesque portal, a great sculpted façade with scenes from the Bible known as the Bible in stone; inside, the pantheon of the Counts of Barcelona and a two-storey cloister. On Sundays it is open from 10:00 to 14:00 and tickets are sold until half an hour before closing. It costs €7.50, €3.50 for ages 5 to 18. Next to the church, on Plaça de l'Abat Oliba, is the tourist office.

13:45 · Lunch at Reccapolis. A family restaurant on the Sant Joan road, which according to some authors takes its name from that of Visigothic Ripoll. It serves lunch only, from Thursday to Monday; the kitchen is open from 13:00 to 15:15 and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Book on its website or on 972 70 21 06: Sunday is the busiest day. Parking is easy, outside the centre.

16:00 · The greenway. The Ruta del Ferro i del Carbó follows the line of the old mining railway, tarmacked and almost flat, from Ripoll station to Sant Joan de les Abadesses, about 10 km. Do a stretch out and back, half an hour each way, through meadows and beside the river. It is to walk off lunch, not to tire you out.

17:15 · Return. In Manresa around a quarter past six; in Barcelona, at a quarter to seven.

What to Order

Reccapolis serves seasonal Catalan cooking with local produce, all made in-house. It has an à la carte menu and a €33 set menu of the day, with a tapa, starter, main course and dessert; the sourdough bread is charged separately. The one for 12 November 2026 featured roasted-vegetable terrine with anchovies, fabada, Ripollès entrecôte, stuffed shoulder of roe deer or corvina in pil-pil sauce. In the Ripollès the local meat rules and, in autumn, game and mushrooms. If you prefer something simpler, the restaurant at Solana del Ter, on the way out of Ripoll along the C-17, has been serving meals since 1965 and has a set menu and a tapas bar.

With Children and Dogs

The monasteries are short and children like looking for animals and figures on the portal: ask at the entrance whether there is material for families. The greenway is ideal for them, by bike or pushchair: tarmacked and flat. Dogs can go on the greenway, on a lead; in the monasteries, no.