santes creus monastery

This is the middle ages in modern times. The entrance panels explain the history and time line of this ruined monastery so well, setting up your visit before you even get there. Once inside the closters are in perfect condition and the story of Cisterian monastic life is laid out before you in the successive rooms and the church, which contains three royal tombs. This truly is a wonderful place to visit, and you are free to wonder where you want for as long as you want, unlike Poblet with its timed visits. This is far better and cheaper than Poblet. For us it also gave us a much better insight into monastic life of the times - highly recommended.

In Santas Creus youy can smell the middle-ages. Visit the monastery, which is much more original than the Poblet one, and you will learn a lot about the cisterians. Make sure to see the audiovisual. Ask for it, as they use to send foreign tourist to the monastery without this audiovisual. Tip: free at tuesdays

It's a bit away so we needed a car to get there, but it was absolutely amazing.The site is well kept and the atmosphere is astonishing. We explored the surrounding area making it a whole day experience.Worth the journey!

When you enter the monastery you have a wonderful option to see the film they provide to explain how the monks use to live,think and work.It's very well done...a hint...it's not just a film,there are surprises. ;)

A lovely monastery - well preserved and well renovated. The first courtyard is by far the prettiest. We didn't stay to see the movie, so can't say whether it's worth watching or not. Maybe a little expensive for what it is.

These three monasteries are close to Barcelona and world heritage site. Try to visit them. They are very well kept and belong to a incredible portion of the history of the Catholic religion. The Cathar movement! the monastery is very well kept, and you can buy a ticket to visit the three of them. We only saw this one and Poblet, due to time constrains.

The monastery survived over 500 years before being sacked, but has to a large degree been reconstructed, and beautifully. The self-guided (audio guide) tour of the museum is impressive, walking you in the shoes of a hypothetical young member of the monastery community from many hundreds of years ago. It was eye-opening to learn the degree of economic and practical influence that these monasteries had, especially given my admitted distaste for religious oversight.Very well worth a visit; give yourself enough time to really enjoy it and let the experience sink in.

The local Catalan government prepares and presents its tourist attractions very well. This is a well preserved Abbey, and is easy to navigate around using the supplied tour brochure in your choice of language. We missed the English guided tour - it goes at 2 pm, however the brochure is adequate. The buildings have been reasonably well preserved, and the sculptures are most interesting - including some representations of the sculpturer himself, and his friends!

loved it !this place is brillant, we did the "tour" with MontBlanc, Poblet and Santes Cruz.Obviously poblet is still active so very well maintained and very impressive. However even if not so neat, Santes Cruz was impressive too and the audio/video show very creative : I loved it.

The outside of this is not as impressive as Poblet but they have an excellent video (really more of a son et lumière) that gives history of the Cistercian Order. It provides a great context for visits all 3 monasteries. There is a video in English (schedules will vary).

Great place to visit to learn a lot about the many monasteries in Catalunia. The area is well kept, I learned a lot also with the audio self guided tour. The entrance was difficult to find, it's a good thing we didn't give up to find it. Outside, there is a small cafe that serves excellent coffee and the famous catalunia bread. High recommended.

There are two monasteries that I'd include as a must if you have a day to spare on a road trip between Catalonia (Barcelona/Tarragona) and Valencia. One is Santes Creus Monastery and the other one is Poblet. I had them both in my road atlas as points of high interest. They indeed were. Both 13th century, relatively small monasteries. If you have time to visit only one of them, plan on Santes Creus. It is more vivid and it has an audio-visual tour translated into many languages, including "traditional" European ones, as French, German, and even into Russian. We were visiting in the end of May and the place was not crowded at all. So we could watch an exciting audio-visual almost alone. It was included into the entry price of 4.50 euros (general fee).Its schedule varies by month, but in general, it is closed on Mondays, and it wouldn't be open later than 5pm off-season months.Besides the audio visual, there are no detailed information, so as always, I'd suggest reading up on history before the visit.2-3 hours would probably be enough for you to enjoy this ancient place and have a relaxing time in the shade (if you're traveling in the summer).

Don't miss this monestery. Beautiful, unique. A great visit, a very good movie inside, explaining the story of the monastery, beautiful gardens.

A great tour of the monastery - do take advantage of the audio visual show - it is included in the admission prices and shows are presented in various languages throughout the day - fantastic! A very good place to visit. Nice cafe just outside the main carpark gates - good for a sandwich and beer!

hav a lot of fun ath this place I hope you enjoy it too as I did