Montjuic is a mountain near the center of Barcelona and also the name of the neighborhood. We took more than one day exploring this area and you should too. Montjuic Castle and Montjuic Cemetery are there, but also big draws like the 1992 Olympic Park, the National Museum of Art of Catalunya, and the Magic Fountain. Stick with us, it’s a long post, but lots of pictures!

First, we hiked up to the castle and we weren’t disappointed by the views during the walk. It was, admittedly, a zig-zagging never-ending incline but there is a cable-car option for less ambitious (or smarter?) castle visitors.

Let’s start with the castle. It’s actually not a castle, it’s a former fortress and watchtower. There is a museum around the interior that explains the history of the castle and military history of Barcelona. At the highest point of the mountain, the castle has wide views of the sea and an amazing breeze. It’s a nice mix of history and beautiful scenery.

Next we walked around the public areas of the old Olympic Park. Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics and the remaining infrastructure is worthy of the Olympic podium. (Check out the epic lighting of the torch, the video is only a minute long.)

There’s still more! Getting closer to the city center we walked by a gorgeous art museum. The National Palace is a grand building with 3 domes and 4 towers spanning the roof. The palace now serves as the headquarters for the National Art Museum of Catalunya. We didn’t have time to squeeze in entry to the museum, but reviews are great online. Our loss? On the bright side, we got plenty of enjoyment out of the exterior of the building.

Notice the fountain in the foreground? This was our next item on the list. At night this fountain turns into a music and multi-colored light show. Named “The Magic Fountain”, it’s nightly performance drew a large crowd of locals and tourists alike. It was great for kids and also canoodling couples. There is plenty of seating on the palace/museum steps, plus you’re not in the splash zone like the people on the other side of the fountain.

Montjuic Cemetery isn’t right in this area. In fact, it’s almost an hour walk from the castle and we highly recommend visiting on a different day than all of the above awesome-ness that is a much easier walking distance to each other. We made a day-trip of the cemetery and took the city bus to get there. Taking the bus back to city center is also possible, but the stop is across a highway and through a shipping dock area. It wasn’t a great walk. We suggest you take the bus there, but get a taxi back.

The cemetery is huge. It’s 138 acres climb up the mountain overlooking the ocean. The bottom area has plenty of large mausoleums to explore. As you get closer to the top it becomes a maze of stone walls with sepulchral niche compartments that look like cubbies stacked 10 high.

Please be aware that the cemetery is still functioning. It’s very much worth a visit, but be respectful. At any moment a funeral might be going on within earshot, which is exactly what happened with us, and you don’t want to be disrespectful during such an important family moment. Always use a low voice and give people their space if you see them visiting loved ones. Honestly, we wouldn’t recommend bringing kids or pets here.

Although somber, this cemetery is spectacular and truly one of a kind. It was a stunningly fitting way to end our exploration of the multi-dimensional neighborhood of Montjuic.