The guided modernist route in La Garriga runs on the second Saturday of the month at 10:00, and there is no other. Turn up on an ordinary Sunday and you will see the houses from outside, which is not nothing, but you will not get inside any of them.
The Illa Raspall is a single block holding four modernist houses by Manel Joaquim Raspall, built between 1910 and 1913. Heritage here opens on office hours rather than tourist hours, which is the first thing to check before travelling out on the best villages near Barcelona.
What is there to see in La Garriga? The Illa Raspall, four modernist houses from 1910 to 1913 listed as national heritage, an air raid shelter inside the railway station, the Roman villa of Can Terrers and two thermal spas. It sits on Rodalies line R3, around an hour north of Barcelona.
Getting there, and what else is on the line
Trains run on Rodalies line R3, from L’Hospitalet to Vic. That is La Garriga’s main advantage over other thermal towns and the reason it works as a half-day trip rather than a full expedition.
The same line continues to Vic and on to Ripoll and Ribes de Freser, so one direction of travel covers several different trips. The full map of what is reachable without a vehicle is in Catalonia without a car, and the timings for each line in the train day trips guide.
The guided route, and what it costs
The itinerary is called Vila termal i d’estiueig, also known as the Raspall Route, and it leaves Can Raspall on the second Saturday of the month at 10:00 with advance registration.
Individual entry costs 4.50 euros, with a reduced rate of 3 euros and free admission for under-8s. For a family of four with two children under 8 that puts the whole guided route at 9 euros, less than one museum ticket in the city.
Booking is the part to plan around. Reservations go through info@visitalagarriga.cat or on 610 477 823, and Can Raspall answers Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 13:00 only, a narrower window than the route itself and the reason most visitors end up emailing rather than calling.
Because the route is monthly, it books out in spring and autumn, when the walk is comfortable and the visitor centre keeps its longer Saturday hours. Turning up on the day without a place is the common failure here, and there is no second departure to fall back on.
The visitor centre closes more than it opens
Opening hours shift with the season and are very short outside it. From Easter to October the centre opens Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday and public holidays from 10:00 to 14:00, and Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 19:00. The rest of the year it opens only Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 to 14:00.
It sits at Carretera nova 46. Put together with a route that runs once a month, Saturday is the only day that opens both, which is worth knowing before booking a midweek trip out of the city.
A day here, in order
Everything sits within walking distance of the station, so the constraint is the calendar rather than the map.
- Take the R3 to La Garriga, the L’Hospitalet to Vic line.
- Illa Raspall on foot, twenty minutes for all four facades, free.
- Guided route at 10:00 if it is the second Saturday, 4.50 euros, booked ahead.
- Can Terrers or La Doma, the Roman and medieval ends of the town.
- Blancafort thermal circuit, 120 minutes at 34.83 euros, no room needed.
Admissions come to 39.33 euros with the spa, or 4.50 euros without it, which is where the daily travel budget puts this against a day inside Barcelona.
The four houses of the Illa Raspall
The block is made up of Casa Barbey, Torre Iris, La Bombonera and Casa Barraquer, all raised by Manel Joaquim Raspall between 1910 and 1913 and listed as a Bé Cultural d’Interès Nacional.
La Bombonera dates from 1910 and 1911, Torre Iris from 1911, Casa Barbey went up between 1911 and 1919 and Casa Barraquer between 1912 and 1913. They are garden-houses, meaning detached homes with their own plot, which is the format a summer resort demanded rather than the apartment block of the Eixample. The railway is why they exist: it let Barcelona families summer here and return to the city when needed, and Granollers, Cardedeu and L’Ametlla del Vallès fill the same ring of rail-served summer towns. The urban half of that story is in modernisme beyond Gaudí and the movement’s background in the Catalan modernisme secrets guide.
Because they sit together at the start of the Passeig, all four can be seen in twenty minutes on foot and at no cost if the facades are what you came for. Raspall was appointed municipal architect of La Garriga in 1906 and studied under Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and his work here went well beyond these four buildings: he reworked shopfronts and houses throughout the central streets, so the modernist air of the centre is his and not a later addition.
An air raid shelter inside the station
La Garriga keeps an air raid shelter in the railway station and the Rosanes aerodrome, both from the Civil War, and both are part of the council’s guided programme.
The shelter’s location has a hard logic to it: the same railway that brought the summer visitors made the junction a military target thirty years later. Both are booked through the same visitor centre as the modernist route, and neither is open to walk-ins.
| Site | What it is |
|---|---|
| Can Terrers Roman villa | Roman archaeological site |
| La Doma | church in the old centre |
| Illa Raspall | four modernist houses, 1910 to 1913 |
| Rosanes aerodrome | Civil War airfield |
| Station air raid shelter | Civil War shelter |
The Can Terrers Roman villa and the church of La Doma close the set and cover the other two ends of the town’s chronology, which means a single small town runs from Roman occupation to the Civil War by way of Catalan modernism.
The spa, without booking a room
Blancafort Spa Termal sells a 120-minute thermal circuit at 34.83 euros and requires no room booking, which is what surprises most people reading its hotel pages. The number is 93 860 56 00.
It admits children aged 4 to 13 into the Natatorium with an adult during the Blancafort Kids window, 10:00 to 16:00, a condition few spas publish. Hotel Termes La Garriga is the town’s other thermal establishment, and between them they cover the mineral water that drew the summer visitors who commissioned the Raspall houses in the first place.
Pairing a 34.83-euro circuit with a 4.50-euro guided walk makes a full day for under 40 euros of admissions, which is roughly one Gaudí ticket in Barcelona. The spa books separately from the heritage route, so a second Saturday needs two reservations rather than one.
The wider comparison sits in thermal spas near Barcelona. The most useful contrast is with Caldes de Montbui, where the spring runs at 74 degrees and a municipal bath costs 7 euros, but no train reaches the town.
Frequently asked questions about La Garriga
How do you get to La Garriga from Barcelona?
On Rodalies line R3, which runs from L’Hospitalet to Vic. That is the difference from Caldes de Montbui, the other thermal town in Barcelona province, which has no station and is reached by Sagalés bus instead.
Is there anything besides the modernist houses?
The station air raid shelter and the Rosanes aerodrome, both from the Civil War, the Roman villa of Can Terrers and the church of La Doma. All five are covered by the town council’s guided visit programme.
What is the Illa Raspall?
A listed block of four garden-houses by Manel Joaquim Raspall, protected as a Bé Cultural d’Interès Nacional. La Bombonera came first, followed by Torre Iris, then Casa Barraquer and Casa Barbey. The facades are visible from the street at any hour and cost nothing.
Can you use the Blancafort spa without staying overnight?
Yes, and no room booking is needed, which is the part most people miss on the hotel site. The thermal circuit runs 120 minutes and costs 34.83 euros. Children can use the Natatorium with an adult during a daytime window reserved for families.
When does the guided modernist route run?
Once a month only, on the second Saturday, departing Can Raspall at 10:00 with registration in advance through info@visitalagarriga.cat. Under-8s go free and the adult ticket is 4.50 euros. There is no second departure if you miss it.
Is La Garriga worth a day trip on a weekday?
Only for the facades. The visitor centre opens Wednesday to Friday mornings from Easter to October and not at all midweek the rest of the year, and the guided route runs one Saturday a month, so a weekday visit is a walk around the outside.
Which day not to come
Any day that is not a Saturday, if getting inside anything is the point. The guided route runs on a single Saturday a month, the second, and outside the season the visitor centre opens only Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 14:00.
Midweek and in winter, La Garriga is a town seen from the outside. That still means the four Illa Raspall facades, which stand in the street and cost nothing, but not the station air raid shelter or the Rosanes aerodrome, which are guided-access only.
Saturday in season is the one day that opens both: the centre on a split timetable, 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 19:00, and the route if the date falls right. At 4.50 euros, that combination is the only complete visit available.
The spa runs on its own calendar and ignores all of this: the 120-minute circuit at 34.83 euros books any day on 93 860 56 00.
Hours, visit prices and the route calendar were read on 21 August 2026 from visitalagarriga.cat.
The route runs once a month; the facades are there any day of the week.