Why La Molina
La Molina was the first ski resort to open in Spain. The first drag lift here was built in the winter of 1943, and the resort has been continuously operating ever since: through the austerity years, through the ski boom of the 1980s, and into its current role as the busier, more extroverted half of the Alp 2500 ski domain. Two hours from Barcelona by minivan, less than two by direct Rodalies train from Plaça de Catalunya, and visibly growing every season.
Where Masella across the ridge is quiet and family-oriented, La Molina is where the lift queues get long on a sunny Saturday, where the terrain park gets rebuilt every year, and where the FIS Alpine World Cup downhill course drops into a vertical reality check. For a day skier coming out of Barcelona, La Molina offers more atmosphere and more variety of terrain: if you don't mind sharing it with a weekend crowd of Catalan families, after-work Barcelonians arriving on the train, and the occasional Andorran coming south for a change of scene.
Who the La Molina day suits
This tour is a strong fit if you want a bit more vertical and more lift options than Masella but don't want the extra 45 minutes of driving to Grandvalira. Confident intermediates will enjoy the long reds down from Tosa d'Alp, the resort's 2,537-metre summit. Advanced skiers get a proper challenge on the Cap de Comella descent: the FIS downhill course, open to the public when conditions permit, drops nearly 900 metres with 32% gradient sections. Snowboarders and park skiers get one of the better-maintained snowparks in the Pyrenees, with a sequence of boxes, kickers and rails that are built up through December and maintained all season.
What this tour isn't: a learning tour or a family-of-small-children tour. La Molina has excellent ski schools and a well-run children's area, but neither is part of our day product. If you have children under eight or genuine beginners in the group, a multi-day resort stay with lessons will serve you better than our day format.
The day in practice
We pick you up from your Barcelona hotel at a quarter past seven. The route to La Molina leaves Barcelona on the C-16, cuts north through Berga and climbs up the Cadí tunnel, about ten kilometres of road through the mountain which cuts twenty minutes off the old route around. Just past Bagà we usually stop for coffee at a petrol station bakery that's open from six every morning, which is the one reliable bakery on the route in winter.
From the tunnel the drive takes us through the Cerdanya into Alp village, from where it's ten minutes up a well-maintained mountain road to the La Molina base station at 1,600 metres. By half past nine we are usually parked. The guide walks you to the equipment rental shop at the base and the ticket office; both tend to be straightforward on weekday mornings and busier on weekends. If you are already carrying your own skis, that saves 15–20 minutes and gets you on the first lift sooner.
We suggest starting the day on the Tosa d'Alp gondola up to the summit: the views across to Puigpedrós and south to the Mediterranean are worth the trip even before you take your first run. Experienced skiers often head straight for the backside into the Alp 2500 lift-linked area with Masella. If you have an Alp 2500 ticket (we help you buy the combined pass if you ask), you can ski both resorts in the same day. Most of our guests spend the morning on the La Molina side and cross over for lunch at the restaurant above Masella, which is sunnier.
Last lifts in La Molina usually run until half past four. We ask you to be back at the minivan by five sharp. Allow fifteen minutes to drop the rental equipment at the shop and change out of your boots: nobody enjoys the drive home in rental boots. We are usually back in central Barcelona by half past seven in the evening.
A day on this tour, hour by hour
- Pick-up at your Barcelona hotel
- Coffee stop near Vic
- Arrive at La Molina, rentals and lift passes
- First lift to Tosa d'Alp sector
- Lunch break at a slopeside restaurant (not included)
- Last lift down
- Depart from the resort
- Drop-off in Barcelona
Snowboard, park and racing
If you are a snowboarder, the long main road from Tosa d'Alp down to Cap de Comella is one of our favourite flat-to-steep progressions on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. The La Molina snowpark is just below Alabau and reachable by two different chairs. The park's design is updated each November: in a good year, it includes a progression line (small, medium, large) of kickers, a dedicated jib area with rails and boxes, and often a mini halfpipe. Opening hours and features are weather-dependent; worth checking the resort's live park status before you book.
If you want to run the Cap de Comella FIS downhill course: this is a genuine World Cup descent that the resort opens to the public under certain snow conditions, let us know in advance. The course has a mandatory time slot system and we will book you in. It's not an experience most intermediates will enjoy, but strong advanced skiers find it one of the better freely-accessible race pistes in Europe.
Combined with Masella
If you buy the Alp 2500 lift pass (approximately €62 instead of €56 for the single resort), you can ski both La Molina and Masella in the same day: the two are joined by a single lift at the top of Tosa d'Alp. Many of our guests who come twice in a trip do a La Molina morning and a Masella afternoon the first time, then book the Masella day tour for the second day. Either resort is well worth the drive on its own, but having them lift-linked is one of the quiet advantages of this corner of the Pyrenees.