kettamic

We may have a day at the end of our trip to visit Madrid. We are traveling by car and I am interested in a recommendation on a town or small city fairly close to Madrid where we could spend the night and take a train into the city for a short visit.

We will be coming from the direction of Toledo and have already been to the Segovia area.

Robert2533

You can stay in Alcala de Henares and take the Cercanias commuter train into the city.

kimhe

I also recommend Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes (today a museum) and candidate to be the 2016 cultural capital of Europe. A World Heritage site since 1998. The University of Alcalá, founded in 1499, is one the best conserved Renaissance university complexes in Europe. And in Alcalá, even the McDonald's on the main square looks classy.

The Madrid terror bombings of 2004 ocurred on three commuter trains from Alcalá when arriving at Madrid Atotcha station in the morning of 11th of March (11M). Monuments to commemorate the victims have been raised in both the Alcalá de Henares and the Atocha train stations.

Informative website about the town:
http://www.ayto-alcaladehenares.es/h...ite_language=4

kettamic

Two votes for Alcala de Henares. My wife can do a reasonable amount of walking but she does have breathing problems. Is the train station within walking distance of Plaza Mayor? Say within a mile or so? Thanks.

thursdaysd

"We will be coming from the direction of Toledo" - will you have already visited Toledo? If not, why not stay in Toledo?

kimhe

Almost exactly one mile from Atocha train station to Plaza Mayor, or 5-6€ with taxi.

Robert2533

You can also take the metro from Atocha station.

kettamic

thursdaysd: Yes, we will already have visited Toledo. My thought was if there was an interesting town near Madrid and the airport we could arrive there early in the day from Toledo
and take a day trip into Madrid. We would then be near the airport for our early afternoon flight the following day.

kimhe and Robert2533: Thanks for the info regarding Alcala de Henares and the train station.

Cowboy1968

I cannot remember anymore how easy it is to change from Atocha Cercanias to the Metro platforms. Maybe a more convenient way would be to change at Atocha Cercanias for any northbound train that goes via Sol.

WillTravel

It's not that difficult to change from the Cercanias to the Metro. There is some walking and some escalators, and I think an elevator is available (but I can't swear to that).

lincasanova

To get to alaclá de henares from toledo go to aranjuez, enjoy that lovely town if weather is pleasant. This was the king's summer palace. There is an interesting royal naval museum there where you can see the lovely boats used to float the royalty back and forth to the Madrid Palace.

There is a new parador in alcalá. If you sing up for "amigos" del parador you will receive a drink plus free parking at all paradors when you stay there.

If you are into ICONS there is one of the best exhibits in spain at the queen's summer farm closer to Barajas. It is now a restaurant and perhaps hotel I will try to look it up for you. It is wedged between unattractive buildings now but must have been very relaxing centuries ago.

after driving all day I doubt you will want to huff into madrid when there is so much to see in alcalá and Aranjuez. If your main goal is to visit Madrid I would return the car THERE and stay downtown and enjoy Madrid. Takes 15-20 minute by taxi to get to the airport.

Or if you want to see these small towns, why not visit them and then sleep at an airport hotel very late once you are done touring. If you have a very early morning flight you may want to return the car at night to not have that hassle in the morning.

cindybug

You could also visit the beautiful and relaxing parador at Chinchon which is only an hr drive to the airport. If you haven't been to Madrid, I vote for the night in the city and the taxi to the airport.