Can anyone advise as to the following:

If visiting the Palace and Monastery in El Escorial by car with luggage in the trunk:

(a)is it generally safe in regards
to keeping the luggage in the
trunk (ie) is the parking lot
gated or enclosed in any way; and

(b) how long should we plan on
touring this site,as
we will be likely driving from
Madrid to Segovia or from
Segovia to Toledo and plan to
just stop on the way.

Thank you for any information.

Not sure about car stuff

but i spent a few hours touring the palace and seemed enough

the Valley of the Fallen is quite close too - very famous in Spain - Franco's final resting place and a grandiose monument in stark setting

Hi, nevertooold -

As I recall, I spent about 2 hours at El Escorial and was satisfied with that amount of time. And I second PalenQ's recommendation to consider stopping at the Valley of the Fallen.

Enjoy!

Hi nevertooold,
There is a large car park next to the monastery, where individuals and the tour buses park, where we leave our car when touring the site. It's not gated, if I recall correctly. We've stopped for a tour on our way from Barajas airport to the Parador at Avila with luggage left in the trunk and haven't had a problem. Of course, we leave nothing visible in the inside of the car.
You can visit the site by guided tour or independently (which I prefer). If you choose to see everythig, including the painting museum, the library, the pantheon of Kings and stroll the grounds, I would plan on at least 90 minutes. The village itself takes a very short time to see. Just go up the steps and walk down the main thoroughfare, Calle de la Florida.

More info here:
http://tinyurl.com/576w8y

nevertooold,
Maybe two hours is a better window. And the Monastery does have a tasteful gift shop, where you will find porcelain and ceramics from the Reales Sitios, maps, books, etc., even if they don't sell those elusive tapestries!

PalenQ and kja - we absolutely plan on making the Valley part of our visit.

Maribel - we will allocate approx. 3.5 hours max. to the visit to both locations just to be safe.

Be sure to let me know your feelings on Alcala de Henares as soon as you can as there is a great dearth of information (how's that for an oxymoron) on this location.

Thanks again.

there are bits and pieces about alcala here if you search by name.

i wrote a few notes way back.

nice easy town to visit.

Love the storks. nice stopover in a relaxed setting, even with ZARA shopping opportunities.

tinyurl.com/2vzs2

There is some controversary refgarding the Valley of the Fallen. It was built with slave labor and it is a monument to Facism.

I would favor a guided tour of the Monasterio by its personnel. In older days, it was mandatory as far as I recall and it was very good.
Also in those days the parking was safe , now I I do not know. I recall having good luncheons in town, which is very near.
I thought it was a good combination, morning the Monastery, lunch in San Lorenzo del Escorial, and then a drive to the Valle de los Caidos

Hi nevertooold,
I mentioned that I prefer to go through the Monastery on my own primarily because of the quality of English that you might hear from the guides. I've been through on both English language and Spanish language tours, and I certainly didn't understand much of what was explained by the English speaking guides, as their linguistic level wasn't so high.

About the Alcalá de Henares parador-
They sent me an email yesterday advising me that there is no garage parking yet (usually free to members of the Amigos frequent guest program, of which we're members), and no easy street parking nearby, so we'll have to pay for space in a public garage. Also the spa is not ready. It appears that they have opened this Parador a bit prematurely (a "soft" opening), thus, I expect glitches in service. Our rate is 100 euros per night, the same as Soria and Siguenza in Nov.
So stay tuned....I'll give you my honest opinion in a couple of days.

Maribel - my wife and I are hoping for a favourable report from you on Parador de Henares - if you had to choose between this parador and La Granja parador for a 2 night stay, which would you favour?

Also, if the price was comparable, which would you choose between - Amadeus or Alminar?

Thanks, as always.

Hi nevertooold,
We loved, loved, loved the very hip, ultra modern, sleek Parador in Alcalá de Henares, with heavenly beds, bath and buffet breakfast to die for! Even with the "soft opening" with a few items yet to be finished (restaurant, garage, spa-no English TV channels yet), it now makes my top 10, particularly since we paid only €100 for our deluxe accommodations! I can't promise you that same ridiculously low rate, though!

I do promise you a full review in the next few days-right now I'm busily catching up on my mail, etc. after our return. So give me a little time to write up a thorough review for you.

I would choose Alcalá over La Granja but wouldn't use it as a base to tour other areas. The traffic in and out on the A2 weekdays is stress-inducing and time consuming, plus signposting to the Parador is poor (take extremely good driving directions or reliable GPS). But it was just perfect for a last night's stay near the airport before heading home.

In Seville, between the Amadeus and the Alminar, I would choose the Alminar if the cost were comparable. Usually the Alminar runs more than the Amadeus and its annex, La Música, but perhaps not for your dates.

I'll be back...

Mirabel - could Alkala possibly be a base to do day trips to either (or both) Segovia and Toledo?

We are able to reserve it for approx. 110E without breakfast and would like to have a chance to stay there for 2 or 3 nights in order to still be able to have a "parador experience" if we ultimately choose to have 3 days in Marbella (which choice limits our ability to stay in other paradors - our hotel there would be Villa Marbella which TA indicates as the #1 hotel in all of Spain). By staying Alkala we could, if you agree, do 2 daytrips and still find some relaxation time to enjoy the pool area.

Thanks.

nevertooold,
I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I need to urge you strongly not to use the Alcalá Parador as a base for touring because of the traffic issues. I feel very adamant about this.

While the Parador makes a wonderful place to wind down after a two week driving excursion, its location doesn't serve well at all as a base to tour Segovia or Toledo-that would be an immense headache for the driver.

Why?
To reach Segovia or Toledo from Alcalá you'll need to leave and return on the terribly congested A2, one of Spain's busiest motorways with stress inducing truck and commuter traffic. Since Alcalá has become a virtual suburb of Madrid and a burgeoning one at that, there is always ongoing road construction in the area, exits blocked and poor signage to boot.

Because of unforeseen circumstances we arrived in Alcalá at 6 pm, just as darkness set in, the Alcalá exit ramp (number 36) had been blocked due to construction, and we drove around in the darkness for quite a while until we finally saw a small sign directing us back into town.

Plus Alcalá is blessed with many squares, and for the driver, cursed with many one way streets, with poor signposting for the Parador, making reaching and leaving the Parador quite time consuming and stress inducing, particularly to the uninitiated.

To reach Segovia from Alcalá, after driving on the dreaded A2, one would take the ring road M40, also plagued with heavy commuter traffic. It might take you 2 hrs. to find your way from the Parador to a Segovia parking lot.

Ditto to the trip to Toledo, as you'd need to take another ring road around Madrid, the M50, with equally heavy traffic. That trip would take at least 1 1/2 hrs., plus you'd need to deposit your car in the underground garage on Paseo Recaredo, beyond the Bisagra gate, past the Hostal del Cardenal then take the remonte mecánico (escalator) up to the historic quarter for touring.

My husband and I talked about this at length. We're happy to recommend very highly the Parador for R&R after a driving trip and before a transatlantic flight (the drive door to door to the Avis car rental return at T1 of Barajas with fuel stop took 35 min.).
But...certainly not as a base to tour Toledo, Segovia, Avila or other usual suspects.
We could recommend only a drive EAST on the A2 up to the lovely (and totally unspoiled) medieval town of Medinaceli in the Soria province, which doesn't make any first time traveler to Spain's "must see" list.

Mirabel - ok, so I'm going back to the "drawing board".

Because of our time constraints, we appear to have 2 alternatives to our planned trip:

(a) Sat.9:30am to Mon.1:00pm -Madrid
3 Museums and Palace

Mon.3:00pm to Wed.1:00pm -La
Granja parador- Segovia,
Palace and visit to El
Escorial on way to Toledo

Wed.5:00pm to Thurs.6:00pm -
Toledo

Thurs.9:00pm to Sat.8:00am -
Granada

Sat.10am to Mon.4:00pm -Marbella

Mon.7:00pm to Wed.4:00pm -
Seville

Wed.8:00pm to Tues.7:00am -
Barcelona

(b) The exact same except we would stay 1 night at the La Granja parador, see Segovia the next day, skip El Escorial and the Palace and go to Toledo later in the day (1 day earlier). We would then visit Toledo on Wed., drive to Cordoba that night, sleep in Cordoba, visit Cordoba Thurs., and drive to Granada Thurs. night, and do the same as noted in (a) above.

Basically, my wife really wants 3 days at the beach in Marbella and we both want some of the parado "experience".

So the question is, do we visit Cordoba and the Mezquita and forego a second night and morning and afternoon thereafter at the La Granja parador and El Escorial, or do we forego Cordoba for what is probably a less hectic schedule?

Thanks again.