Madrid day trips
 

Looking at day trips from Madrid and wondering which ones I can do "alone" and which ones I will need to schedule with a bus group. I prefer to go it alone, but won't have a car.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Toledo - I think I can easily take a train from Madrid and tour with a guide book. No?

El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen - bus tour?

Segovia and maybe Avila - bus tour?

I'm also looking for a day trip from Madrid when I'm there in April. I asked for suggestions a few days ago, and received many responses. I think you can click on my user name (TennesseeVol) and get to the thread. I may not help you much regarding which are better alone, or which need bus tours. But, it did mention alot of places I would have never known to look into...

I went to Segovia alone and just loved it. There's no reason you have to do a bus tour there, why would you think that. The only places you must have bus tours are those without any reasonable public transportation to them, or maybe if you want to combine a couple places and a bus tour is so much more convenient.

I took a bus to Segovia, they had runs all the time when I did that, quick and cheap. I think I've read they have a direct train to Segovia, now, though, which might be more convenient. They did not when I did it, the train took a long time as it wasn't direct or something.

We went to Segovia and Toledo as a family, on a train. The trains are very fast now and very convenient. In both placed we had to take a local bus at the train station to get to the center but it was no big deal. You can definitely do both places alone. We bought our return train tickets in Madrid but I am not sure we had to. Just wanted to have certainty.

You don't need a real bus tour to visit any of the places you listed above. I've taken the train to Toledo and Aranjuez and a standard bus to El Escorial and Segovia from Madrid (the bus station is much closer to the sights at the last two cities than the train station is).

My understanding is that the bus can also be successfully taken to Avila from Madrid, though I haven't been.

Things could easily have changed since I was there, but back in 2004, it was very difficult to get to the Valley of the Fallen without a tour unless one had a car. Many tours combine it with El Escorial (which can be easily reached by public transportation).

As others are saying, Toledo, Segovia, and Avila can be visited on one's own. If, however, you want to see Segovia and Avila on the same day, a tour might be worth considering.

The time I went to El Escorial, there was a bus that went once a day out to and then later back from Vallee de los Caidos in the afternoon. Not sure if that's still the case, nor am I sure this attraction is open to the public at present. I'd check first.

Will agree that El Escorial's palace complex is an easy walk from the bus station.

There is an organized bus tour that goes from Madrid to Segovia & Avila in the same day for about 62 euros. Viator also sells this tour in US$. Otherwise Segovia is an easy 1.5 hrs bus ride from Principe Pio bus station (12.65 euro R/T). There is also fast AVE train (30 min) but it goes to out of town station (3 miles, 7-8 euro taxi to Segovia center). El Escorial & Toledo are very easy to reach by public transit. Also Viator sells to above destinations.

If you have enough time to do Segovia and Toledo separately, I recommend not doing them on the same day.