Madrid Easy Overnight Trips
 

Hi all - I could really use some advice. A friend and I are going to Madrid for about 10 days at the beginning of November. My understanding from these posts is that 10 days may be too long. While I'd prefer not to stray too far from Madrid (I'd like to avoid addl. flights/long train rides over 3 hours) does anyone have any suggestions for destinations that we could do a night in each and maybe stay in some paradores?

Also, does anyone know of any festivals, special events, etc. in the area in early November that we need to be aware of and make sure to not miss?

Final question...What's the weather like in early November?

Sorry for all of the questions and thanks in advance for everyone's help.

ttt

You should spend a night in Toledo. You can do other day trips and tours to places such as Avila, Segovia, etc.

I will second the suggestion to stay overnight in Toledo. It is a lovely, small city, visited by many on day trips. My experience was the city was totally captivating in the evening after all the tour buses were departed.

Segovia should not be missed but I only saw it on a day visit so can't speak as to the evening ambiance.

One tiny thought to leave; just in case you might be lured into that long train ride. Granada is six hours by train and the Alhambra is absolutely awesome. Just a thought. http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada.htm

thanks...any other thoughts??

Salamanca is a beautiful University town that you can stay overnight at. The Plaza Mayor is amazing!

If I could only do one, it would be Segovia. For two, I'd probably pick Toledo. Both are easy day or overnight trips. Check out paradores at parador.es.

Seville would top my list and is about 2 and a half hours by train.

Oddly enough of all these suggestions, I don't think the paradors are the best places to stay in any of these towns -- for the most part too remote.

pedraza is a quaint. well preserved town if you have extra time. not far from segovia.

Book a night at the Alfonso XII in Sevilla - If you take the Altaria rather than AVE you can save about 30 Euro pp on the roundtrip.
Dep. Madrid: 10:05 Arr. Sevilla 13:15
Dep. Sevilla: 18:15 Arr. Madrid 21:41

Segovia, Avila,Rascafria and Toledo.

I've read that buses are a better bet for daytrips from Madrid to Segovia & Toledo. Can anyone comment? I'm going to Madrid next week and was planing on doing a couple of quick day (not staying over) side trips.

chinchon and aranjuez are easy to do same day.

My list of day and overnight trips from Madrid and how best to do them:

By <b>car</b> only:

Aranjuez and Chinch&oacute;n combo (very tricky to do by bus given few departures btw. the two)

Pedraza, Riaza, All&oacute;n (beautiful medieval &quot;pink&quot; stone towns), 1 1/2 hrs. from Barajas

Rascafr&iacute;a, Navacerrada, Monastery of El Paular in the Guadarrama mountains.

Sig&uuml;enza, about an hr. from Barajas.

By <b>bus</b>:

Segovia by La Sepulvedana, 1 hr. 15 min.

Cuenca by Auto Res Express, 2 hrs.

El Escorial by Herranz, about an hr.

Salamanca by Auto Res Express, 2 hrs.


By <b>train</b>:

Toledo, by new high speed, 30 min.

El Escorial by Cercan&iacute;as C8-A from Chamart&iacute;n, then Herranz city bus up the hill

Aranjuez by Cercan&iacute;as C3 from Atocha

or from May-Oct. wkds. <b>only</b> by the 153 yr. old vintage steam train, El Tren de la Fresa, with guides and bowls of strawberries!
www.aranjuez.net

Alcal&aacute; de Henares by Cercan&iacute;as C1 from Atocha
or by the similar Tren de Cervantes
www.alcalaturismo.com

Avila by Regional Express or Talgo from Chamart&iacute;n, 1 hr. 20 min.

Sevilla by AVE from Atocha, 2 1/2 hrs.

C&oacute;rdoba by AVE from Atocha, 1 hr. 40 min.

Hope this helps.

Forgot one for all the ceramics fans:

Talavera de la Reina, to shop, shop, shop for pottery less pricey than at my favorite Madrid store, Antigua Casa de Talavera.

by Auto Res bus, 1 hr. 45 min.

but much better by car, so that you can shop for equally beautiful ceramics at the Hermanos Escobar shop in neighboring Puente de Arzobispo (different color scheme) and for hand embroidered lace at Pedro Hilario Cano in nearby Lagartera and one fine meal in the gorgeous, baronnial dining room of the magnificent Parador in Oropesa.

My choice for Lagartera needlework is Eufemio Lozano, the first shop on the right upon arriving.
The dining room in Oropesa is my choice as well. Recently there is a new restaurant in Lagartera, in a beautifully restored house of the XVIII century, in the town center: LLARES, www.llares.com, phone 925431157 (reservation mandatory). I was there last sunday, and it was excellent.

We did three day trips from Madrid this summer -- all without a car.
We did a trip to Escorial -- easy on our own.

We went by train to Alcala de Henares -- world heritage site -- which was very interesting. Loved the little Cervantes museum. There is a splendid old &quot;outdoor&quot; theatre called the Corral de Comedias to visit. Visited the splendid archeological museum and could have spent more time there. Had a wonderful lunch at the Parador (restaurant only), Hostaria del Estudiante, and old 16th Centurey studen refectory.

We also did a day trip by bus to Chinchon. This rustic little town seems rather lost in another age. We spent much of the morning in the big plaza sipping coffee and eating pastries while we watched the locals going about their business. The plaza which is half tumbling down and half restored is like a big circle of buildings all with two or three levels of balconies, and the entire plaza obviously also served as a bull ring. Had lunch at the Parador there also, which would also be a nice place to spend the night, but we took the bus back to Madrid in the late afternoon.

i am so glad you went to alcala de henares.
AND chinchon! i never tire of those two places for a short visit with guests.

If you are interested in food, a visit to Segovia, Sepulveda and Pedraza is a must. You might check out my (very long) trip report on these places..from last May (2006). I will try to post it here...

lincasanova, perhaps you are the one who recommended those two trips on a post I did a year ago? I'm really bad about remembering names and who said what. But in any case if was you -- thank you. They were indeed both great day trips!

could be. they are favorites of mine on the outskirts, besides, of course, the other more famous ones!

ther are a number of spanish movies that have been filmed in chinchon's famous plaza. if going on a sunday, go early and book restaurant. the madrid crowds are unbelievable.

cuenca is another nice daytrip or overnight. at least walk over to the parador for the view, and a walk inside it, and stay for a lovely drink or meal.

Thanks everyone. I'm getting great ideas for our trip to Spain/Portugal this winter. One week we're staying in Madrid and want to do a few day trips from there.

josele,
Thanks for the Lagartera lace rec. We went on a Sunday, and the shop I mentioned was one of the few open. I have it at the top of my list, as we &quot;need&quot; to get back to Talavera, Puente de Arzobispo and Lagartera for more serious shopping and an overnight at the Parador in Oropesa. We stayed in the enormous room right above the entrance on that Sun. night and had the splendid public rooms on the 2nd floor entirely to ourselves. It was heaven!

For anyone heading to Aranjuez (really pretty in the spring), when visiting the Royal Palace, make sure to take a walk in the beautiful palace gardens-no entrance fee to walk the grounds.

And in Chinch&oacute;n the bakeries are quite famous as well as the an&iacute;s distilleries. There's a wonderful bakery behind the Plaza, down an alleyway, near the Mes&oacute;n de la Virreina (a great place for tapas or for dining on the balcony with view of square), Just follow the signs to panader&iacute;a behind the arcaded shops along the square. Their breads are truly elaborous works of art. We took many pictures. And they're noted for their pastries spiked with an&iacute;s and their hornazo, which is a sweet bread with egg in center.
And right off the square you'll find a tasteful shop, Cosas de Casa (or something similar), which sells pottery and other local wares.

If you find yourself in Chinch&oacute;n on Easter Saturday, they hold a very famous Passion Play in the Plaza, with 250 locals taking part and on July 25, a bullfight is held-that tradition goes back 350 yrs. -again in Oct.

The easy way to get to Chinch&oacute;n via public transportation is by bus. La Veloz bus #337 (it might say “Valdelaguna” on the front) from Avenida del Mediterr&aacute;neo, 49. These are green buses on left side of street when coming out of metro stop Conde de Casal, grey circular line #6. Busses leaves every hour on the hour Monday through Saturday. There are two stops for village; get off at the second stop. It's a short walk to the Plaza Mayor.
See the bus schedule at: www.ciudad-chinchon.com

And in '07 they'll be opening a Parador in Alcal&aacute; de Henares, which would be a nice place to spend one's last night before a transatlantic flight, as the city is very close to the Barajas airport.

An addition to a Segovia-Pedraza excursion would be a visit to the exquisite &quot;mini&quot; Versailles, the Bourbon dynasty Palace at La Granja de San Ildefonso. The gardens are wonderful, as is the guided 1 hr. tour of the palace itself. But the Tapestry Museum is still closed. They're also building a Parador at La Granja which should open in the spring of next year.
You can read info on opening hrs. of the Royal Palaces at Aranjuez and La Granja and how to reach them by public transport at
www.patrimonionacional.es