I have decided to rent a car from Madrid airport and drive to the above for day trips from Segovia.How difficult is it to find parking and how expensive would it be?
I wanted to drive from Madrid to El Escorial half a day and from El Escorial to Avila half a day then to Segovia where are hotel is. On another day drive to Sepulveda and to Pedraza then back to Madrid.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

There is a large parking lot on the outskirts of Pedraza; I believe it is free. We found it easy to find parking in Sepulveda as well but we were in that town on a weekday.

I seem to remember big parking lots at El Escorial as well, but my visit was many years ago. I do not remember the parking at Avila, as that visit was even further back in time!

Thanks, I was worried about Pedraza and Sepulveda. Avila looks like there would be a public parking area. I have no idea about El Escorial.

As ekscrunchy says, there is lots of parking at El Escorial within the walls, fairly inexpensive IIRC. Locals seemed to park outside (for free?) a bit further away.

Pedraza has a lot of little parking lots (all free) scattered all along the cliffside in town. We went on a weekday, and had our pick of spots; apparently weekends are far busier with the traffic from Madrilenos.

Driving should be uneventful, except that they are still changing the highway designations. I'd suggest bringing an up-to-date map, or better yet getting GPS for your car.

QueScaisJe,
Thanks, we will be ther on a weekday also. Driving looks pretty simple on the map but first hand experience is always best. GPS may be a good idea. Thanks!

HarryS,
No parking worries. There is a very large car park adjacent to the monastery in El Escorial.

Pedraza doesn't have lots of little parking lots, but instead a large parking lot in front of the castle that seems to grow in size monthly to accommodate the folks who have been discovering this little gem on weekends. On a weekday you'll see far, far fewer cars. Parking is free.
Sepulveda also has free public parking above the Plaza Mayor. Again on a weekday you can find a spot closer but on a weekend you may have to park way above the square and walk down. Just follow the P signs.

But never fear-parking IS available (and free).

maribel,
Thanks, I leave on the 17th for Madrid and I have followed your guide for a lot of my reservations. It is nice to hear that there is ample parking and that it is free!

Have a great time!

Just a note about El Escorial parking. The lot closest to the monastery is pay parking, but there are two public car parks that are free, just a 5 minute walk away from the entrance. San Lorenzo, the town, is tiny, so you won't have any trouble finding them.

This goes back about 10 years but there was a superb place for lamb in Sepulveda, Tinin el Mayor. They had one meal: huge tossed salad, huge serving of lamb, and a jug of wine. Absolutely wonderful. OOOld building on a covered sidewalk right in the middle of town. Penelope Casas reported that it was on Juan Carlos' short list for lamb. Don't know if it is still there but definitely worth a shot.

Hi weber,
Yes, it certainly is still there. My husband and I took our friends to dine there last spring, and we all agreed that it was the best rendition of lechazo that we had on that trip (after many renditions)!

And it remains true to its original roots-just a humble family run "figón" with no "fine dining" trappings, no elegant stemware or tablecloths, no wine list just a bottle of the house red served slightly chilled.

But it's still known throughout the land, and on weekends one absolutely must reserve ahead. Martín staggers the reservations so that your lamb will be waiting for you just when you arrive. He tells you when you'll be seated-"you'll come at 2:30". So we did, and he served our two quarters in two consecutive courses so that it wouldn't get cold. And the menu hasn't expanded-just the lamb, the simple lettuce, tomato and onion salad, the red wine and his homemade desserts, like ponche segoviano, Utterly delicious in its simplicity.

His kinder have opened a new "spin off", slightly "fancier", the Figón Tinín. The original restaurant's official name is Figón Zute el Mayor (not to be confused with the Figón Zute el Menor up the street...)
Those who arrive without reservations will be accommodate at the new place, also with pretty views of the countryside. Same menu, of course.

www.figondetinin.com

YUM!

We fondly remember the lamb of Sepulveda at Tinin el Mayor. When you sit down you are asked one question: gas or no gas (for the mineral water of course). We were there on a Sunday afternoon during some religious festival. Parking was free but quite far and if we hadn't made reservations we would have been out of luck. I do hope it wasn't our last meal there.

I will be there on Wednesday the 22nd of April, do you think I will need reservations at Tinin?

Even though you're going mid-week (and after Holy Week), I still would call or have your hotel call ahead simply because this suckling roast lamb is best when it's ordered ahead of time. He'll tell you when to appear and will put the lechazo in the oven so that it will be ready for you, just perfect, when you arrive. Martín is very particular about that.

Phone: 921 54 01 65
It's located on the Plaza Mayor, right under the arcade, as you can see from the photo on the web site.

I failed to mention that of all the roasting taverns, "hornos de asar", Figón Zute el Mayor is the least expensive, another bonus of dining there!

Maribel,
Thanks for the suggestion of having the hotel call for our reservations. My phone skills are not good in Spanish. Where would you order roast pig and where would you order the roast lamb. We will dine at El Yantar and at Tinin. We would like to experiance both.

El Yantar and Tinín are both roast lamb (lechazo) temples. That is their specialty. They don't do roast suckling pig.

For roast suckling pig (tostón or cochinillo), I would go to one of the 3 roast suckling pig temples in Segovia: Cándido with its impossibly scenic location at the aqueduct, Duque, a pretty tavern on the pedestrian street going up to the Plaza Mayor or at José María just around the corner from the Plaza Mayor-gourmet critics give it a slight edge, but a Fodor friend loved her recent tostón at Duque (and it's slightly less expensive).
www.rtjosemaria.com

or have it in Madrid at Botín or its cousin in Toledo, El Hostal del Cardenal.

Maribel,

Thanks for saving what may have been an embarassing moment for me! Since I will be in Segovia I will have roast suckling pig there.

HarryS:


My lunches at both Tinin and at El Yantar rank among the best meals I have EVER eaten.

Although I like the food in Italy and France, (and in China, Thailand, etc etc) if I had to choose my last 2 meals on earth, both would be in Spain and one of them would be at El Yantar!

I think I would fly to Spain just to eat there again!

In case you want to read pages and pages of food details, you can look at this trip report which includes meals at El Yantar, Jose Maria and Tinin:


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-segovia.cfm

eks,

I just finished reading your post. As all before me have said it was great reading and I learnrd a lot.
From what you and Maribel have written I have a solid plan on how to get the most with the time we will have in Spain.
It is one week to my departure and all of the posts are swirling around in my mind. What started out as a few notes has grown into pages and pages of great information.
The guide books I bought can not compare to the information I received from your post and Maribels guides.
There are so many contributors to your post with such passion for this area of Spain. Thanks for sharing.