Out of town in Madrid

Toledo with tickets A full day with monument tickets included — in Toledo you pay for each one separately. Check availability → Toledo and Segovia Both in one day. You see a fair amount of each, though not enough time to go inside everything. Check availability → Segovia The aqueduct, the alcázar and the suckling pig. An hour and a quarter away, with time for a long lunch. Check availability → Segovia and Ávila Ávila’s wall is among the best preserved in Europe and you can walk the whole circuit on top. Check availability → Toledo, Segovia and Ávila All three in a day. That is a lot of coach hours — only worth it if you have a spare day. Check availability → El Escorial and the Valley Half a day, 50 km out. Philip II’s monastery is the pantheon of nearly every Spanish king. Check availability → El Escorial by historic train The Felipe II Train, with period carriages. It runs only on certain weekends. Check availability → Alcalá de Henares Half an hour on the commuter train. The 16th-century university and Cervantes’s birthplace. Check availability → Cuenca and the Ciudad Encantada The hanging houses and, next to them, a forest of eroded rock. Two hours each way. Check availability → Toledo, Aranjuez and Chinchón Three very different stops: imperial city, palace with gardens and a village square. Check availability → Brihuega lavender fields July only, when it flowers. Outside those weeks there is nothing to see. Check availability → Toledo and the windmills The Consuegra windmills are the ones from Don Quixote. They sit on a ridge, visible from far off. Check availability → Puy du Fou España Open-air historical shows next to Toledo. The night show runs ninety minutes. Check availability → Balloon flight over Segovia Takes off at dawn, when the air is still. Cancelled if it is windy. Check availability →