Day trip to Toledo - best way to structure time

Our train to Toledo from Madrid arrived at 10:46 and we departed at 18:58. We had plenty of time to wander around this beautiful, ancient small city. We found this website helpful https://spanishnomad.com/one-day-in-toledo-perfect-itinerary/.

The Alcántara bridge only takes a few minutes to see. The Alcázar is a wild card. You can see it from the outside only that doesn’t take long, but if you visit the military museum there you could spend a couple hours. A number of shops in town have partial glass floors to view ruins beneath them. If you don’t mind a short walk outside the historic center, rather than visiting the Termas Romanas, consider walking over to the park with the ruins of the Roman Circus. It’s free and you’ll pretty much see the same thing as the museum.

If you are on that side of town I like the Bridge of San Martín and feel it is nicer than the Alcántara bridge. While near the cathedral look for the Pozo Amargo (bitter well). Both the bridge and well only take a few minutes to see. There are legends surrounding both, so you can read those before visiting. If walking to one of the overlooks you can cross the San Martín bridge.

Thank you!! Very helpful information!

I spent multiple nights in Toledo and didn't have too much time there. The medieval center is large and somewhat hilly. I'd go with the earliest viable arrival time and the latest viable departure time. As you may know, they eat dinner late in Spain, so you'll be too early to have dinner in Madrid with Spaniards if you head back on the 6:38 PM train.

thanks for the input! We were planning on relaxing at our hotel's pool if we got back that early and slowly make our way out to dinner later in the evening

I ended up booking the train leaving Madrid 9:15am (arriving Toledo at 9:51am) and departing at 6:38pm
I have a 2 hour walking tour set up for 12:30pm. The sites we'll see include:

• Alcázar de Toledo, Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo, Iglesia de Santo Tomé, Mezquita de Las Tornerías, Casa Rodrigo de la Fuente, Mirador de San Nicolás, exterior mezquita, exterior cathedral, barrio judio, casa rodrigo de la fuente

My questions are:

1. Best way to get from Toledo train station to the city center? Assuming taxi would be fine
2. Recommendation on something to do before the tour starts. Will only have about an hour by the time we get into town
3. After the tour, will stop for lunch then will have a few hours before the train ride home. Suggestions of what to do with the last bit of time? Was thinking of walking to Mirador del Valle

This was our experience in November 2022. A bus from or to the train station would have cost about €1 pp. A taxi straight from train station to center of Toledo would be about €5.

My wife and I wanted to go to the Mirador de Valle, a viewpoint across the valley which offers a panoramic view of Toledo. On the train, I befriended a Texas couple and asked if they wanted to split a cab ride with us to the viewpoint. The estimated cost for the cab ride from the train station to the Mirador, wait 5-10 minutes for selfies and then continue to the center of Toledo was about €15. Split four ways, it is well worth it for the view. It turned out the Texas husband spoke fluent Spanish and at the end of the cab ride, the cab driver only charged us €10 in total. The whole cab trip from train station to Mirador to town center was about 20 minutes.

Wow awesome, maybe we will make some nice new friends when we arrive so we can split taxi's!!

Walking to the historic center from the train station is about a mile. One can walk up the hill via the Bisagra gate or take one of two escalators to the top; Remonte mecánico de Safont or Escalera mecánica del Parque Recaredo.

The Mirador Del Valle is about 1.5 miles from the train station.

Thanks - was thinking it may be better to do a taxi to Mirador de Valle rather than walk. Would it be suggested I do that right when I arrive from the train station with a drop off at San Martin Bridge or maybe do that at the end of the day? If doing at the end of the day, are there taxi's I can get from San Martin Bridge (on the outside of the city) that can bring me from there with a stop at Mirador de Valle and then to the train station? Trying to figure this out, just can't seem to find this type of specific info online.

If doing at the end of the day, are there taxi's I can get from San Martin Bridge (on the outside of the city) that can bring me from there with a stop at Mirador de Valle and then to the train station? Trying to figure this out, just can't seem to find this type of specific info online.

Download the PIDETAXI app. We used it in Toledo (and other cities in Spain) and it was very easy. You basically just request yourself a taxi through the app. You see the driver's name and cab # and estimated arrival time (it was always just a few minutes). https://pidetaxi.es/en/

oh fantastic, thank you!! that saves me a lot of headache haha
I guess better question now is:

1. do the taxi from train -> mirador de valle -> san martin bridge prior to our our walking tour at 12:30 (leaving from zocodover square)
2. go straight into city from train, tour the cathedral prior to walking tour and finish day with taxi from bridge -> mirador de valle -> train

not sure if the order of this matters either way, just trying to logistically have this make the most sense and not waste too much time figuring this out day of

In option 1 are you walking from San Martin Bridge to Zocodover and in option 2 are you walking from Zocodover to San Martin Bridge and catching taxi from there to the trsin station?

Trying to catch a cab at Saint Martin is probably more difficult. The train station and Zocodover are easier places to get a cab. It would be easier to find another couple on the train to split the cab ride at the beginning of the day rather than at the end of the day.

Arriving at 9:51am or 10:51am gives you approximately 1 to 2 hours before your first timed attraction. The cab ride up to the Mirador and down to San Martin would be a nice and simple filler first thing in the morning and still leave you some time to explore on your way to your first timed attraction. You will also have more energy in the morning to make the walk from San Martin to your first attraction. On the other hand, at the end of the day, you may find that the changes in elevation in Toledo have really worn out your legs. If it were me, I might be inclined to ask the the cab driver to wait at San Martin while I take a few photos before continuing on with the cab ride up to Zocodover. You should find out what is included in your walking tour and you could choose a walking route from San Martin to the first attraction which does not duplicate the later walking tour. Then after you complete your walking tour, you would not be under any pressure to visit the San Martin or Mirador at the end of a long day. You can relax a bit in Toledo, may be even have dinner, which we did, before catching a bus back down to the train station to return to Madrid.

Thank you so much! That put it in a good perspective. I think we’ll mirador de valle first directly from the train station. Then walk from San Martin. We’re aware it’s uphill, will be happy to just meander prior to our walking tour. After the tour will get lunch and if we’re inclined get tickets to go inside the cathedral - hopefully will be less crowded later in the day anyway. So exited we leave for our flight into Spain in a few hours! Thank you everyone for all your help and advice!! You’ve all really helped shaped my trip with all your suggestions!

Have a great trip! Come back and tell us how it went.

Thank you so much, I definitely will!!