Looking for recommendations for towns within 2 hours of Madrid airport

Toledo, Segovia and Cordoba come to mind. Toledo is good for a couple days as well as Segovia if you do a day trip or more. Cordoba is about 2 1/2 hours from the airport. Toledo is an interesting old town perched on a hill. The cathedral is stunning with a lot of important art. There are other interesting sites, as well. Segovia has a 1st century Roman aqueduct. Cordoba has Mezquita and wonderful white homes with blue trim and patios. From Cordoba you could do daytrips to Sevilla or Toledo if they are of interest. Honestly, I think you could drop your rental car off and use a train to Madrid, if not sooner. Train travel is easier and often faster.

Toledo. A bit more than an hour, Cuenca.

I'm assuming you keep the hire car and only drop it off when you get to the airport.

On our first trip to Spain, we drove from Madrid Barajas after our international flight to the walled city of Avila and stayed at the Parador. Wonderful experience.

Cuenca is lovely but nearly a 2-hour drive from the airport. It's much faster if you take the AVE. It's ESE of Madrid and quite far off the normal path up from the south.

In my view Avila (ENE of Madrid) is only good for about 2 hours of sightseeing. That could work for a last-night stop, but ViaMichelin estimates the driving time to the airport at 1 hr. 35 min., and a prudent person would figure on more than that.

Segovia (NE of Madrid) is 1 hr. 30 min. from the airport, again according to ViaMichelin.

Toledo (south of Madrid) is what I consider by far the best side trip from Madrid; unfortunately, even it is 1 hr. 12 min. from the airport. And it might be tricky to find a place to stay that provides nearby parking, convenient access to the Madrid highway and a short walk to the historic district on top of the hill.

Alcala de Henares is a very pretty, historic university town about half an hour from the airport. I don't know anything about parking conditions or hotels there, but it has a lovely historic district. The town is east of Barajas.

There's also the small town of Chinchon, SSE of the airport and about 50 minutes away by car. It's an interesting place to walk around but I think it lacks the identifiable sights you'll find in the other places I've listed. It would be fine if you expect to arrive fairly late in the day and won't have time for much sightseeing anyway.

Don't cut short your time at the airport. Be sure you arrive 3 hours early if you're heading back home to a non-Schengen country. In 2016 I was in the United check-in line at the Barcelona airport for an hour. I made the flight, but with little time to spare.

Not certain where you might want to go with your time, or how many days, but about 2 hours from the airport are Zamora, Salamanca, and Burgos. If looking for small, very relaxed, laid back and less touristy, Medina del Campo, Tordesillas, Manzanares el Real, or Arevalo. If you enjoy castles, there are many in that area. Others have already mentioned the more obvious towns most tourists visit.

If you choose Toledo we stay at Hotel Maria Cristina when visiting there. It’s in a good location, just a few minutes walk outside the historic center, and has its own parking garage. If traffic isn’t bad, you can drive there in about 45 minutes from the airport.

Thank you all for the prompt replies. We are traveling with a wheelchair along with another medical device, so we want to keep the car until the airport. We will definitely check out your recommendations and look for a place with parking. We hope to check into the hotel mid afternoon, so we can do a bit if exploring that day. We would love a pleasant neighborhood with a good last dinner.

Toledo is hilly and I would think that hotels with parking would be below the old town. I'm not sure that would be a good choice with a wheel chair. Segovia and more so Cordoba would work better with a wheel chair. I don't have experience with the other locations mention.

Cordoba is flat. Toledo is San-Francisco-hilly. However, google maps estimates driving time of 4 hours from Cordoba to Barajas airport.

Driving time to Córdoba is in fact about 4 hours. Chani is correct.

yep, its only 2 1/2 by train

Thanks again. We need to be at the airport by 8 to return the car, etc. So guess we should stay very near the airport. I was hoping to avoid an airport hotel, but any recommendations for one there?

For a hotel near the airport, we stayed at the NH Barajas the night before our departure. Price is not too expensive included breakfast and free airport shuttle. Room was decent. Staff was helpful. No complaints. Hotel has a restaurant and there are some restaurants within walking distance, all had the usual hours of dinner starting at 8:00 pm.