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Segovia attractions best time Cathedral & Alcazar

On my upccoming trip to Spain, I've decided to visit Segovia rather than Toledo as a day trip from Madrid. I wish I had time to do both, but realistically I don't unless I completely skip Madrid. The day trip will be on a Wednesday or Thursday in mid-April and i plan on arriving as early as possible to beat group tours and day trippers such as myself. I plan on visiting the Cathedral and Alcazar (other sights as well), but am torn on which to choose as my first attraction. I plan on visiting the towers of each as well. I'd welcome advice on which of the two sees more crowds and in which order to do.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
8306 posts

Visit the one you consider a must see first. Arriving early and departing later, you’ll probably have enough time to see both

Posted by
1080 posts

We visited Segovia on a day trip from Madrid last year. We went straight for the Alcazar when we arrived as it's the furthest from the centre of town and we knew we'd probably spend the most time there. Then we walked back into town, visiting the cathedral on the way, and finishing back at the aqueduct. So I suppose we decided the order based more on geographical location than crowds, tho I would say the Alcazar was more crowded. By the way, nothing in there is labelled, but I found the wikipedia article for the Alcazar really helpful in describing what we were looking at!

Posted by
192 posts

We went on a Friday in late February. We took the bus from Madrid and walked to the TI by the aqueduct to rent audioguides for the city. We slowly walked to the Alcazar for our 10:30 entry. It was not crowded. There was one tour group and we moved around them. We purchased audio guides with our tickets. The only glitch was that we had to be in the ticket office to access the wifi to download the audio guide onto our phones. We did not enter the cathedral (we saw so many this trip) but enjoyed using the TI audio guide to explore the city. We had a lovely long lunch. You'll have time to see both the Cathedral and Alcazar in one day. I would do the Alcazar first, but check the cathedral website for seasonal closures.

Posted by
9744 posts

Frankly, I would do both Toledo and Segovia over Madrid.
To me the best site in Madrid is the Prado.

Posted by
9108 posts

I would go with the advice to do the Alcazar early to beat the crowds. It does seem to attract more people, the inside space is a series of rooms, so more likely to get crowded, or less enjoyable with a large group.

The Cathedral is relatively large, can handle a crowd, people (most anyway) stay quiet out of respect, easy to do after the Alcazar, or after lunch.

I would reserve a time for the Alcazar, not needed for the Cathedral.