Toledo - day trip

Another personal preference question. If you like tours and find one that only visits the places you want to see, then take it. A downside to tours is you go where the tour goes and stay at each place a defined amount of time, even if you’d like to stay longer or move on sooner. My wife and I prefer to go on our own.

I also prefer the DIY approach for someplace so simple to get to and around.

Arrive by train, tour on your own. At least that's what we did. Here's my trip report (scroll to the first comment for Toledo). Note: This was a return visit for us, so I don't list the Cathedral and museum at Santa Cruz, both of which are must-see's as well!

There used to be a low-cost combo ticket covering six or seven secondary sights in Toledo. You got a little Tyvek(?) bracelet that was good until it fell off. Many of the those sights had bilingual tours offered perhaps twice a day. It took some planning to set up a logical progression that would get you to each of them at the right time (an electronic map is helpful for navigating medieval Toledo), and I don't think it would be possible to cover them all in addition to major sights like the cathedral in a single day, but the combo ticket was really inexpensive as of 2016. I had multiple days in Toledo, and I really loved the sights covered by the bracelet.

Yep @acraven, they still have the braclets. You can buy them at any of the 7 stops included on it, and then they scan them at each participating site. They are a very good deal. Also, the El Greco Museum and the Sinagoga del Tránsito, while NOT on the braclet, do have a combined ticket, which also saves a bit of coin.

We took a day tour from Madrid. Bus took us there. We had about an hour walk tour when we got there and then several hours on our own. Several hours on your own pretty much lets you cover what you would want to do there. Bus back.

That amount of time certainly wouldn't have allowed me to cover what I wanted to do. However, I realize that many folks just take a day trip to Toledo.

Thanks Eveyone! appreciate your recommendations. looks like we will take a train and do our own thing in Toledo.

any recommendations on must sees and where to eat? we will have lunch there and maybe dinner.

A must see is the enormous, Gothic, Toledo Cathedral.

Something we really enjoyed is the little train that takes you outside of the town where you get views of it, such as El Greco would have painted.

I second the Toledo Cathedral and the little tourist train. You pick up the train from Zocodover Plaza. It's a beautiful ride along the river and the train stops at a photo viewpoint. You will have a gorgeous view of Toledo sitting on the hill across the river. The ride is about 45 minutes long, and the train departs every 30 minutes from the Plaza. The cost was about $6 in 2017.

Don't miss the Spanish Army Museum at the Alcázar of Toledo, sadly often overlooked!

The Spanish Army Museum has many artifacts of Spain's storied military past; including the armour of Carlos V, the swords of last Moorish King of Granada, the cloak of Franco, the sword of El Gran Capitán, the War tent of Emperor Carlos V etc. With entrance to the Museum, one can also see the Roman and Moorish ruins underneath the Alcázar.

There is also a restaurant at the Alcázar (Restaurante Museo Alcázar) with commanding views of town and countryside, serving local rustic Manchego cuisine, like pisto and perdiz and that sorta thing. It was fairly good when I was there back in 2019.

I agree with the above posts about the Toledo cathedral. I have travelled in Spain a lot and the cathedral in Toledo is my favorite. If you are comfortable going independently, Toledo is an easy daytrip from Madrid. If you are concerned about the logistics or which sites to see, then go with a tour, whatever best suits your travel style. Once you get into the old town, it is a great place to wander. It is an uphill walk from the train station to the historical center. If you are going in the summer it is almost too hot to walk it. Take a bus or taxi. Check out some of the beautiful gates and bridges into the city, If you do the trip on your own, either take that little tourist train or get a taxi to take you to the panoramic overlook spots ( Mirador del Valle de Toledo ) across the river for the iconic views of the entire city. I imagine that a tour will include those spots where you can stop and take photos. There are some cities and towns that i have gone to once and once is enough. Toledo, falls into my repeat category. I have been there at least six times or more and always enjoy it.

In addition to taking a taxi, there are a couple escalators that will take one partway or all the way up to the historic center. The one I’ve used is near the Bisagra gate.

I did a day trip to Toledo from Madrid via train when I was visiting the latter several years ago, and didn’t use a guided tour. If you plan out an itinerary ahead of time, you can see most everything in a day, including plenty of wandering around the city. It’s a stunner, a must to visit.

We had a delicious dinner at El Trebol located on a side street about a block away from Plaza de Zocodover. I think this restaurant is recommended by Rick.
http://cerveceriatrebol.com/

kmkwoo, I'm glad to see you enjoyed that place. It's on my list for my upcoming trip to Toledo.

I took an unguided solo-day-trio to Toledo. If you see the Army museum, arrive at least 3 hours before it closes to allow time to see it properly. I used to feel like I was at risk of missing something important, (anywhere, in any country), without a good guided tour. Now I feel like background reading and guide books and maps can take away my need to spend money on expensive guided tours. I took the train both ways. I had bought my train tickets in advance at both before my trip. I had printed my tickets; what if your phone dies?

Hello can someone elaborate further about the escalator from train station. I haven’t seen this mentioned elsewhere and I’m definitely interested.

Also, will be making day trip from Madrid mid August, is it necessary to purchase tickets in advance? I’m not much of an in advance person. Thanks in advance.

I sent you a PM, but in case others are interested,

The historic center of Toledo is up on a hill. There are a couple different escalators. On Google maps type “ Toledo Escalator from bus station” or “ Remonte mecánico de Safont / escalator.” That escalator goes at least part way up the hill.

The other escalator goes all the way up. From the train station you walk past the Bisagra gate a short distance and the escalator will be on the left. On Google maps search on “ Escalera mecánica del Parque Recaredo”

You should not need to buy tickets from Madrid to Toledo in advance.

I have definitely seen sold out trains between Madrid and Toledo. I doubt that they sell out very far in advance unless there's something special going on, but if you wait until the morning of the day trip to look, you could end up having to take a bus instead, which is a much longer trip. I'd monitor the situation on the Renfe website and be prepared to commit if even one departure shows up as "Train Full).

Rick warns in his book about possible sellouts on trains back to Madrid late in the day, so that's probably the riskier part of the trip.

Thank you for the reply regarding train tickets.